Funeral Services Profession

Certificate Program in Funeral Service Education

FS 130

Breyer State University

Professor: Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D., MBA, RN,CS, CNAA, FACHE

Syllabus

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to the Certificate program in Funeral Service Education. You have made a wise decision to pursue study and acquire the knowledge and skills needed to practice in this growing and important service industry specialty. This area of specialty practice is growing all the time and few programs exist to adequately prepare practitioners to practice as funeral service assistants or associates. This degree program offers a comprehensive curriculum to prepare funeral service assistants to practice in many different areas of the death industry.

The curriculum is designed to provide study of content related to the entire funeral service industry and the practice of grief and bereavement counseling and education. It offers a unique approach to academic preparation and practical application in relation to service as a funeral services assistant and bereavement specialist. Graduates are prepared to enter positions as funeral service assistant/associates, and coordinators for funeral home related grief and bereavement programs. The degree program is designed to provide both theory and practicum education for students. Please note that this degree program does not prepare graduates for licensing as licensed funeral directors and/or embalmers. Rather, the curriculum prepares graduates for opportunities as assistants to funeral home owners and directors.

This course focuses on the study of the history and progression of the funeral service industry, as well as critical issues facing the death service industry. Students will explore the vast array of history and the development of the modern day funeral services, as well as sociological and psychological issues related to current day funeral services practice. This is the first course in funeral services education provided in the curriculum and is foundational to the progressive study of materials, leading up to advanced bereavement study as well as a comprehensive practicum experience in a funeral home.

This course includes extensive reading assignments, written assignments, practical interviews and online examinations.

TIME FRAME: This is an eight-semester hour course. This course is allotted ten weeks of time. You must complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the ten-week period. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which you notify me that your text book(s) have arrived and you are ready to begin your studies. Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of time are permitted, unless you have good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded eight-semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOKS: There are two (2) required textbooks for this course.

Book 1: Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America. Gary Laderman. Oxford University Press. New York, NY. 2003: ISBN # 0-19-513608-X.

Book 2: Last Rites: The Work of the Modern Funeral Director. Glennys Howarth. Baywood Publishing Company, Amityville NY. 1996: ISBN # 0-895503-134-5.

Books are available for online order through the Breyer State University bookstore.

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Order your books as soon as possible so that you can begin your course of study. You will need the book "Rest in Peace" to begin your course assignments.

EXAMINATIONS: Examinations are taken online via the Breyer State University website. Once you have registered for this program, you will receive instructions on accessing and taking the examinations. There are two comprehensive examinations for this course.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: There are two written project assignments for this course. Information is contained under "assignments" inside the online classroom.

GRADING: The Examination is objective type. The grading scale is:

90-100%    = A
80-89%      = B
70-79%      = C
Below 70% = Fail

COMMUNICATION: You are encouraged to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. Primarily, communication is through email. However, I am also available for conversation by telephone. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am also very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat room at your request. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled in this course at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such chat sessions are scheduled.

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D, MBA, RN,CS, CNAA, FACHE - is President of Dominick L. Flarey and Associates, a health care consulting and education firm, located in northeast Ohio. He has held positions as a certified nurse practitioner, associate administrator of patient care, chief operating office and administrator in acute care hospitals. He is Dean of Nursing and Alternative Health Care Programs at Canyon College, and lectures for Cross Country Seminars national seminar company based in Nashville. He was an executive consultant to a national "big 6" accounting firm's health care practice and was a service line administrator and consultant for case management for another national consulting firm. He holds a BSN, an MBA, and Doctorates in nursing administration and management. He is a certified adult nurse practitioner and certified clinical hypnotherapist. He is also a certified Grief Counselor and instructs many courses in grief counseling and bereavement education.

He is also certified as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in Washington, DC. He lectures extensively across the country on Management, including models, systems, outcomes and legal/ethical issues. He also lectures nationally on the topic of Biopsychiatry. His clinical practice includes hypnotherapies for Grief and Bereavement, care of adults with depression, anxiety disorders and panic disorder. He uses hypnotherapies, guided meditation and visualization in his work with those grieving. He is the President of Breyer State University.

He is co-author/editor of two textbooks on Case Management (see below) and is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal, "Nursing Case Management: Managing the Process of Patient Care."

Dr. Flarey is also certified in nursing administration advanced. He is a board certified health care executive by the American College of Healthcare Executives, and is a Fellow in the college. He also holds national certification in managed care from the Professional Education Institute. He is a Certified Medical-Legal Consultant.

He is past editor-in-chief of JONA's (Journal of Nursing Administration) Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Nursing Administration, Seminars for Nurse Managers, Case Management: Managing the Process of Patient Care, and Nursing Outcomes. He has authored over 50 published articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Flarey is editor/author of the book, "Redesigning Nursing Care Delivery: Transforming Our Future," published by Lippincott/Raven publishers. He is also co-editor/author of the following books by Aspen Publishers: "Reengineering Nursing and Health Care: The Handbook for Organizational Transformation," winner of a 1995 AJN book of the year award, "The Handbook of Nursing Case Management: Health Care Delivery in a World of Managed Care," "Case Studies in Case Management," "Health Care Outcomes: Collaborative, Path-Based Approaches," and "Cardiovascular Outcomes: Collaborative, Path-Based Approaches," and "Process-Centered Healthcare Organizations."

INSTRUCTOR AVAILABILITY: Upon registration, you will be given my e-mail address. I am available periodically through e-mail, so please e-mail me any questions that may occur. That is why I am here. I will do everything to help you as much as possible. Please do not wait until the end of the class to try to get help. It will be too late. Anytime your grade falls below C, I will try to contact you about it. If I do not, please do not hesitate to contact me through e-mail.

GETTING STARTED: As soon as you receive your textbooks for the course, you may begin your course of study. Below are defined course objectives. Once you have registered for the course, I will send to you a letter of introduction with more extensive information.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1). Understand the history of the death care industry and how it has influenced the development of the modern funeral services industry.
2). Prepare for a comprehensive overview of the service options and implementations of modern funeral services.
3). Understand the sociological and psychological issues related to death and the death service industry, and their influences on modern funeral services practice.
4). Begin to understand issues related to religious beliefs and practices and how they influence the death service industry.
5). Define and discuss myths and facts of the death service industry.
6). Understand from a foundational perspective, the role and responsibilities of the modern funeral director.
7). Discuss issues related to public influence on the death service industry and major past reform issues.
8). Define and discuss key ethical issues for the funeral services industry.
9). Begin to identify major issues related to grief, counseling, and the funeral service industry.
10). Define and discuss key components of government regulation related to the death care industry.
11). Construct a profile of the modern funeral services and the processes involved in providing funeral services.
12). Define and discuss the role of today's modern funeral director.
13).Define and discuss issues related to one's own mortality.
14). Construct an obituary.
15). Develop a composite of roles and responsibilities of funeral service assistants today.
16). Conduct an interview with a licensed funeral director and create a process map of the major components of the funeral industry.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE CONTENT:

1). Death and dying.
2). Death and media influence.
3). World views of death.
4). History of funeral services industry.
5). Ethical issues related to death service industry.
6). Evolution of the modern funeral director.
7). Evolution of the modern funeral service.
8). Process components for funeral services.
9). Issues of grief and grief reactions.
10). The business of funeral services.
11). Psychosocial issues and the death service industry.
12). Sociologic issues and the death service industry.
13). Myths and Facts of the death service industry.
14). Factors influencing the death service industry.
15). Roles/responsibilities of the funeral director.
16). Roles/responsibilities of the funeral service assistant.
17). Working with families.
18). Government regulation and the funeral service industry.
19). Studies of death and bereavement in the modern world.
20). The business of directing a funeral.
21). Grief and death and the funeral professional.
22). Funeral service options.
23). Obituary development.

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