Elizabeth Hyland; Director of Healing Solutions
Compassionate, engaging, authentic—Chaplain Elizabeth Hyland is a strong advocate for patients and caregivers and a champion for healthcare professionals. Drawing on thirteen years of experience in hospitals and hospice she offers a practical approach to integrating spirituality and health care. Her wisdom and passion for spiritual care shine through in patient care, staff interactions, consultations and seminars. She is an enthusiastic speaker whose heartfelt stories resonate with audiences and leave them feeling renewed personally and professionally. She encourages staff to recapture their passion for healthcare and believes if they will step out in courage they will discover that everyday they have the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life.
Elizabeth is Board Certified by the Association of Professional Chaplains, an ordained Presbyterian (USA) minister, a Certified Compassion Fatigue Educator, and past president of the North Carolina Chaplains’ Association. She teaches seminars on spirituality in healthcare, and well-being for healthcare professionals.
Why do we need Elizabeth? A study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine reported that forty-one percent of inpatients desired a discussion of religion/spirituality (R/S) concerns while hospitalized, but only half of those reported having such a discussion. Overall, 32% of inpatients reported having a discussion of their R/S concerns. Religious patients and those experiencing more severe pain were more likely both to desire and to have discussions of spiritual concerns. Patients who had discussions of R/S concerns were more likely to rate their care at the highest level on four different measures of patient satisfaction, regardless of whether or not they said they had desired such a discussion. These data suggest that many more inpatients desire conversations about R/S than have them. Health care professionals might improve patients’ overall experience with being hospitalized and patient satisfaction by addressing this unmet patient need. That is why Elizabeth is on our team.
