Question for nurses

MarynJoe

What are your expectations for hospital volunteers?  If you go into a patient's room and ask them to do something (in this case, chatting with a patient), can they tell you 'hang on, I'm busy"?  Can they come into the nurses lounge and hang out?  If you tell them to do something, can they just say 'no, that's not my job?"  (assuming the things you ask are within the scope of what volunteers normally do)  If the volunteer says/does these things, what would you do?  What is the expected behavior of a volunteer?

zitiqueen

MarynJoe:

What are your expectations for hospital volunteers?  If you go into a patient's room and ask them to do something, can they tell you 'hang on, I'm busy"?  Can they come into the nurses lounge and hang out?  If you tell them to do something, can they just say 'no, that's not my job?"  (assuming the things you ask are like changing sheets, prepping rooms, etc)  If the volunteer says/does these things, what would you do?  What is the expected behavior of a volunteer?

I'd say no too. In any hospital I've worked in, that's housekeeping's job. What's next, drawing blood? Scrubbing in for surgery? Delivering the bad news to a family that their relative just died?

Why shouldn't they be able to tell you they're busy if they are indeed busy?

Get with the head of the volunteer program. They should be able to lay out what the volunteers can and can't do. There may be liability reasons for why certain things can only be done by employees of the hospital.

MarynJoe

In this situation, the volunteers do change sheets and prep rooms, but this one decided that now she doesn't want to do it anymore.  Take away the example of what they were asked to do and insert anything that the volunteers art your hospital normally do.  How does that affect your answer?  I'm going to change the question, though, because changing sheets was an example, and I'd like answers based on the refusal to follow nurses orders.

Sue/Mike

As long as they don't get in my way, I don't care what they do.  Technically I'm responsible for everything on the patient anyways.  If they say no, then OK.  I'd rather that than have them say "Yes, I'll take care of that," and then not.

However, if a volunteer is consistently not doing anything, I'd email the coordinator.

MareLovely

Ours only deliver mail to patients and escort patients out via wheelchair at discharge. Sometimes we have ones that will answer call lights and stock nurse servers in the summer.  I suppose if it was a certain person always disregarding what you ask, then I'd get with their coordinator.