MMHA 6452 Week 7 Volunteer Role Description Example

Role Description: Main Site Wayfinding and Waiting Room Volunteer, Westfall Community Health Center

Student Name

Walden University

MMHA 6452: Board Governance and Volunteer Management

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Role Description: Main Site Wayfinding and Waiting Room Volunteer, Westfall Community Health Center

Purpose of the Role

Patients arriving at Westfall's main site find their way to the right check-in point, waiting room or appointment area within a few minutes of entering, and patients waiting more than 20 minutes are offered an update from staff. The role supports the front desk team at the busiest times of day so that registration staff can focus on registration. It was proposed by the Patient Advisory Council, which reported that first-time patients often wait in the wrong line.

Tasks

1. Greet each person entering the main entrance during the shift and ask whether they need directions.

2. Walk patients who ask for help to the correct check-in point, laboratory, pharmacy window or behavioral health suite.

3. Point out restrooms, water, the children's corner and the interpreter phone at each check-in point.

4. Every 20 minutes, check the waiting room list provided by the front desk supervisor and tell the supervisor which patients have waited more than 20 minutes since check-in.

5. Keep the waiting room tidy: return chairs, restock printed materials approved by the center and report spills or hazards to the supervisor at once.

6. Hand patients the center's printed information sheets on the sliding fee discount and patient rights when they ask, and refer any questions about them to registration staff.

7. Record the number of people assisted on the shift log before leaving.

What the Role Does Not Include

This role does not include any clinical task or health advice, including taking temperatures, asking about symptoms or suggesting whether a patient should be seen. It does not include interpreting for patients, even in a language the volunteer speaks; patients needing an interpreter are connected to the center's interpreter service. It does not include completing or reviewing insurance, Medicaid or sliding fee applications, which require trained staff or certified assisters. It does not include escorting patients into exam rooms, handling medications or specimens, or accessing the electronic health record. Volunteers do not ask patients why they are visiting. If a patient appears unwell, distressed or in danger, the volunteer tells the supervisor immediately and stays with the patient until staff arrive.

These exclusions are written out because volunteers, wanting to help, often drift toward tasks that feel helpful but carry risk. Research on volunteer management suggests that clarity about boundaries protects volunteers as well as the people they serve (Studer, 2016).

Commitment

One shift of three hours per week, on a regular weekday morning or early afternoon, which are the busiest periods at the main site. A minimum commitment of six months, so that volunteers learn the building and the staff learn them. Volunteers who need to miss a shift tell the coordinator at least 24 hours ahead when possible. Seasonal or one-time volunteering is not offered in this role, because wayfinding depends on knowing the building and the staff.

Requirements

Volunteers must be at least 18 years old, because the role involves unaccompanied contact with adult patients in public areas (tasks 1 and 2). They must be able to walk the length of the building several times a shift (task 2). They must complete screening at the level the center's protocol sets for public-area roles and the center's privacy training, because they will see names on the waiting room list and may overhear patient information (task 4); federal privacy rules treat unpaid helpers under the center's direction as members of its workforce (45 C.F.R. § 160.103). They must complete the volunteer orientation, including the boundaries session (all tasks). Speaking a language other than English is welcome but not required.

Supervision

Volunteers report to the front desk supervisor on duty, who is on site throughout the shift and is the volunteer's first contact for any question. The volunteer program coordinator handles scheduling, training and any concern a volunteer prefers not to raise with the supervisor.

Review and Ending the Role

The coordinator and the front desk supervisor meet with each volunteer after the first month and every six months thereafter to ask what is working, whether the role matches what was described and whether the volunteer wants to continue. Volunteers may end their service at any time; the center asks for two weeks' notice and offers a short exit conversation. The center may end a volunteer's service for repeated missed shifts or for breaching the exclusions above, after a conversation with the coordinator except in cases of risk to patients. Hospital volunteers who feel their work is valued and well organized tend to stay longer (Hotchkiss et al., 2014), and the review conversations are where that value is shown.

Before the First Shift

Before working a first shift, each volunteer completes the center's volunteer orientation, which covers privacy, safety and the boundaries listed above; tours the main site with the coordinator, including every destination named in task 2; and shadows an experienced volunteer or the front desk supervisor for one full shift. The volunteer receives a badge that says Volunteer in large type, so patients do not mistake the volunteer for clinical staff, and a one-page card listing the tasks the role excludes and the number to call for the supervisor. Volunteers who speak a language other than English are reminded at this point that they connect patients to the interpreter service rather than interpreting themselves.

Why This Role Comes First

Wayfinding is the first role the center proposes because it addresses a problem patients have named, it involves no clinical contact and it sits at the second of the protocol's three access levels. It also lets the center learn how to recruit, train, schedule and supervise volunteers before taking on roles with more patient contact. Volunteer programs succeed when the work is meaningful and the organization is ready to support it (Musick & Wilson, 2008), and starting with a well-bounded role builds that readiness. If the role works at the main site, the same description, adjusted for each building, can be used at the other three sites.

References

Definitions, 45 C.F.R. § 160.103 (2024).

Hotchkiss, R. B., Unruh, L., & Fottler, M. D. (2014). The role, measurement, and impact of volunteerism in hospitals. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 43(6), 1111-1128. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764014549057

Musick, M. A., & Wilson, J. (2008). Volunteers: A social profile. Indiana University Press.

Studer, S. (2016). Volunteer management: Responding to the uniqueness of volunteers. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 45(4), 688-714. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764015597786