The handbook provides a current assessment of pastoral care in hospitals. It presents objectives, concepts, and methods of pastoral care within the medical-economic institution of the hospital, from the perspective of practicing chaplains, supervisors, those involved in training and continuing education, as well as researchers and educators from theology and related fields, increasingly also from management and stakeholder perspectives. The book builds on the concept of previous editions by Michael Klessmann: it addresses the significance of pastoral care for patients in coping with illness, suffering, and dying, as well as its importance for hospital staff and the institution as a whole. Key focuses include exemplary areas of work on one hand and hospital pastoral care as a church-related activity on the other.