advocate for nursing home residents = clinical?

[shehak20000]

Hi. I'm sorry to ask the age old question, but I have to:

so...is this clinical? I have posted the information for the volunteer position below:
Advocates, are individuals who commit to visit residents in nursing homes to listen, educate, advocate, and empower residents and their families. They help monitor conditions in the home and agree to a one-year commitment to visit a selected home (or homes) two to three times per month.

Volunteer advocates in the Citizens for Better Care Long Term Care Ombudsman program uphold the rights of Michigan's nursing home residents. CBC volunteers work to ensure that residents are treated in the same way people who live at home take for granted. Trained volunteer advocates are the key to CBC's program. It is a serious volunteer job which can have a meaningful effect on the lives of nursing home residents.

In many nursing homes the volunteer advocate is seen as an educational resource for staff as well as residents.

Volunteer Advocate Training

Volunteers attend at least six hours of training before they are assigned to a nursing home. Training acquaints them with life in nursing homes. This orientation includes information on:

Philosophy of the CBC Ombudsman Program
Characteristics of Nursing Homes
Resident's Rights
Licensing and Regulation of Nursing Homes
Problems in Nursing Homes
The Role of Volunteer Advocates
Communication Skills
Nursing Home Visit Protocol
Additional trainings are held regularly. Topics range from how to organize family councils to updates on new legislation. They also let volunteers meet and share experience. Volunteers initially visit their assigned nursing home with a staff member, someone they can continue to count on for guidance.

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so what do you guys think?

I think it's a great opportunity because you definitely get to see the negative side of long term care and are showing that you are trying to do something about that.....but is it clinical? I mean, you are spending time with the residents in a nursing home....?

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[ryandote]

Hi. I'm sorry to ask the age old question, but I have to:

so...is this clinical? I have posted the information for the volunteer position below:
Advocates, are individuals who commit to visit residents in nursing homes to listen, educate, advocate, and empower residents and their families. They help monitor conditions in the home and agree to a one-year commitment to visit a selected home (or homes) two to three times per month.

Volunteer advocates in the Citizens for Better Care Long Term Care Ombudsman program uphold the rights of Michigan's nursing home residents. CBC volunteers work to ensure that residents are treated in the same way people who live at home take for granted. Trained volunteer advocates are the key to CBC's program. It is a serious volunteer job which can have a meaningful effect on the lives of nursing home residents.

In many nursing homes the volunteer advocate is seen as an educational resource for staff as well as residents.

Volunteer Advocate Training

Volunteers attend at least six hours of training before they are assigned to a nursing home. Training acquaints them with life in nursing homes. This orientation includes information on:

Philosophy of the CBC Ombudsman Program
Characteristics of Nursing Homes
Resident's Rights
Licensing and Regulation of Nursing Homes
Problems in Nursing Homes
The Role of Volunteer Advocates
Communication Skills
Nursing Home Visit Protocol
Additional trainings are held regularly. Topics range from how to organize family councils to updates on new legislation. They also let volunteers meet and share experience. Volunteers initially visit their assigned nursing home with a staff member, someone they can continue to count on for guidance.

-----------------------------------------

so what do you guys think?

I think it's a great opportunity because you definitely get to see the negative side of long term care and are showing that you are trying to do something about that.....but is it clinical? I mean, you are spending time with the residents in a nursing home....?

In my humble opinion, that isn't clinical. I don't exactly know how to explain why, either. Clinical feels like you should be interacting with patients in a way that diagnoses/treats a very specific physical problem. I don't know...

 

[LizzyM]

If you are lucky enough to get an adcom member who specializes in geriatrics they will eat this up! If you are going to meeting with and talking with nursing home patients (and I mean no disrespect by this) you will be meeting LizzyM's test of "is it clinical?" (see below).

These items sound particularly useful:
Characteristics of Nursing Homes
Resident's Rights
Licensing and Regulation of Nursing Homes
Problems in Nursing Homes
Communication Skills

Most medical students don't learn this stuff. It does get covered in family practice residencies and in fellowship training for internists who are specializing in the care of the aged (geriatrics).

 

[asunshine]

you should be interacting with patients in a way that diagnoses/treats a very specific physical problem.

There is not a volunteer out there that can do that.

Sounds like an excellent position, more hands-on than your general ER volunteering. You'll get to know what it feels like to be a NH resident--that kind of empathy is hard to come by 😉.

 

[ryandote]

There is not a volunteer out there that can do that.

Sounds like an excellent position, more hands-on than your general ER volunteering. You'll get to know what it feels like to be a NH resident--that kind of empathy is hard to come by 😉.

Maybe that's why it is extremely hard to get "clinical" work as a volunteer, the liability?

I held down little kids for stitches quite a few times at the local ER that I volunteered in. Getting people blankets, helping them transfer to wheelchairs, taking them to x-rays, etc. That's the hands-on that I'm talking about. I have been told by the University of Utah in particular that "if you're not touching patients, it's not a clinical experience."

That obviously doesn't make it true for all schools, but that's my opinion.