What Palliative Care Volunteers Would Like to Know About the Patients They Are Being Asked to Support

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the kind of information palliative care volunteers would like to know about the patients they are being asked to support before they actually meet with them for the first time. Thirty-one palliative care volunteers responded to a brief questionnaire, developed for this study. At least half of the volunteers indicated that their coordinator provided them with the following patient information: (1) the patient’s support system/family circumstances (eg, if there is any family),(2) the patient’s diagnosis/disease, (3) the patient’s age, and (4) the patient’s location (address/room number). Overall, the volunteers were very satisfied with the information their coordinators passed along to them. Volunteers rated medical information (eg, the patient’s diagnosis) and relationship information (eg, the patient’s marital status) as being more important to them than personal information (eg, the patient’s interests and hobbies). The 3 most important sources of patient information, mentioned by at least half of the volunteers, were (1) their coordinator, (2) the patient’s family members, and (3) the patient himself or herself. Only a few volunteers described issues around confidentiality that had arisen in their work (eg, being a volunteer in a small town, where people know what you are doing).