Advance Care Planning Volunteer Certification?

The Colorado Health Foundation has recently funded a host of proposals
around our state to increase advance care planning (ACP) in Colorado.  The proposals I’ve heard about seem quite
innovative.  Many, including ours, are
utilizing a volunteer workforce to implement the ACP.  Some of us at the University of
Colorado, in partnership with our friends at the Denver Hospice, are working on a project
to create a “certification program” for advance care planning volunteers.  I keep
thinking of it as being similar logistically to CPR certification.  Obviously, that analogy is not perfect – ACP volunteers
don’t have to do chest compressions…and CPR volunteers don’t have to have
skills in communication.  However, the
idea of a program where someone can learn the basics, practice, get feedback,
and become certified is really exciting to me. 

Through our development, we’ve begun to wonder and question our
assumptions about what a volunteer can do.  We are hoping to get some
input.  We’ve put together a very short,
7-item survey to get people’s perceptions on what kinds of skills an ACP “certified”
volunteer should have.  This is not
research – we’re not planning on publishing this survey.  Really, we just want to ask people broadly
what their thoughts are as we go forward. 
The
survey is anonymous and should take 3-5 minutes. Thank you!!  
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/328GVQL

by: Dan Matlock