Roles ascribed to volunteers. An examination of different types of hospice organizations.
Volunteers have been the hallmark of the hospice movement since its U.S. inception in 1973. As part of the National Hospice Study, volunteer hours and activities were reported monthly in forth participating hospices nationwide. Most volunteers were white females with at least a high school education. The attitude of paid staff toward volunteers was overwhelmingly positive. Overall, the level of volunteer involvement is approximately 1.5 hours per patient each day he or she spends in the hospice program. This breaks down to nearly .80 hours of direct patient care and .70 hours devoted to other activities. While the most prevalent use of volunteers is in the provision of direct patient care in freestanding hospices, volunteers also spend a large proportion of their time in the performance of administrative activities.
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006738:Hospices; D006801:Humans; D012380:Role; D014481:United States; D014838:Volunteers; D000078329:Workforce