Clinical Pastoral Education at MedStar Washington Hospital Center

Program Overview
Chaplain Residency
Application Process
Curriculum
Annual Notice

Program Overview

The Chaplains at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC) play an integrated and important role in spiritual and emotional support to a diverse population of patients, families, and staff. MWHC, (a Level I Trauma Center, just north of the U-Street corridor, adjacent to Children’s National Health System and The Veterans Medical Center, Columbia Heights, Adams-Morgan, and the University district, which is home to Trinity, Howard, and Catholic Universities) is dedicated to delivering exceptional patient care in a holistic manner.

The Department of Spiritual Care works as an integrated part of interdisciplinary care throughout the hospital. Our defined Values include Service, Patient First, Integrity, Respect, Innovation, and Teamwork.

MWHC Spiritual Care Department has a strong record of accreditation from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), Inc. to offer Level I, Level II, and Certified Educator Candidate (CEC) training. ACPE, Inc. is an accredited agency recognized by the United States Department of Education offering Clinical Pastoral Education. MWHC is working toward partnering with surrounding academic institutions to incorporate Clinical Pastoral experiential learning in a variety of curriculums.

MedStar Chaplain Tamara Akmal and Emmanuel Saidi, Director of Spirtual Care for MedStar Washington Hospital Center, pose for a photo indoors.

ACPE contact information:

ACPE, Inc
1 Concourse Pkwy, Suite 800
Atlanta, GA 30308

Phone: 404-320-1472
Fax: 404-320-0849
Email: acpe@acpe.edu

MWHC Current CPE programs:

Full Time Summer Unit Internship
Part Time Extended, Fall and Spring Unit Internship
Full Time Residency Program
Certified Educator Candidate (CEC) Training

Pre-Requisites:

Graduation from an accredited college or university
Good standing with a faith tradition
Volunteer eligibility, processed through MWHC Volunteer Office
(Phone: 202-877-6874)
Master of Divinity Degree or its equivalent (Residency Program)
Associate (employ) eligibility at MWHC per United States employment laws (Residency Program)
Previous CPE Unit evaluation copies completed by a certified ACPE Certified Educator and the completed student evaluation (Residency Program)

International Students:

MWHC welcomes international applicants. Applicants should obtain the necessary documentation from United States Immigration in the form of a student visa. The process may take a considerable long time, and therefore we recommend international applicants apply early to allow for adequate time for document processing.

MWHC accepts standard CPE applications (PDF/DOC) and should be emailed to the ACPE Educator or mailed to the attention of:

Tahara Akmal (ACPE Certified Educator and Manager of CPE)
Tahara.Akmal@medstar.net
Office Phone: 202-877-7553

Chaplain Residency

Students in the Clinical Spiritual Care program at MedStar Health.

MedStar Washington Hospital Center Department of Spiritual Care offers a residency program in Clinical Pastoral Education. Applicants for the Chaplain Resident positions who are applying for a one-year residency (three units of CPE) may apply three to five months prior to the start date of the program. Our year-long Resident program occurs from May through May of the following year. Deadline for applying to the Chaplain Resident program is January 31st. Chaplain Resident benefits include:

$34,000 Stipend (CPE tuition waived)
Free Parking
Basic medical
7 Official Holidays
14 Vacation Days, 2 Personal Days
Meal Tickets (for on-call shifts and education day)
Educational Resources

Please click here to access CPE Financial Policy #51

Application Process

Application forms may be downloaded from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education website (https://acpe.edu/education/cpe-students/cpe-application) or you may call them at 404-320-1472 and request a fax or mail copy. Enclose a check or money order for $50 (made payable to “MWHC Dept of Spiritual Care”) for your application processing fee.

Applicants may elect to submit applications electronically in a PDF format. Emailed applications must have all required documentation in a single email. A completed summer or extended unit application includes the following:

Signed/dated Application & Instructions (two pages).

Essay responses to items #2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (a maximum of five pages per question/response)

Application fee of $50 in the form of a check or money order made payable to “MWHC Dept of Spiritual Care.” Application packets emailed or faxed must include a statement indicating the status of the application fee, such as date mailed or delivery date to the Spiritual Care office (Room 1B-20, located in the main hospital next door to the MWHC Chapel).” Applications are processed upon receipt of a completed packet which includes, essay responses and fee. Please send your completed application to MedStar Washington Hospital Center and not the ACPE office.

If you have had prior unit(s) of CPE, you will need to include Final Self and Supervisor’s Evaluations of all prior unit(s) with your application. Persons applying to our CPE program may be requested to have an interview with our center personnel. You will receive e-mail or written acknowledgement of receipt of your application and fee along with notations concerning any additionally needed information/material. Applicants not accepted to the program are also notified. Tuition for Internships:

If this is your first unit of CPE at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, tuition for the unit is $1,000. Payment is always by check or money order made out to “MWHC Dept. of Spiritual Care” A $200 non-refundable deposit is due within two weeks after acceptance in the CPE Program. The $800 remainder is due before the end of the CPE Unit.
Prior to beginning the unit, the faculty is open to discussing financial payment arrangements as needed; these may include working extra on-call shifts after the unit is finished to satisfy any remaining tuition balance. All payment plans will be in writing and approved by the CPE Manager.

All inquiries and correspondence should be directed to:

MedStar Washington Hospital Center
Department of Spiritual Care CPE Center
Attn: Tahara Akmal, CPE Manager
110 Irving St., NW, EB5111
Washington, D.C. 20010-2975
Phone: 202-877-7553
Email: Tahara.Akmal@medstar.net

Please do not send applications to the ACPE office. Due to the number of applicants, only those accepted or requesting to be placed on a waiting list will be notified via email.

Please click below to access the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education for the Code of Professional Ethics for ACPE Members, Processing Complaints of Ethics Code Violations in ACPE, Complaint Form, Process for Complaints Against the ACPE Certification Commission, and Whistleblower Policy.

Curriculum

The curriculum for all CPE Interns or Chaplain Residents I or II includes the following components:

Direct patient care on assigned units in the MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC)
Hospital-wide On-Call experience (weekday, evenings and weekends)
Case presentations: each participant presents verbatims for consultation in the assigned supervisory peer group
Group sessions: students have the opportunity to use the group for personal and professional growth
Individual supervision with an assigned clinical supervisor
Didactic presentations
Inclusiveness seminars focused on issues of diversity (i.e. cultural differences, race, gender, sexual orientation, and faith traditions) and the impact on spiritual care
Theological reflection seminars
Worship leadership and seminars
Mid-unit and Final written evaluations

Applications may be emailed as PDFs to Tahara.Akmal@medstar.net with payments mailed to the above address.

MedStar Washington Hospital Center Department of Spiritual Care's Clinical Pastoral Education program is accredited for programs of Level I/Level II and Certified Educator Candidate (CEC) Training by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc., 55 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard, Suite 835, Atlanta, GA 30308, phone: 404-320-1472. For a standard application form, additional information about clinical pastoral education, and for international student guidelines, please go to the organization's website: www.ACPE.edu.

Please click here to access CPE Admissions Policy #50

Annual Notice

The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) applies to all ACPE CPE programs. FERPA addresses privacy not confidentiality issues. This means students own the information about them and must know what is being collected and how it is being used. Their information cannot be shared without their written permission. This Annual Notice describes the protocols for the proper handling of student records. Additional information about this program’s management of student records can be found in the CPE Student Handbook, Maintenance of Student Record Policy.

Students’ Right to Privacy
This ACPE CPE center/program guarantees to its students the rights to inspect and review education records, to seek to amend them, to specified control over the release of record information, and to file a complaint against the program for alleged violations of these Family Education and Privacy Act (FERPA) rights.

Definitions:

“Directory Information” is student information not generally considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if released. At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, the directory information that is distributed to peers and members of the Spiritual Services department includes name, address, phone number, and email address. Restrictions will be honored even after the student’s departure. Former students cannot initiate new restrictions after departure. At the start of the CPE unit, MedStar Washington Hospital Center publishes a poster with the names and photographs of the CPE students and is posted in the clinical units. Current students may “opt out” or restrict published directory information and/or record access at any time during attendance. If a student wishes to “opt out” of inclusion in the directory or on the poster, the student needs to contact the CPE Manager at least one week prior to the start of the CPE Unit.

A “Student Record” is any record (paper, electronic, video, audio, biometric etc.) directly related to the student from which the student’s identity can be recognized; and maintained by the education program/institution or a person acting for the institution. While the student is enrolled at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, the student’s record consists of a file folder in CPE Certified Educator’s Office containing:

ACPE application face sheet, with directory information, and essays

Materials applicant submitted with the application

Materials submitted by the student during the CPE unit

Evaluations of each unit completed

“Working files” are notes, student work materials submitted during the unit, evaluations, recommendation forms, and other materials collected by the student’s supervisor for the purpose of assisting in the supervision, education, and evaluation of the student’s learning and work. Working files are not part of the student record. Student material in the “working file” will be destroyed following the presentation of the CPE Certified Educator’s evaluation report to the student.

“Education Officials” are persons who hold a legitimate educational interest and may have access to student records without student consent. At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, “education officials” are: CPE Manager, CPE Certified Educators and members of the Spiritual Care Advisory Board (the Professional Advisory Group). Other persons who may have access to some of the content of the student’s record are: the Spiritual Care Administrative Assistant, associates within Spiritual Care, Human Resources, Occupational Health, and Recruiting departments who process the student’s background check and related forms, and the Information Services personnel who process requests for computer access.

All other information is released only with the student’s written, signed, dated consent specifying which records are being disclosed, for what purpose, and to whom. To obtain a copy of their student record, the student submits a request in writing and pays a duplication fee of $5.00.
Other Details About MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s Record Maintenance Protocols
A copy of the CPE Certified Educator’s evaluation report will be available to the student within 21 days of the end of the unit. At the completion of each unit of CPE, the student’s name, address, denomination and unit of CPE successfully completed will be sent to the ACPE office using the Student Unit Report to register the unit. The registering of units requires no specific student consent for the use of this information.

Students are responsible for maintaining their own files for future use. Students will be informed at the time copies are given to them that it is their responsibility to keep copies for future use.

An official Student Record file is maintained by MedStar Washington Hospital Center for ten years on each student after the student has completed his/her time of enrollment. The official Student Record will include:

ACPE application face sheet with directory information

Educator’s evaluation report.

The student’s final self-evaluations.

Additional pertinent documentation

Letters of Agreement (if applicable)

Letter of postponement, withdrawal or termination

Requests for copies of evaluations

After ten years the center will maintain only a face sheet indicating last known directory information and dates of attendance. All other materials will be securely discarded.

A student is able to review his/her record within 21 days of the written request submitted to the CPE Manager. If a student has outstanding financial obligations or cannot come to the site, the center will note on the copy of the records “not available for official use.” When a student’s record contains identifiers of another student, those will be redacted. A student has the right to object to record content. If not negotiable, the written objection will be kept with and released with the record. Grades are exempted from this right.

Regarding research: If information in student records or in a CPE Certified Educator’s records is considered of research value, and a CPE center or ACPE desires to collect and use such material for research, the student’s ACPE “Use of Clinical Materials Consent Form” that student’s sign in the CPE admissions interview is the student’s permission for the CPE Center to use the documents.

Violations of these protocols may be reported to: ACPE Accreditation Commission, Attn: Accreditation Chair, 1 Concourse Pkwy, Suite 800, Atlanta, GA 30328

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