Helping hands, healing hearts: A qualitative descriptive study on nurses’ perceptions on the use of volunteers in an inpatient hospital setting
| Autor: | Yongxing Patrick Lin, Ee-Yuee Chan, Vincent Aditya Tamin, Ling Ting Wu |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: |
030504 nursing
business.industry Context (language use) Focus group Care provision 03 medical and health sciences Patient safety 0302 clinical medicine Nursing Workforce Health care medicine Delirium 030212 general & internal medicine medicine.symptom 0305 other medical science business General Nursing Qualitative research |
| Zdroj: | Collegian. 29:54-61 |
| ISSN: | 1322-7696 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.colegn.2021.04.002 |
| Popis: | Background The use of volunteers in healthcare has led to positive patient outcomes, such as delirium prevention and improved nutritional care. However, much of the existing evidence have focused on the use of volunteers within specific settings. Hence, the receptiveness of volunteers by nurses in multi-disciplinary ward context remains unclear. This can cause ineffective volunteer engagement and thus warrants attention. Aim This study aimed to explore nurses’ perceptions of volunteerism in an inpatient hospital setting. Methods A descriptive qualitative study was conducted in the medical and surgical wards of a tertiary Singapore hospital. Nurses who had experience with engaging volunteers were recruited and interviewed using focus group discussions. Guided by data saturation, six focus group discussions were conducted, audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed. Findings Three main themes emerged from the data. “Engaging the volunteer” illustrated nurses’ appreciation of the volunteers in engaging patients, especially in a hectic ward environment. “Extending the volunteers’ role” highlighted nurses’ desires for volunteers to expand upon their role to include direct and non-direct patient care. Lastly, “Investing in volunteers” gave rise to suggestions to strengthen volunteer programmes through proper training and volunteer retention. Discussion Findings revealed that nurses werewere welcoming of volunteers in the inpatient setting. Discourse around allowing volunteers to partake in direct patient care revealed the emphasis nurses placed on ensuring that the volunteers had an immersive experience, while maintaining patient safety. Conclusion This study suggests that volunteers are well-positioned to be an adjuvant to care provision in the inpatient setting. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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