Nursing

Youth movement: How to plant an early healthcare seed

Nurse Leader Weekly, December 11, 2006

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The Junior Volunteer program at Blue Mountain Health System in Lehighton, PA, was pretty basic a couple of years ago. It was packed with detail and covered all the basics, but it lacked a certain pop.

Enter staff development coordinator Candy Madera, RN, BSN, and manager of staff development Patricia Reilly, RN, BC, MBA.

Madera and Reilly took the information from the old program, added a twist or two, and came up with a new, exciting model that 15 volunteers enjoyed last summer. Healthcare seeds were planted and relationships were developed that will hopefully open doors down the road.

Setting up the program

So, why bother with a recruiting program such as this, which may not yield results for several years? Why deal with the paperwork and all the supervision?

Hospitals can always use an extra set of hands, Reilly says. "If you can get someone to help without a cost, it's definitely a benefit," she says.

Plus, Reilly adds, it helps the students. In order to graduate, many high school students now need to complete volunteer work.

"But we didn't just take anyone off the street," says Madera. "We did a lot of up-front work." Before any students stepped foot in the corridors, they needed to

  • provide parental consent
  • provide references
  • fill out an application
  • sit down for an interview

"We wanted to know what they wanted to do and why they wanted to do it," Reilly says.

A creative welcome

Reilly and Madera knew that setting up the orientation was definitely one of the most important parts to the program. Getting students off on the right foot was essential to them having a successful and worthwhile experience.

In three short hours, everything from the expectations of a volunteer to chemical safety was covered.

The group was also asked to demonstrate competencies that would be needed during the time spent working at the hospital. They included

  • basic wheelchair use
  • making an unoccupied bed
  • telephone etiquette
  • distributing water

The summer and beyond

At the end of orientation, the students filled out a calendar, picking up shifts throughout the summer. Most worked either from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The weekday shifts ended up working out fine, and the junior volunteers-pinned with identification badges-signed in and out of their shifts, helping out wherever they were needed.

Editor's note: This excerpt was adapted from Recruitment & Retention Monthly, December 2006, HCPro, Inc.



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