Can volunteer medical visit companions support older adults in the United States?

Abstract

Background Older adults are encouraged to use Medical Visit Companions (MVCs) for routine medical encounters; however, many vulnerable older adults attend alone or fail to attend. In the absence of available family or friends, community volunteers could potentially fill this gap. We aimed to understand the role and acceptability of volunteer MVCs accompanying older adults to medical visits and explore potential barriers and facilitators of increasing MVC availability and expanding roles beyond transportation. Methods Two moderators conducted 4 focus groups with 29 volunteers grouped by whether they provided (n = 15) or received (n = 14) rides to medical visits. All were members of Partners In Care (PIC), a community organization in Maryland, United States which offers a range of programs and services that support the independence of older adults including the provision of volunteer MVCs. Participants were asked to discuss why they were involved with PIC, and to describe their experiences with providing or receiving companionship during medical visits. Inductive thematic analysis was used to explore the views and experiences of participants, particularly around the roles played by MVCs and the feasibility of expanding these roles. Results All participants reported benefits from their role whether that was giving or receiving rides. Many accompanied participants reported missing medical appointments prior to joining PIC and being able to avail of the services of a MVC. Volunteer roles varied and ranged from transportation only, help with care coordination and in some cases accompanying the person into their medical visit. A subgroup of volunteers expressed a willingness to take on additional roles during the physician visit following additional training and isolated older adults welcomed the prospect of their assistance. Conclusion Our qualitative data indicate that non-family, volunteer MVCs are willing and able to assist older people going to a medical visit. With appropriate training and support, volunteer companions could do much to improve the healthcare experience for those who otherwise would attend alone or would not attend medical visits.

WITHDRAWN: Vulnerability risk among older people living alone: A cross-sectional study using the Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13)

“…Many older adults are advised to stop driving due to decreasing physical and mental conditions and if there is no social network support for the older adult, then transport services are needed to be relied upon, however affordability and accessibility can then impact the ability to utilise public transit options (Kotval-K et al, 2020). Lack of social support such as family, friend or a caregiver to act as an accompaniment to appointments or to assist with information exchange and dissemination also in uences the ability to access healthcare (Sheehan et al, 2021;Watson & DeRenzo, 2019).…”

“…community-based supports and services to enable them to maintain their independence at home(Budde et al, 2021;Budde et al, 2022;Peart et al, 2018). The programmes assist patients to access healthcare by addressing transport help, and accompaniment to medical visits(Sheehan et al, 2021). Community transport help services which offer transportation to medical appointments are also geared to helping older adults and those living with disabilities after they cease to drive, and include public transit, paratransit, taxis, rideshare services, and volunteer drivers(Kotval-K et al, 2020;MacLeod et al, 2015).…”

Seeking medical services among rural empty-nest elderly in China: a qualitative study

“…Thus, we need to consider how to improve the availability and accessibility of medical servcies for rural empty-nest elderly. It has been found that volunteer medical visit companions could be able to assist older adults in seeking medical help [ 74 ]. With the growth of voluntary associations in China, volunteers could be trained to accompany rural empty-nest elderly to their medical appointments.…”

Level of involvement of patients and accompanying persons in the management of biomedical waste in Benin

“…Indeed, when these BW are poorly managed, they could lead to a change in the microbial ecology and the spreading of antibiotic resistance with its infectious corollaries on the personal, patients or their accompanying person [7]. The patient's relatives are important members of health care teams; they are important resource persons for their sick parents [8,9]. Usually, a family member is assigned to stay with the patient till the moment he gets out from hospital [10,11].…”