The purpose of this paper is to compare the coping processes of hospital chaplains and nurses in cancer care and to discuss the findings in relation to work and stress in a multidisciplinary team. The results of the research question - 'what coping processes are used when confronting existential issues?' - reveal that, as members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team, both professions need space in work for significance; the nurse needs to be able to help the patient 'do good' and the hospital chaplain needs to be available to meet the patient. Boundary demarcation was found to be the most common coping strategy.