Making Every Interaction Count: Developing A Dedicated Interdisciplinary Volunteer Program for Patients with Congenital Heart Disease

Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at increased risk of neurodevelopment impairments.  Potential risk factors include being left alone for long periods of time with minimal stimulation, interaction, or opportunity to engage in developmentally appropriate play.  An interdisciplinary team was formed and posited that volunteers may be an underutilized resource to help providers and families deliver neurodevelopmental care to pediatric cardiology patients.  That team developed a volunteer program specific to this high-risk chronic population, with the goal of volunteers providing targeted developmental care during patient interactions.  This webinar will outline the process of creating this program, the impact of interdisciplinary teamwork and discuss the benefits of training hospital volunteers to complete specific developmental support within their volunteer scope for any chronic patient population.

Suggested Domain: Assessment

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will identify the need for a dedicated volunteer program within a chronic inpatient setting, and why it differs from a generalized volunteer program

2. Participants will review data collected demonstrating the heightened impact of this program on patients, families, team members and volunteers

3. Participants will gather resources and tips on developing a dedicated volunteer program for any chronic or at-risk inpatient population

4. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions to an interdisciplinary group of presenters, gaining further insight or ideas for developing a dedicated volunteer program