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The use of volunteers to help older people mobilise in hospital: a systematic review

The use of volunteers to help older people mobilise in hospital: a systematic review
The use of volunteers to help older people mobilise in hospital: a systematic review
Aims and objectives: To review current evidence for the use of volunteers to mobilise older acute medical inpatients.
Background: Immobility in hospital is associated with poor healthcare outcomes in older people but maintaining mobility is frequently compromised due to time pressures experienced by clinical staff. Volunteers are established in many hospitals, usually involved in indirect patient care. Recent evidence suggests that trained mealtime volunteers had a positive impact on patients and hospital staff. It is unclear whether volunteers can help older inpatients to mobilise.
Design: Systematic review
Methods: We searched Cochrane, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, AMED and Google databases using MeSH headings and keywords within six key themes: inpatients, older, mobility/exercise, delirium, falls and volunteers. Full texts of relevant articles were retrieved and reference lists reviewed.
Results: Of the 2428 articles that were identified, two scientific studies and three reports on quality improvement initiatives were included in the final review. One study included volunteer assisted mobilisation as part of a delirium prevention intervention (HELP).The second study has not reported yet (MOVE ON). The contribution of volunteers in both is unclear. Three quality improvement initiatives trained volunteers to help mobilise patients. They were not formally evaluated but report positive effects of the volunteers on patient and staff satisfaction.
Conclusions: This review has identified a lack of scientific evidence for the use of volunteers in mobilising older medical inpatients, but quality improvement initiatives suggest that volunteers can be employed in this role with reports of staff and patient satisfaction: this is an area for further development and evaluation.
Relevance to clinical practice: This review outlines the evidence for the involvement of volunteers in maintaining patients’ mobility, identifies mobilisation protocols that have been used, the need to train volunteers and for formal evaluation of volunteers in this role.
0962-1067
3102-3112
Baczynska, Alicja M.
54390ea5-a6f8-425d-9265-03194c9869ee
Lim, Stephen ER
dd2bfbd7-7f74-4365-b77e-9989f6408ddc
Sayer, Avan A.
fb4c2053-6d51-4fc1-9489-c3cb431b0ffb
Roberts, Helen C.
5ea688b1-ef7a-4173-9da0-26290e18f253
Baczynska, Alicja M.
54390ea5-a6f8-425d-9265-03194c9869ee
Lim, Stephen ER
dd2bfbd7-7f74-4365-b77e-9989f6408ddc
Sayer, Avan A.
fb4c2053-6d51-4fc1-9489-c3cb431b0ffb
Roberts, Helen C.
5ea688b1-ef7a-4173-9da0-26290e18f253

Baczynska, Alicja M., Lim, Stephen ER, Sayer, Avan A. and Roberts, Helen C. (2016) The use of volunteers to help older people mobilise in hospital: a systematic review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 25 (21-22), 3102-3112. (doi:10.1111/jocn.13317). (PMID:27477624)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Aims and objectives: To review current evidence for the use of volunteers to mobilise older acute medical inpatients.
Background: Immobility in hospital is associated with poor healthcare outcomes in older people but maintaining mobility is frequently compromised due to time pressures experienced by clinical staff. Volunteers are established in many hospitals, usually involved in indirect patient care. Recent evidence suggests that trained mealtime volunteers had a positive impact on patients and hospital staff. It is unclear whether volunteers can help older inpatients to mobilise.
Design: Systematic review
Methods: We searched Cochrane, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, AMED and Google databases using MeSH headings and keywords within six key themes: inpatients, older, mobility/exercise, delirium, falls and volunteers. Full texts of relevant articles were retrieved and reference lists reviewed.
Results: Of the 2428 articles that were identified, two scientific studies and three reports on quality improvement initiatives were included in the final review. One study included volunteer assisted mobilisation as part of a delirium prevention intervention (HELP).The second study has not reported yet (MOVE ON). The contribution of volunteers in both is unclear. Three quality improvement initiatives trained volunteers to help mobilise patients. They were not formally evaluated but report positive effects of the volunteers on patient and staff satisfaction.
Conclusions: This review has identified a lack of scientific evidence for the use of volunteers in mobilising older medical inpatients, but quality improvement initiatives suggest that volunteers can be employed in this role with reports of staff and patient satisfaction: this is an area for further development and evaluation.
Relevance to clinical practice: This review outlines the evidence for the involvement of volunteers in maintaining patients’ mobility, identifies mobilisation protocols that have been used, the need to train volunteers and for formal evaluation of volunteers in this role.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 26 March 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 August 2016
Published date: November 2016
Organisations: Faculty of Medicine

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 393604
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/393604
ISSN: 0962-1067
PURE UUID: 1eea7521-38eb-4222-8867-0abb08ab9b9b
ORCID for Stephen ER Lim: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2496-2362
ORCID for Helen C. Roberts: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5291-1880

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Date deposited: 29 Apr 2016 08:52
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:32

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Contributors

Author: Alicja M. Baczynska
Author: Stephen ER Lim ORCID iD
Author: Avan A. Sayer

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