Building a More Competent Reach Out Volunteer Through Improved Training Methods

Building a More Competent Reach Out Volunteer Through Improved Training Methods

Presenter(s)

Jordan James Koczenasz, Taylor Nicole Vernot

Description

As a free clinic for the uninsured, Reach Out of Montgomery County operates primarily through the action of volunteers in order to serve patients in a low-cost manner. In 2017, volunteers at Reach Out logged 9,585 hours in service of the uninsured (2017 Annual Report 3). In order for the clinic to run efficiently, volunteers should be confident in their ability to triage, take vitals, and document all information. However, there is no concrete training plan currently put into place, so new volunteers are often thrown into the clinic setting and expected to learn as they go. This method creates a volunteer with an inconsistent and often incomplete knowledge of how the clinic operates and may lead to certain aspects of the patient’s visit that are overlooked or taken care of incorrectly. It is our goal to better prepare incoming volunteers for the expectations of the clinic so they can maintain a high quality of care for the patients. We will do this by promoting a system where new volunteers shadow an experienced individual to learn the proper techniques of triaging and taking vitals. We will also supplement this by creating a laminated resource sheet volunteers can keep with them for quick access to any of the information or techniques they have learned. This poster will summarize the training method and the techniques the volunteers will learn along with laying out the resource sheet we will be designing for Reach Out’s use.

Publication Date

4-24-2019

Project Designation

Capstone Project

Primary Advisor

Zaiba Malik, Kathleen C. Scheltens

Primary Advisor's Department

Pre Med Program

Keywords

Stander Symposium project

Building a More Competent Reach Out Volunteer Through Improved Training Methods

Share

COinS