CLINICAL PASTORAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

Advances in biomedical sciences and medical technology raise urgent questions that must be addressed at the philosophical, public policy and legal level, but also at the spiritual level. This issues are particularly acute as patients and families struggle to make medical decisions that often challenge them to examine and put to the test their spiritual orientation, be it a traditional religious faith or not. In such situations there is a serious need for trained people who understand both the spiritual dimension of human suffering and the landscape of clinical bioethics.

To better address this need, the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program in the Department of Pastoral Care, Albany Medical Center and the Alden March Bioethics Institute, Albany Medical Center, have agreed to coordinate their respective requirements so as to make it feasible for students to complete certificates in both pastoral care and bioethics during a 12 month period. We expect that the dual certificate program will open up career opportunities for our graduates in hospitals, medical centers, and elsewhere, that are normally unavailable to those without such broad training. The need for persons trained in both areas will continue to increase in coming years due to increasing complexity of medical interventions, increases in the need for medical care among an aging population and the inevitable spiritual and ethical predicaments that people must confront.