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Diversifying the chaplain workforce in hospital spiritual care departments and Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) programs is essential for meeting the needs of a religiously diverse population in the USA. We interviewed seven total participants, including two Somali Muslim chaplain students and their Muslim and Christian chaplain educators in one CPE program. Participants described their personal journeys and motivations for pursuing careers in healthcare chaplaincy, their impact on hospitalized patients, and the role of expanding perspectives for those with little prior exposure to Somali Muslim faith leaders. Representation and linguistic diversity were viewed as positive attributes despite challenges of racial and religious discrimination. Recommendations include adjusting educational requirements for entry into the field to consider professional equivalencies; engaging community chaplains; and collaborating with local communities. These findings have important implications on creating pathways for spiritual care providers from underrepresented faith traditions to meet local community needs., Competing Interests: Declarations Conflict of interest The authors do not have any financial interests or benefits to disclose. Ethical Approval The formal determination by the Allina Health Institutional Review Board (IRB) was in the category of Non-Human Subjects Research and thus exempt from full IRB review. Consent to Participate Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants of the study., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: To enhance knowledge about religious objections to brain death/death by neurologic criteria (BD/DNC), we surveyed hospital chaplains about their experience with and beliefs about BD/DNC., Methods: We distributed an online survey to five chaplaincy organizations between February and July 2019., Results: There were 512 respondents from all regions of the USA; they were predominantly Christian (450 of 497; 91%), board certified (413 of 490; 84%), and employed by community hospitals (309 of 511; 61%). Half (274 of 508; 56%) of the respondents had been involved in a case in which a family objected to BD/DNC on the basis of their religious beliefs. In 20% of cases involving a religious objection, the patient was Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim. Most respondents believed that a person who is declared brain dead in accordance with the American Academy of Neurology standard is dead (427 of 510; 84%). A minority of respondents believed that a family should be able to choose whether an assessment for determination of BD/DNC is performed (81 of 512; 16%) or whether organ support is discontinued after BD/DNC (154 of 510; 30%). These beliefs were all significantly related to lack of awareness that BD/DNC is the medical and legal equivalent of cardiopulmonary death throughout the USA and that organ support is routinely discontinued after BD/DNC, outside of organ donation., Conclusions: Hospital chaplains, who work at the intersection between religion and medicine, commonly encounter religious objections to BD/DNC. To prepare them for these situations, they should receive additional education about BD/DNC and management of religious objections to BD/DNC., (© 2021. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature and Neurocritical Care Society.)

Background: We sought to evaluate how Muslim allied healthcare professionals view death by neurologic criteria (DNC)., Methods: We recruited participants from two listservs of Muslim American health professionals to complete an online survey questionnaire. Survey items probed views on DNC and captured professional and religious characteristics. Comparative statistical analyses were performed after dichotomizing the sample based on religiosity, and Chi-squared, Fisher's exact tests, likelihood ratios and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to assess differences between the two cohorts., Results: There were 49 respondents (54%) in the less religious cohort and 42 (46%) in the more religious cohort. The majority of respondents (84%) believed that if the American Academy of Neurology guidelines are followed and a person is declared brain dead, they are truly dead; there was no difference on this view based on religiosity. Less than a quarter of respondents believed that outside of organ donation, mechanical ventilation, hydration, nutrition or medications should be continued after DNC; again, there was no difference based on religiosity of the sample. Importantly, half of all respondents believed families should be able to choose whether an evaluation for DNC is performed (40% of the less religious cohort and 60% of the more religious cohort, p = 0.09) and whether organ support is discontinued after DNC (49% of both cohorts, p = 1)., Conclusions: Although the majority of allied Muslim healthcare professionals we surveyed believe DNC is death, half believe that families should be able to choose whether an evaluation for DNC is performed and whether organ support should be discontinued after DNC. This provides insight that can be helpful when making medical practice policy and addressing legal controversies surrounding DNC.