Eight Tips for Healthcare Volunteer Success (Veterans Video 1:27)

      

Eight Tips for Healthcare Volunteer Success 

1)     Honor your win-win journey. You and your patients come together in relationships of mutual healing and growth.

2)     Be present with patients. Listen with your heart, and focus on improving their quality of life.

3)     Try different doors to reach them, especially those who have dementia. Let them help you navigate your way into their world.

4)     Know your piece in the puzzle. Make rules of etiquette and professional ethics routine.

5)     Untie your knots. Doubt, confusion, sadness, and guilt are part of caregiving. Seek support, and maintain balance in your own life.

6)     Pick up a turtle. If you see a turtle on a fence post, somebody helped to put it there. Be a positive role model for others.

7)     Write death sentences. Have your own end-of-life advance directives, finances, and property wishes recorded and available. 

8)     Expect rainbow smiles that hug you so tightly you feel ribs of joy press against your essence. That’s the greatness of volunteering! 

Frances Shani Parker, Author
Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes

This video features healthcare volunteers sharing their stories of caregiving America’s veterans. Providing greatly needed and appreciated assistance, volunteers serve in places such as hospital wards, nursing homes, outpatient clinics, community-based volunteer programs, end-of-life programs, and respite care programs.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Geriatrics Medical Students, Where Are You? (Research, Video 2:34)

If you watch television, even on a limited basis, you’ve probably noticed all the “doctor shows” about general health and especially plastic surgery. You might wonder why there aren’t more shows focused on medical care of older adults. After all, they are the fastest growing population. But medical students aren’t rushing to the geriatrics field.

An overview of 20 literature studies reveals the factors influencing medical students’ preferences:

1) They prefer working with young patients.

2) They would rather deal with diseases that can be cured.

3) Older patients are more complicated and often have multiple problems.

4) There is not much status in the geriatric field.

5)  Money is also not as lucrative. (Remember those enormous student loans have to be paid.)

The lack of contact most medical students have had with the rewarding aspects of being a geriatrics doctor working with this population is also an influential factor. Many medical schools are addressing this concern by providing students with more knowledge about aging research and more training with the older population. Even research affirms the job satisfaction of this specialty.

More education is needed by our medical systems to accommodate our aging population and encourage more students to choose this field. Meet Dr. Nathan Stall, a young man who was the only one with a geriatrics specialty in his medical school graduating class:

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog