Volunteers Doing Vitals in Hospital: How to get the okay?

[Frenetic242]

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Hi,

I am a premed volunteer at my local hospital and am helping the volunteer department expand the roles of volunteers. Having read about other volunteers doing vitals at hospitals on this forum, I am wondering if anyone knows what a hospital or volunteer department must do in order to make it okay for volunteers to do vitals?

 

[bigM6029]

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[candbgirl]

Maybe develop training sessions for volunteers interested in expanding their roles of interaction with patients. As volunteers are trained and staff views and policy are changed it might become realistic for this to happen. I'm not really sure this is a good goal in a hospital. Maybe a nursing home but I'm uncomfortable with a volunteer doing this in a hospital, except maybe under very close supervision. But that's just me.


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[Atom612]

I'd take whatever you read on here with a grain of salt. For hospitals, I would imagine it's a huge liability issue. Tracking a patient's vital signs are important in managing their care. While taking vitals isn't necessarily difficult, obtaining an incorrect set of vitals could lead to other medical errors that could put the hospital under scrutiny for letting an under-trained/uncertified non-employee obtain an important part of the patient's medical record. Every hospital is different in the amount of risk it is willing to take, but I would not think most would be open to allowing volunteers to take official vital signs without some oversight by a trained staff member. But it would be cheaper and more efficient for that staff member to just do it themselves.


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[timetraveling]

I'd take whatever you read on here with a grain of salt. For hospitals, I would imagine it's a huge liability issue. Tracking a patient's vital signs are important in managing their care. While taking vitals isn't necessarily difficult, obtaining an incorrect set of vitals could lead to other medical errors that could put the hospital under scrutiny for letting an under-trained/uncertified non-employee obtain an important part of the patient's medical record. Every hospital is different in the amount of risk it is willing to take, but I would not think most would be open to allowing volunteers to take official vital signs without some oversight by a trained staff member. But it would be cheaper and more efficient for that staff member to just do it themselves.


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I agree. Good luck finding a hospital letting you do this, though. Free clinics do sometimes.

 

[LizzyM]

With inpatients, there would be too much risk, IMO. It is important to know what would be outside of the norm for patients of that type and for that patient in particular and to act on the information (inform an RN, resident, attending, etc). Furthermore, the measuring of vitals on a regular schedule is part of a greater assessment of patient well being that goes beyond measuring blood pressure, temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate.

In an outpatient setting, the risk of missing something and hurting the patient would be far less, I think.

You don't need to do this, and it reduces the patients to objects. Better you should learn to be comfortable meeting strangers and talking to them and getting to know their hopes and concerns than measuring their vitals.

 

[shoal007]

yup agree with the above. they are called vital signs for a reason. In the ED, i verify all vitals myself as I find them very important.

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[Domepiece]

The majority of this determination comes from hospital administration; getting the okay from the legal department to do this is probably the major roadblock to having volunteers shoulder this kind of responsibility. Cope Health Scholars in California is a company that has contracts with a number of hospitals to train and provide volunteers, some in which volunteers are allowed to do vitals and some where they are not due to the final determination by each individual hospital. If you are in the role of expanding your hospital's volunteer department, I would reach out to this organization and ask how they have gotten their volunteers this responsibility. Contact info here. Reaching out to administration in your own hospital may also be fruitful.

 

[Boogy'sChick15]

The majority of this determination comes from hospital administration; getting the okay from the legal department to do this is probably the major roadblock to having volunteers shoulder this kind of responsibility. Cope Health Scholars in California is a company that has contracts with a number of hospitals to train and provide volunteers, some in which volunteers are allowed to do vitals and some where they are not due to the final determination by each individual hospital. If you are in the role of expanding your hospital's volunteer department, I would reach out to this organization and ask how they have gotten their volunteers this responsibility. Contact info here. Reaching out to administration in your own hospital may also be fruitful.

+1.
I am a volunteer for COPE at one of the hospitals here in CA, and as far as I know the management team that is in charge of these programs are very friendly and are always looking for ways to expand. I believe that COPE has now expanded to a few Kaiser hospitals in other cities.

Us volunteers are allowed to take vitals, bathe, change, feed, transport, and discharge patients. I also do whatever is asked of me by the nurses, PA, physicians, such as restraining patients during quick procedures, sometimes assisting (had to hold a wound together so the PA could stitch it up), and when needed, perform CPR. Most of what we do is unsupervised, unless we are uncomfortable or it requires a Nurse, PA, etc.
We had to do 3 days, 30 hrs in total, of training in order to be able to join this program, as well as pass a written and practical test. Took a lot of work, but in return we get to experience more than just restocking supplies.

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[Turkishking]

The PCA's at my hospital take vitals. The most I can do is answer call lights. Each hospital is different. I volunteered at a major hospital downtown, and I stocked shelves.

 

[armstrbp]

I think some of us are confusing your actual question about the process a department goes through to allow volunteers to take vitals with how you would personally take vitals in an environment where it otherwise doesn't happen.

For the department side of things, I think the quick answer is money and paperwork. For your side of things, I think it would be worth considering a CNA course or something of the like if this is what you want to do. The vast majority of volunteering roles will be working on the clerical side or working as a patient companion, both of which are great things in and of themselves. It's probably to your benefit and the organization's to get some kind of training before doing vitals. The $500 CNA course can allow you to go a few different directions and get your feet wet.

 

[libertyyne]

There is no sane hospital administrator that would allow untrained volunteers with spotty coverage to take V/S in an inpatient setting. I agree with the poster above that obtaining CNA competencies for all volunteers would open up the possibility of allowing volunteers to take V/S. Then the questions is , will all volunteers fork out 500 dollars to obtain the CNA certifcate? who will manage to make sure the competencies will be up to date? Will you have designated mandatory shifts 8 hours per shift to take V/S? Is there a union at the hospital that would object from Volunteers performing patient care? It is too much headache for too little pay off for the administrators. I am sure there are other ways to show compassion and increase patient exposure for the volunteers compared to taking V/S.