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Hospital Volunteers: How They Impact Patient Satisfaction Scores and Hospital Performance

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Submitted By annie1443
Words 2320
Pages 10
Introduction
Hospital volunteers come in all shapes and sizes. High school students, college students, retirees, stay at home moms, clowns and even the four-legged variety can all be found volunteering at a local hospital.
These types of volunteers serve for many reasons. Retirees are looking for ways to serve in the community. Volunteering also helps retirees make the transition from full-time employment to retirement. High school students need volunteer hours for their college applications. The four-legged volunteers with their human companions brighten the day of patients that may be missing their pets during a hospital stay. Clown volunteers just love clowning around with patients and staff members.
Hospital volunteers impact a patient’s satisfaction during a hospital stay. Volunteers serve in many areas of a hospital. Volunteers provide a service to the hospital and this service can potentially increase a hospital’s performance. This paper will address how utilizing volunteers can impact a hospital’s performance as well as help increase patient satisfaction scores.
The Value of Volunteers
According to the Independent Sector website, the current value of volunteer time for the State of Texas is $22.57 per hour. The national average is $22.14 per hour (www.independentsector.org). Volunteerism in the hospital setting has expanded because of the hospital’s need to provide a higher level of quality care to its patients. Volunteers can help a hospital improve the patient experience. Volunteers also provide a hospital with cost savings in areas where an extra set of hands are needed (Hotchkiss, 2009).
The primary costs involved in a hospital volunteer program include: health screening, criminal background check, volunteer uniforms, meal costs, parking, annual volunteer week celebration events, holiday luncheons, orientation and training. Even

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