- Medical students as volunteers
- Volunteers in community settings
- Volunteering with GPs
It’s generally understood that most people’s quality of life is dependent on a whole range of social and economic factors which have an impact on their health and well-being. Most people access health care through their GP but most of medical training is very scientific and students only spend eight weeks in general practice over six years. MORE was set up to help bridge that gap, supported by Imperial College Student Volunteering and Medsin, a network of healthcare students.
Medical students from Imperial College London approached two GP practices in Hammersmith where they already had links and suggested a befriending scheme for patients who were isolated and housebound through ill-health, age or disability. This has been so successful that scheme is now looking to expand to other practices.
How the scheme works
The GP or Community Nurse identifies patients whom they know to be isolated and writes to them asking if they would like a volunteer visitor associated with the practice. If the patient is interested their phone number is passed onto the volunteer who makes contact and arranges suitable times. The volunteer be-frienders visit weekly or fortnightly, usually in pairs, one of whom is older and more experienced. The be-frienders complete a simple record of each visit which is used to monitor what they are doing, and to identify if there are any problems which can’t be easily resolved. Although the volunteers don’t commit to visit during the holidays, medical students in years 4-6 don’t have such long holidays, and often volunteers will send postcards or keep in touch in other ways when they’re away which means the service continues all year round.
The volunteers don’t give medical advice or carry out practical tasks but often the visits identify where an individual does need help such as
- Understanding their medication and how it works
- Getting in and out of the bath
- Speech and language therapy
As a result of this the volunteers often go and find out about what services are available in the community and how they can be accessed, for the benefit of the patient.
Recruitment, selection, induction and supervision
Volunteers are recruited through university freshers fairs, student magazines and word of mouth. At the moment all the volunteers are medical students who have previously been CRB checked, although the scheme could be extended to students in other areas such as nursing. Volunteers receive training in communications, based on a module they will do as part of their formal training, as well as boundaries, confidentiality etc, before they start volunteering and the GP meets with all the volunteers monthly for group supervision. Volunteers can also seek advice from MORE if they need help or want to talk things through.
Benefits
For patients: a regular visitor for people who are otherwise very isolated and a chance to talk through issues that concern them that they think are too trivial for the doctor, such as the fact that they have difficulty getting in and out of the bath
The student volunteers develop
- a much broader understanding of community needs and how communities work
- an understanding of other healthcare services and how to access them
- a more informed view of what GP practice is like
Impact on GPs: some GPs have developed a better understanding of the needs of individual patients, such as the need to better explain about medication or to ask about other aspects of the patient’s life to better understand their ill-health
Further information
katherine_carroll@hotmail.com
http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/medic/medsin/projects.htm
