The BRAIN Project | Implementation Guide
Starting a Volunteer Program
Rationale
Drawing on an Untapped Resource
As the population ages, healthcare facilities face chronic capacity challenges and staffing shortages. In response, implementing a volunteer program can be an effective way to strengthen care — especially for older adults.
Traditionally, volunteers have held peripheral roles in the hospital: working the gift shop, performing clerical tasks, stocking up on supplies, and the like. Yet, in today’s climate, volunteers represent an untapped resource for patient care.
Their value lies in their ability to enhance care for older adults at a relatively low cost. They can spend dedicated time with patients performing non-clinical tasks that improve comfort and wellbeing. Volunteers can also listen to patients and help clinicians better understand their needs and what matters most to them. This enables nurses to focus on more pressing clinical duties. They can even help care teams prevent and manage delirium.
Put simply, volunteers foster better patient experiences and outcomes. In fact, patients often cite their interactions with volunteers as a highlight of their hospital stay. And that makes the return worth the investment.
To help you implement a successful volunteer program, we‘ve included some key considerations and resources. Take a closer look and know what to expect.
In This Guide
Related Resources
- Sample Volunteer Role Description
- Sample Volunteer Training Agenda
- Age-Friendly Education Slide Deck Download
The Intervention
Organizing and Leading a Volunteer Program
When setting up a volunteer program, you will need the right support. Partner with your organization’s volunteer services department as a first step. Depending on your location and resources, you may also want to look into collaborating with academic institutions. This can be mutually beneficial, as it connects hospitals with candidates studying health-related fields, while allowing schools to offer hands-on learning.
Decide whether each volunteer should be trained for one role, or multiple. For example, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) trains volunteers in the 4Ms, so they are equipped to assist older adults with a number of tasks and needs. You will also determine which staff member(s) will be responsible for training and overseeing volunteers.
Once key players and your program structure are in place, identify volunteer role(s) (e.g., mobility, socialization, meal assistance, bed safety, activity cart, etc.) and create a short volunteer role description.
Your volunteer role description should Include:
- Purpose/goal
- Basic responsibilities
- Core competencies
- Expectations
- Time commitment
- Physical requirements
- Characteristics of a good volunteer (e.g. reliable, flexible, patient, empathetic, willing to learn, team player, etc.)
Writing a Volunteer Role Description?
We’ve included a real-world example to help inform your work.
Volunteer Role Description
Review this role description from Meal Mates and adapt it as needed.
Recruitment
Finding Your Volunteers
The next step is recruitment. While it can be challenging to find the right people, working closely with volunteer services can help. In many cases, they will handle initial screenings for each candidate, which determine eligibility and area of interest. To attract and retain volunteers, you can offer a range of incentives. These might include:
Types of Volunteers
Volunteers come with diverse backgrounds and reasons for signing up. Among volunteers seeking patient-facing roles, you will likely encounter candidates who match the following descriptions:
- Retired adults with and without healthcare experience seeking a sense of purpose and an opportunity to give back
- Adults with remote employment who want more meaningful in-person contact
- Adults working in administrative healthcare roles seeking more patient interaction
- College students exploring or majoring in healthcare, seeking real-world experience and/or college credit
- High school students considering healthcare careers, looking to build their resume and make connections
Where to Recruit
Finding the right people means recruiting in all the right places. When it’s time to announce the role, start with your organization’s owned platforms. Then, ensure you’re able to reach potential volunteers where they already are.
- Your organization’s website (public and employee-facing)
- Social media
- Community centers
- Area agency on aging
- Faith-based bulletin boards
- Local clubs (garden, choirs, music, sewing, etc.)
- Local community events (crafts or art fairs, concerts)
- High Schools
- College/University (pre-med, nursing, rehabilitation and other healthcare majors)
Collaborating With Academic Institutions
When recruiting volunteers, the collaboration between healthcare and academic institutions can be mutually beneficial. The student builds real-world experience and earns academic credit while the hospital gains a volunteer and a potential pipeline for future employees.
In this model, healthcare staff and academic faculty work together to set learning objectives and offer guidance. For more insight into the process, we’ve provided a breakdown of how responsibilities can be shared between teams.
Faculty Instructors Responsibilities:
- Assist or lead development of Learning Agreements
- Approve educational objectives
- Monitor progress
- Provide feedback
- Evaluate outcomes
- Assign final grades
Internship Site Supervisor Responsibilities
- Provide site supervision and mentoring
- Assist with Learning Agreement development
- Evaluate student performance
- Communicate with faculty
Education
Onboarding & Age-Friendly Training
So, you have the right volunteer. What do you do next? Often, the first step is arranging a meeting between the volunteer and their program lead, so they can discuss the role in greater detail and set expectations. From there, they can create a schedule for regular check-ins and begin the onboarding and education process.
Follow basic on-boarding processes for your hospital, and add focused education that includes hands-on training for each role. Use the team that will be responsible for the volunteers to help develop the training. For instance, a PT may design the mobility training program; an ST may design the one for meal assistance.
What to Cover
Provide the basic onboarding training for your hospital. This should cover safety, parking, signing in, dress code, and other general day-to-day considerations. Ensure your volunteers have basic knowledge, including background on HIPAA, as well as role-specific education and hands-on training.
Education will also walk through the volunteer’s role and responsibilities. This usually encompasses:
- Rationale: Why the volunteer is doing this work. How it matters to patients and the healthcare system.
- Competencies: Core functions of the job. Expectations for performance.
- Eligible Patients: Who the volunteer will see, and the level of care involved. What makes the patient a good candidate for volunteer support.
- Step-by-Step Instructions: Clear directives and processes to follow. For example, volunteers should notify the clinician before going to see a patient and report back after they leave. Instructions should also break down key tasks, like mobilizing patients, using the geriatric comfort cart, and so on.
Apart from this, training should include hands-on learning. Putting the volunteer through a simulation can be effective. You can also have them shadow a more experienced volunteer to pick up core competencies. Otherwise, factor in opportunities for supervised teach-back while the volunteer is working with patients.
Adding Age-Friendly Education
In addition to standard training, your volunteers should receive some education on older adults and cognitive impairment. Content may include:
- 4Ms framework for Age-Friendly Health Systems (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, Mobility)
- Myths about aging
- Sensory loss and other normal age-related changes
- 3 Ds (Dementia, Delirium, Depression)
- Communication strategies
- Elderspeak and ageism
Age-Friendly Volunteer Training
Teach your volunteers the foundations of age-friendly care with a customizable presentation deck from GEDC.
Add your logo, and edit to include your hospital’s priorities.
Building a Volunteer Training Program?
We’ve included a real-world example to help inform your work.
Sample Volunteer Training Agenda
See what training materials one hospital provided for their Meal Mates volunteers.
Legal and Policy Issues
Important Considerations
When developing a volunteer program, there are basic regulatory requirements to navigate. Explore the following legal and policy issues and plan your program with confidence.
Onboarding and education are also critical to a successful volunteer program. Make sure you are following basic on-boarding processes and create focused education that includes hands-on training for each role. For instance, a PT may design the mobility training program; an ST may design the one for meal assistance.
✓
- Volunteers must adhere to strict HIPAA rules
- Volunteers should demonstrate competency in each role they are trained for
- Facility must provide adequate training and mentoring to ensure the volunteer is comfortable in their role
- Facility must inform staff of the volunteer’s role and outline what they can expect
- Facility should communicate what staff can do to support the volunteer’s success
- Volunteers must notify a staff member before and after visiting a patient to avoid a potentially inappropriate encounter, and to update staff on the patient’s needs
- Risk manager should approve all volunteer role descriptions
✕
- Volunteer role descriptions must not match those of paid staff members
- Staff members must not volunteer to do the work they are paid for, even when off the clock
- Volunteers should not interact with patients on isolation precautions
A Note on Patient Mobilization
Allowing trained volunteers to mobilize hospitalized patients carries low risk when supported by strict protocols, formal training, and clear boundaries. Clinical evidence shows that the immense risks of patient immobility (such as muscle wasting, blood clots, delirium, and functional decline) generally outweigh the risks of using volunteers.
Success Stories
Discover Successful Volunteer Programs
Looking for real-world inspiration? Find examples of successful volunteer programs and success stories here.
AGS CoCare®: The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP)
An evidence-based program designed to prevent delirium and functional decline in hospitalized older patients.
Subject Matter Expert
Christine Waszynski, DNP, APRN, GNP-BC, FAAN
Christine Waszynski, DNP, APRN, GNP-BC, FAAN, is a highly distinguished geriatric nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist with more than four decades of experience caring for older adults across the full continuum of care, including emergency, acute, post-acute, long-term, and community settings. A nationally recognized leader in delirium and dementia care, she has dedicated her career to advancing prevention, early identification, and care-process redesign, with a particular focus on translating evidence into practical, frontline workflows. She currently serves as the “mentation expert” for the 4Ms framework through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and is a past president and long-standing leader in the American Delirium Society.
Within the BRAIN Initiative, her experience directly supports the design team’s core mandate to synthesize real-world best practices into practical, implementation-ready toolkits that can be adopted broadly across hospitals to improve dementia-capable care.