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Guide to Majors

Guide to College Majors in Life Care Planning


What is Life Care Planning?

We cannot predict catastrophic accidents that result in physical trauma or serious injury. Usually, a terminal illness is not a condition that can be foreseen either. Such events are terrible and unfortunate, but they do occur. The shock and suddenness of such a tragedy often leaves a victim and a victim's loved ones emotionally drained and unequipped to begin planning for the aftermath of such an occurrence.

Even after the initial shock gives way to acceptance and recuperation, many legal and insurance concerns may surface. The health care industry has adapted to this need and now offers services to assist such victims. It is important that a patient receives the best in planning for the financial, health, and lifestyle adjustments of treatment and recovery. Life care planners use their skills to reduce the stress of these difficult transitions.

A life care plan projects the future costs of medical goods and services by identifying the needs and requirements of a catastrophically injured or ill patient. A life care planner relies on recommendations and information provided by a patient's physician concerning the medical equipment, services, and treatment necessary for a patient to work towards good health and independence. A life care planner also takes the effects of aging and impairment into consideration as well as the patient's personal support system.

Patients can use life care plans to prevent further complications and disability. Whenever possible, a life care planner interviews a patient. They supplement the conversation with other research regarding the patient's past medical, social, educational, and family history. The life care planner presents this information in the form of a written document that educates others to meet a patient's future needs. Depending on the circumstances, a career assessment may determine the loss of earning capacity and vocational rehabilitation needs.

Life care planners play an important role in settling lawsuits between patients and negligent employers, drivers, or hospitals. Malpractice attorneys and trial lawyers hire life care planners to accurately project the financial costs of adequate rehabilitation following an accident. Lawyers use those projections to reach settlements with insurance providers. As a result, the courts can guarantee that an accident victim will receive proper medical attention throughout their recovery period. In cases of permanent disability, life care planners can help assure a high quality of life for their patients for the duration of their lives.

Online degree programs open up this area of study to more professionals eager to assist patients in handling the legal aspects of their health care. By completing courses online, participating in virtual training, and interacting with professors and fellow students, life care planning students can take advantage of the opportunity to receive a quality education without having to physically relocate to a college campus. Online life care planning degree programs enable students to pursue a health care career with the information, training, and skills necessary to provide guidance to injured and terminally ill patients.

Preparing for a Life Care Planning Degree

As the baby boom generation continues to age and the overall demands in health care increase, job opportunities for life care planners will expand. Most current life care planners began their professional careers as registered nurses. Pursuing education and obtaining a degree are necessary building blocks for a career in life care planning. Health care professionals specialized in this field draw heavily on medical and legal knowledge. This knowledge is best developed in a specialized life care planning degree training program.

It is also important to know that top-notch degree programs provide health care professionals with the ability to combine nursing, patient relations, health insurance, and litigation courses with quality practical training. Because life care planners touch on a variety of specialty areas during the course of their work, they must understand a wider range of skills than most health care providers. Before a health care professional makes the decision to enroll in a life care planning degree program, he or she should carefully consider a few things to make sure he is making the best decision. Often, professionals are drawn to life care planning because they have an interest in bridging the gap between the health care and legal communities to provide better care for a patient. Potential life care planners should also be willing to develop knowledge of the legal system and the insurance industry. Thus, a student should carefully weigh his or her personal interests and strengths with the requirements of a successful life care planning career.

Life care planners enjoy helping others. They can provide support and a sense of security to terminally ill and catastrophically injured patients, and they possess a strong commitment to advancing and improving the health and physical capabilities of others. Because they frequently interact with seriously ill or injured patients, life care planning degree candidates should have a strong emotional support system in place before embarking on this new stage of their career.

A health care professional interested in life care planning can prepare for this training by gaining as much field experience as necessary. Working in health care and serving the needs of patients, a committed professional will undoubtedly be introduced to many concepts utilized in life care planning.

Additionally, the more education and training a professional receives in his related health care field, the more opportunities he or she will have to develop a level of expertise in life care planning. Essentially, students will thrive in health care degree programs when they have strong foundational skills in their previous health care profession. Potential life care planners can learn more about the day-to-day duties of the job by shadowing a professional. Potential students can take this opportunity to ask the professional questions about the field. He or she may be able to offer advice, guidance, and ideas about job opportunities in the field.

Not only will such efforts help a potential student decide which direction to take his or her studies, this exercise could generate the most valuable information a potential student obtains as he or she considers a career path. Actively engaging in this sort of career probing and shadowing is sure to provide a more thorough picture of future possibilities in life care planning.

Once a health care professional makes the decision to forge a new career in life care planning, the final step of preparation includes comparing and contrasting life care planning degree and training opportunities to find the best fit. By using this research as a catalyst, he or she will also be able to generate a list of questions to ask admissions counselors that will assist in the final program selection. The more information a student can gather about life care planning degree programs and training opportunities, the better informed his or her decision will be.

What can you do with a College Degree in Life Care Planning?

Career options for aspiring life care planners

A life care planner must understand the medical aspects of the complexity of a patient's disability and possible future complications. Additionally, a life care planner must have knowledge of health insurance, disability insurance, and the legal ramifications of catastrophic and terminal events.

The advancement of computer technology has become more easily accessible to more students, and many health care and life care planning degree programs are taking advantage of the opportunity offer education online. Students engage in online tutorials, web seminars, and interactive training. Life care planning students who participate in distance learning degree programs have the flexibility to coordinate and map out their own schedules to work around existing job and family commitments.

Life Care Planning Certificate Programs

An online life care planning certificate program provides students with the knowledge and skills needed to pursue a career in this unique niche of the health care industry. Online, students are taught how to develop life care plans and develop expert knowledge of the medical, psychological, and economic aspects of disabilities and terminal health care conditions.

The curriculum for a life care planning degree program provides the essential skills and areas of expertise necessary to research, develop, coordinate, interpret, and manage life care plans for patients. According to the Commission on Health Care Certification, courses covered in training generally include:

Life Care Planning Associations and Certification Bodies


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