IARP members may download this issue online.
Editorial: A Trifecta of Sorts
This issue completes the third in a series of three featured issues for 2010. In it, results
of the Life Care Planning Survey 2009: Process, Methods, and Protocols are detailed in an
article authored by Ann Neulicht, Susan Riddick-Grisham, and Bill Goodrich. What began as
an update to the inaugural Life Care Planning Survey 2001 turned into a two-year project in
which the researchers developed and disseminated the survey instrument, and amassed and
analyzed the data to help provide information to life care planners that describes the current
state of life care planning practice and identifies the protocols and procedures used by
practicing life care planners in the conduct of life care planning business. Not only is the data
presented in easy-to-read pie charts, bar graphs, tables, and narrative form, a helpful At-AGlance
Summary is provided following the article (page 201) as a way to easily and quickly
focus on a particular area of the survey results.
To highlight some interesting demographics from the typical Life Care Plan Survey 2009
respondent:
- Female
- From California, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina
- Nurse or Rehabilitation Counselor
- Predominant degree is Master's Degree, followed by Baccalaureate
- CLCP, CCM, CRC (an average of 2.7 certifications)
- Member of IARP, IALCP (an average of 2.73 organizations)
- 11 to 20 years of experience in rehabilitation or with people with disabilities prior to work as a life care planner
- 11 to 20 years of experience in life care planning
- At least 50% of plans completed are on adults
- Completes up to 10 life care plans per year
Dr. Neulicht and her team of researchers are to be commended for their contribution of
hundreds of hours and dedication to the life care planning community to bring to it the Survey
2009 results. The JLCP is pleased to provide the results in total in this special featured issue.
Also be sure to look in this issue for summaries from the International Symposium on Life
Care Planning held in September 2010 and Announcements for continuing education
conferences that will help make decisions on attendance at a myriad of conferences scheduled
through the first quarter of 2011. An Index of Authors and Titles for volume year 2010 rounds
out this issue. Readers of the JLCP can look to resume reading the Ethics Interface column
and many of the other regular Journal features in the next issue.
This issue brings the culmination in a series of three monumental events for 2010 within
the specialty practice of life care planning: the biennial Life Care Planning Summit, the Life
Care Planning Role and Function Study, and the Life Care Planning Survey. Each event
documents the ongoing activity, growth, and development of life care planning and the desire
of practicing life care planners to "look within and beyond" with an eye toward improved
practice and service delivery. To accomplish such a trifecta in one year furthers the foundation
for the sustainability of life care planning in years to come. As you make your New Year's
resolutions, it is our hope that you will utilize this "trifecta" of life care planning tools and
resolve to help move life care planning forward into the new decade.
Wishing a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all our readers,
Debra E. Berens, Ph.D., Managing Editor