Respecting Choices® Facilitator and Instructor Certification
Facilitator Certification
The Advance Care Planning (ACP) facilitator role originated at Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse, WI, where systems have been designed to provide ACP assistance that is based on an individual’s healthcare status. ACP facilitators are available to have discussions with patients at different stages of health and in different venues of care because ACP is not a “one size fits all” discussion.
ACP facilitators add value to an organization and community and are central to any program’s success. The value of the facilitator role is demonstrated through
- timely and appropriate referrals for advance care planning services
- the informed decisions patients and families are assisted in making
- the overwhelmingly positive patient and family satisfaction with this service
- professional competence and confidence in providing skilled facilitation and delivering care that is consistent with a patient’s goals, values, and beliefs.
Respecting Choices offers three facilitator certifications through our First, Next, and Last Steps approach.
First Steps® ACP Facilitator Certification
This training, part of the Organization and Community Course, assists participants in learning necessary skills for foundational (i.e., First Steps) ACP discussions for any adult. The skills include how to a) initiate the importance of ACP; b) select a qualified healthcare agent; c) discuss goals, values, and beliefs; and d) create a basic written advance directive (AD) or other type of plan to ensure preferences are communicated and honored.
Next Steps ACP Facilitator Certification Training
This training, part of the Disease Specific ACP package of services, is intended for qualified professionals to learn communication techniques to facilitate an in-depth, structured, disease-specific ACP interview. This stage of ACP (i.e., Next Steps) is focused on patients with chronic, progressive illness who are beginning to experience a decline in their healthcare status and/or complications. They may also need assistance making more specific treatment decisions based on their unique illness and its corresponding trajectory.
Last Steps™ ACP Facilitator Certification
As a component of the POLST Advance Care Planning Course, this training assists participants in learning the skills necessary to have end-of-life discussions (e.g., Last Steps) with frail elders or those living in long-term care facilities. The POLST communication system helps patients transfer their decisions into medical orders that can be honored throughout the healthcare continuum.
Instructor Certification
Replicating the evidence-based Respecting Choices approach to advance care planning requires on-going education of facilitators. Providing effective education depends on skilled instructors who have experienced the education themselves and have learned the skills necessary to guide others in learning a role. Respecting Choices faculty provide the skills training through instructor certification.
First Steps ACP Instructor Certification adds value to an organization by
- meeting organization needs for additional facilitators in a timely and cost-effective manner
- providing innovative teaching and learning processes for staff
- establishing a link to the Respecting Choices national faculty and resources
Respecting Choices offers two instructor certifications through our First Steps and Last Steps approach.
First Steps ACP Instructor Certification
As a component of the Organization and Community Course, instructor certification prepares participants to train First Steps ACP facilitators. First Steps ACP Instructor Certification features strategies for teaching and evaluating others’ communication skills, and enables the Instructor to replicate facilitator training locally.
Last Steps (POLST) ACP Instructor Certification
Individuals certified by Respecting Choices as Last Steps (POLST) instructors are able to teach the POLST communication skills training to those interested in providing Last Steps ACP. These skills often do not come naturally for professionals who provide individualized assistance in making difficult and challenging end-of-life decisions. The Last Steps ACP Instructor Certification was designed by Respecting Choices to feature robust education principles and practices that prepare participants to teach others.
