The evidence on intentional rounding is mixed and suggests that the introduction of intentional rounding should be accompanied by a protocol for robust evaluation to measure the impact of this process change. This should be accompanied by standardised reporting measures to enable comparisons and contribute to the quality of available evidence on intentional rounding.

Aim To examine the available evidence on the effects of care and support provided by volunteers on the health outcomes of older adults in acute care services. Background Acute hospital inpatient populations are becoming older, and this presents the potential for poorer health outcomes. Factors such as chronic health conditions, polypharmacy and cognitive and functional decline are associated with increased risk of health care‐related harm, such as falls, delirium and poor nutrition. To minimise the risk of health care‐related harm, volunteer programmes to support patient care have been established in many hospitals worldwide. Design A systematic scoping review. Methods The review followed the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) (File S1). Nine databases were searched (CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect and JBI) using the following key terms: ‘hospital’, ‘volunteer’, ‘sitter’, ‘acute care’, ‘older adults’, ‘confusion’, ‘dementia’ and ‘frail’. The search was limited to papers written in English and published from 2002–2017. Inclusion criteria were studies involving the use of hospital volunteers in the care or support of older adult patients aged ≥ 65 years, or ≥ 50 years for Indigenous peoples, with chronic health conditions, cognitive impairment and/or physical decline or frailty, within the acute inpatient settings. Results Of the 199 articles identified, 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria were critically appraised for quality, and 12 articles were included in the final review. Conclusions There is evidence that the provision of volunteer care and support with eating and drinking, mobilising and therapeutic activities can impact positively upon patient health outcomes related to nutrition, falls and delirium. Further robust research is needed to determine the impact of volunteers in acute care and the specific care activities that can contribute to the best outcomes for older adults. Relevance to clinical practice Volunteers can play a valuable role in supporting care delivery by nurses and other health professionals in acute care services, and their contribution can improve health outcomes for older adults in this setting.

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Frailty and pain in hospitalised patients are associated with adverse clinical outcomes. However, there is limited data on the associations between frailty and pain in this group of patients. Understanding the prevalence, distribution and interaction of frailty and pain in hospitals will help to determine the magnitude of this association and assist health care professionals to target interventions and develop resources to improve patient outcomes. This study reports the point prevalence concurrence of frailty and pain in adult patients in an acute hospital. A point prevalence, observational study of frailty and pain was conducted. All adult inpatients (excluding high dependency units) at an acute, private, 860-bed metropolitan hospital were eligible to participate. Frailty was assessed using the self-report modified Reported Edmonton Frail Scale. Current pain and worst pain in the last 24 h were self-reported using the standard 0–10 numeric rating scale. Pain scores were categorised by severity (none, mild, moderate, severe). Demographic and clinical information including admitting services (medical, mental health, rehabilitation, surgical) were collected. The STROBE checklist was followed. Data were collected from 251 participants (54.9% of eligible). The prevalence of frailty was 26.7%, prevalence of current pain was 68.1% and prevalence of pain in the last 24 h was 81.3%. After adjusting for age, sex, admitting service and pain severity, admitting services medical (AOR: 13.5 95% CI 5.7–32.8), mental health (AOR: 6.3, 95% CI 1. 9–20.9) and rehabilitation (AOR: 8.1, 95% CI 2.4–37.1) and moderate pain (AOR: 3.9, 95% CI 1. 6–9.8) were associated with increased frailty. The number of older patients identified in this study who were frail has implications for managing this group in a hospital setting. This indicates a need to focus on developing strategies including frailty assessment on admission, and the development of interventions to meet the care needs of these patients. The findings also highlight the need for increased pain assessment, particularly in those who are frail, for more effective pain management.Trial registration: The study was prospectively registered (ACTRN12620000904976; 14th September 2020).

Opportunistic screening for alcohol consumption during health expos can aid the identification of at-risk individuals who may require further education or treatment.