Factors influencing inpatient palliative care chaplain clinical notes: a focus group study

Inpatient palliative care chaplains document their care through writing clinical notes in the electronic health record. The evidence shows these notes need improvement. To help chaplains communicate better through their clinical notes, this study examined the barriers and facilitators associated with this practice. Four online focus groups with 30 U.S. palliative chaplains were moderated, January-March, 2025. With a reflexive thematic analysis approach, eight themes were generated: 1) What do they need to know?, 2) Rhythm to note writing for a team, 3) We're all islands unto ourselves, 4) What is the value add that we have?, 5) None of the chaplains want to use the same thing, 6) Am I putting it in a way that that's OK?, 7) There's cross-pollination of conversations, and 8) What I do matters. To improve note writing, palliative chaplains need to build stronger intraprofessional networks and collaborate with their team members toward evidence-based integration.