Advance Care Planning: Opportunities for Clinical Social Work Leadership

AbstractAs our population ages, providing person-centered, family-focused, culturally congruent, quality care becomes ever more important. Advance care planning (ACP) conversations seek to elicit a person ’s values, beliefs and preferences and to identify who might be a surrogate decision-maker for a person if they are unable or unwilling to speak for themselves. These nuanced conversations provide the foundation for the delivery of personalized goal-concordant care. Yet, despite the many benefits associated with ACP, it remains underutilized. Clinical social workers are well positioned to take a leadership role in ACP. This paper highlights a range of ACP roles and resources for clinical social workers within healthcare and in the community.

Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - May 27, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research