Managing volunteers who support patients with dementia or cognitive impairment on acute hospital wards: the NURTURe model.

Volunteers are widely used to support patients with dementia or cognitive impairment on acute hospital wards. However, it appears that traditional volunteer management models do not fully address the challenges posed by managing volunteers in that setting. In a study of the use of volunteers in the care of people with dementia and cognitive impairment on acute hospital wards, interviews with a range of stakeholders revealed challenges regarding the environment, role and image of volunteers. Based on the study findings, an alternative model for managing volunteers on acute hospital wards was developed. This article describes the study and discusses the development of this alternative approach, the NURTURe model.

A nurse-led youth volunteering project to support older people on acute hospital wards.

Young people volunteering on acute hospital wards can provide extra support to older patients, for example with eating and drinking, with mobilising and with therapeutic activities. This extra support can reduce nurses' workload while providing older people with opportunities to interact and engage. For the young people involved, volunteering can improve their skills and confidence, as well as providing opportunities for career development. Nurses are well-placed for developing and managing volunteer services due to their leadership, clinical skills and experience. This article describes a volunteer project where young people aged 16 years and above support older people on acute hospital wards in an NHS trust in England. The project was designed and managed by a nurse using the NURTURe model, a framework for planning, developing and organising volunteer services to support older patients on acute hospital wards.

Volunteers as members of the stroke rehabilitation team: a qualitative case study.

OBJECTIVES: Clinicians are facing increasing demands on their time, exacerbated by fiscal constraints and increasing patient complexity. Volunteers are an essential part of the many healthcare systems, and are one resource to support improved patient experience and a mechanism through which to address unmet needs. Hospitals rely on volunteers for a variety of tasks and services, but there are varying perceptions about volunteers' place within the healthcare team. This study aimed to understand the role of volunteers in stroke rehabilitation, as well as the barriers to volunteer engagement. DESIGN: A qualitative case study was conducted to understand the engagement of volunteers in stroke rehabilitation services within a complex rehabilitation and continuing care hospital in Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: 28 clinicians, 10 hospital administrators and 22 volunteers participated in concurrent focus groups and interviews. Organisational documents pertaining to volunteer management were retrieved and analysed. RESULTS: While there was support for volunteer engagement, with a wide range of potential activities for volunteers, several barriers to volunteer engagement were identified. These barriers relate to paid workforce/unionisation, patient safety and confidentiality, volunteer attendance and lack of collaboration between clinical and volunteer resource departments. CONCLUSIONS: An interprofessional approach, specifically emphasising and addressing issues related to key role clarity, may mediate these barriers. Clarity regarding the role of volunteers in hospital settings could support workforce planning and administration.

Can trained volunteers improve the mealtime care of older hospital patients? An implementation study in one English hospital.

OBJECTIVE: Multinational studies report undernutrition among 39% older inpatients; importantly, malnutrition risk may further increase while in hospital. Contributory factors include insufficient mealtime assistance from time-pressured hospital staff. A pilot study showed trained volunteers could safely improve mealtime care. This study evaluates the wider implementation of a mealtime assistance programme. DESIGN: Mixed methods prospective quasi-experimental study. SETTING: Nine wards across Medicine for Older People (MOP), Acute Medical Unit, Orthopaedics and Adult Medicine departments in one English hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Patients, volunteers, ward staff. INTERVENTION: Volunteers trained to help patients aged ≥70 years at weekday lunchtime and evening meals. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The number of volunteers recruited, trained and their activity was recorded. Barriers and enablers to the intervention were explored through interviews and focus groups with patients, ward staff and volunteers. The total cost of the programme was evaluated. RESULTS: 65 volunteers (52 female) helped at 846 meals (median eight/volunteer, range 2-109). The mix of ages (17-77 years) and employment status enabled lunch and evening mealtimes to be covered. Feeding patients was the most common activity volunteers performed, comprising 56% of volunteer interactions on MOP and 34%-35% in other departments. Patients and nurses universally valued the volunteers, who were skilled at encouraging reluctant eaters. Training was seen as essential by volunteers, patients and staff. The volunteers released potential costs of clinical time equivalent to a saving of £27.04/patient/day of healthcare assistant time or £45.04 of newly qualified nurse time above their training costs during the study. CONCLUSIONS: Patients in all departments had a high level of need for mealtime assistance. Trained volunteers were highly valued by patients and staff. The programme was cost-saving releasing valuable nursing time. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02229019; Pre-results.

A qualitative formative evaluation of a patient-centred patient safety intervention delivered in collaboration with hospital volunteers.

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that patients can meaningfully feed back to healthcare providers about the safety of their care. The PRASE (Patient Reporting and Action for a Safe Environment) intervention provides a way to systematically collect feedback from patients to support service improvement. The intervention is being implemented in acute care settings with patient feedback collected by hospital volunteers for the first time. OBJECTIVE: To undertake a formative evaluation which explores the feasibility and acceptability of the PRASE intervention delivered in collaboration with hospital volunteers from the perspectives of key stakeholders. DESIGN: A qualitative evaluation design was adopted across two acute NHS trusts in the UK between July 2014 and November 2015. We conducted five focus groups with hospital volunteers (n=15), voluntary services and patient experience staff (n=3) and semi-structured interviews with ward staff (n=5). Data were interpreted using framework analysis. RESULTS: All stakeholders were positive about the PRASE intervention as a way to support service improvement, and the benefits of involving volunteers. Volunteers felt adequate training and support would be essential for retention. Staff concentrated on the infrastructure needed for implementation and raised concerns around sustainability. Findings were fed back to the implementation team to support revisions to the intervention moving into the subsequent summative evaluation phase. CONCLUSION: Although there are concerns regarding sustainability in practice, the PRASE intervention delivered in collaboration with hospital volunteers is a promising approach to collect patient feedback for service improvement.

Hospital administrative characteristics and volunteer resource management practices.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the links between various characteristics of hospital administration and the utilization of classes of volunteer resource management (VRM) practices. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses original data collected via surveys of volunteer directors in 122 hospitals in five Northeastern and Southern US states. Findings - Structural equation modeling results suggest that number of paid volunteer management staff, scope of responsibility of the primary volunteer administrator, and hospital size are positively associated with increased usage of certain VRM practices. Research limitations/implications - First, the authors begin the exploration of VRM antecedents, and encourage others to continue this line of inquiry; and second, the authors assess dimensionality of practices, allowing future researchers to consider whether specific dimensions have a differential impact on key individual and organizational outcomes. Practical implications - Based on the findings of a relationship between administrative characteristics and the on-the-ground execution of VRM practice, a baseline audit comparing current practices to those VRM practices presented here might be useful in determining what next steps may be taken to focus investments in VRM that can ultimately drive practice utilization. Originality/value - The exploration of the dimensionality of volunteer management adds a novel perspective to both the academic study, and practice, of volunteer management. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical categorization of VRM practices.

The fundamentals of integrating service in a post-licensure RN to BSN program.

Integrating service in a post-licensure registered nurse to bachelor of science in nursing (RN to BSN) program provides licensed registered nurse (RN) students the opportunity to learn, develop, and experience different cultures while serving the community and populations in need (McKinnon & Fitzpatrick, 2012). Service to the community, integrated with academic learning can be applied in a wide variety of settings, including schools, universities, and community faith-based organizations. Academic service-learning (ASL) can involve a group of students, a classroom, or an entire school. In the RN to BSN program, the authors use a student-directed service learning approach that integrates service-learning throughout the curriculum. RN students are introduced to service-learning at program orientation prior to the start of classes and receive reinforcement and active engagement throughout the curriculum. The students and volunteer agencies receive and give benefits from the services provided and the life lessons gained through mentorship, education, and hands-on experiences.

Introducing on-ward volunteers to work with patients with dementia.

This article reports on an evaluation of the effect of an on-ward volunteer service in an acute orthopaedic ward with a number of dementia patients. A mixed-methods evaluation was undertaken in 2012. This included interviews with individuals who have strategic, management, operational and clinical roles in the voluntary organisation and the NHS trust, focus group discussions with volunteers, non-participant observations of practice and focused conversations with ward staff. The service had a positive effect on patient experience. Patients were engaged through a variety of activities and enjoyed the volunteers' presence. Staff valued the initiative because they could see the difference that it made to patients and their own working lives. The lessons learned from the evaluation can inform the development of similar initiatives elsewhere and are relevant, given the emphasis in healthcare policy to improve patient experience.

The Canterbury Charity Hospital: an update (2010-2012) and effects of the earthquakes.

AIM: To update activities of the Canterbury Charity Hospital (CCH) and its Trust over the 3 years 2010-2012, during which the devastating Christchurch earthquakes occurred. METHODS: Patients' treatments, establishment of new services, expansion of the CCH, staffing and finances were reviewed. RESULTS: Previously established services including general surgery continued as before, some services such as ophthalmology declined, and new services were established including colonoscopy, dentistry and some gynaecological procedures; counselling was provided following the earthquakes. Teaching and research endeavours increased. An adjacent property was purchased and renovated to accommodate the expansion. The Trust became financially self-sustaining in 2010; annual running costs of $340,000/year were maintained but were anticipated to increase soon. Of the money generously donated by the community to the Trust, 82% went directly to patient care. Although not formally recorded, hundreds of appointment request were rejected because of service unavailability or unmet referral criteria. CONCLUSIONS: This 3-year review highlights substantial, undocumented unmet healthcare needs in the region, which were exacerbated by the 2010/2011 earthquakes. We contend that the level of unmet healthcare in Canterbury and throughout the country should be regularly documented to inform planning of public healthcare services.

[We cannot care alone: volunteers in dementia care at Nürnberg General Hospital]. / "We cannot care alone" : Ehrenamtliche Demenzbegleiter am Klinikum Nürnberg.

BACKGROUND: People with dementia have specific care needs especially in an acute care setting. Professionals in clinical routine have limited capacities in meeting the needs of dementia patients as far as communication, interaction and orientation are concerned. AIMS: For 2 years, the Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Nürnberg General Hospital has hosted volunteers in dementia care who accompany and visit people with dementia during their acute care stay. We present the organization of the volunteer training program, training content, and preliminary evaluation results. METHODS: We chose a mixed methods approach for research and evaluation. Baseline data, motivational profile of volunteers, paper and pencil data on attitudes, skills and knowledge before and after training were assessed. RESULTS: Preliminary results show a positive effect on attitudes, skills, and knowledge after volunteer training. Volunteers and professionals need continual support and education to enable volunteers to act as an integrative part of the acute geriatric care team. CONCLUSION: The admission to an acute care setting is often frightening and confusing for dementia patients. Trained volunteers have the potential to make the hospital stay more pleasant for people with dementia.