Exiting Patients' Rooms and Ending Relationships: Questions and Challenges Faced by Hospital Chaplains.

Questions arise about the scope/boundaries of chaplains' relationships with patients/families. Interviews were conducted with 23 chaplains, who face questions/challenges regarding how to end visits and interactions-individual conversations and ongoing relationships with patients/families. Chaplains confront uncertainties and rely on verbal- and non-verbal cues to gauge how long to stay with each patient/family, sometimes unsure. These data, the first to explore chaplains' challenges in ending visits/relationships with patients/families, have critical implications for practice, education, and research.