Volunteer and Paid Ombudsmen Investigating Complaints in Six States: A Natural Triaging

Abstract

The Long Term Care Ombuds man Pro gram pro vides an oppor tu nity to explore how a pub lic man date is imple mented through the use of paid and vol un teer ombuds men who inves ti gate com plaints in long-term care facil i ties. In this arti cle, the authors report partial find ings from a grow ing data base across six states, focus ing on what is known about the use of vol un teers and paid staff com plaint inves ti ga tion. Find ings reveal dif fer ences in the types of com plaints received, the sources of com plaints, and the per cent age of complex (dif fi cult) com plaints inves ti gated by vol un teers and paid staff. These dif fer ences result in a nat u ral triaging that occurs among vol un teers and paid staff, so that complaints viewed as dif fi cult to ver ify and resolve are auto mat i cally given to paid staff.In 1978, the Older Amer i cans Act (OAA) man dated the Long Term Care Ombuds man Pro gram (LTCOP) in response to poor con di tions in Amer ica's nurs ing homes.1 Each state was required to estab lish a state wide ombuds man pro gram designed to respond to com plaints from res i dents, fam i lies, staff, Note: An ear lier ver sion of this ar ti cle was pre sented at the an nual meet ing of the As so ci a tion for Re search on Non profit Or ga ni za tions and Vol un tary Ac tion (ARNOVA) in Se at tle, WA, on Novem ber 7, 1998. We want to thank the many state and lo cal om buds men who have shared their expe ri ences with us. The work re ported in this ar ti cle was sup ported, in part, by the Ad min is tra tion on Aging, DHHS, Grant 90AM0759. The con tents of this ar ti cle re flect our views and should not be con strued as those of the Ad min is tra tion on Aging.

Differences between paid and unpaid social services for beneficiaries

“…In many cases, budget cutbacks are forcing organizations to replace paid workers with volunteers (Handy & Brudney, 2007;Handy et al, 2008;Handy & Srinivasan, 2004;Liao-Troth, 1999). In other cases, volunteers are deployed when it appears that paid workers are not able to do their jobs because of the complexity (Brudney, 1990) or quantity (Netting, Huber, Borders, Kautz, & Nelson, 2000) of the tasks. Perceptions of volunteering and of professions play an important role in the assignment of tasks to paid workers and to volunteers (Handy et al 2008;Karr, 2000).…”

“…Other scholars note that volunteers are more likely to be attentive to the relational aspects of their contacts with clients (Nelson, 2000;in Netting et al, 2000). The superiority of volunteers with regard to establishing meaningful relationships with beneficiaries is indirectly supported by empirical evidence suggesting that the best predictor of job satisfaction for volunteers is the satisfaction of the need for relatedness.…”

Evaluation of the Impact of a Volunteer Ombudsman Program: The Rhode Island Experience

“…It should be noted, however, that the likelihood of a complaint in the categories of patient rights and nursing home conditions was no greater at facilities with an ombudsman in Rhode Island than among cases reported nationally while the resolution rate is higher than the national rate (AOA, 2001). The higher levels of complaints involving resident conditions or rights and greater complexity of complaints in homes in which a volunteer is based is intriguing because other research suggests that paid ombudsmen, rather than volunteers, are associated with this type and complexity of complaint (Netting et al, 2000). In a study of a database across six states (Netting et al, 2000), a triaging process occurred in which complaints viewed as more difficult to verify and resolve were directed to paid staff.…”

“…The higher levels of complaints involving resident conditions or rights and greater complexity of complaints in homes in which a volunteer is based is intriguing because other research suggests that paid ombudsmen, rather than volunteers, are associated with this type and complexity of complaint (Netting et al, 2000). In a study of a database across six states (Netting et al, 2000), a triaging process occurred in which complaints viewed as more difficult to verify and resolve were directed to paid staff. Our data do not show if the paid ombudsmen were ultimately involved in these cases, but they do suggest that investigations of this kind are not as likely to be initiated in the first place without volunteer placement at the facility.…”

Factors Effecting Volunteer Ombudsman Effort and Service Duration: Comparing Active and Resigned Volunteers

“…Volunteers face frequent opposition (Litwin & Monk, 1987), which can dull their effectiveness (Connor, as cited in Nelson, 1995). The average volunteer's efficacy in handling difficult problems has been questioned (Cherry, 1991;Kahanna, 1994), a perspective that finds some tentative support in a recent study showing that paid staff appear to handle more complex issues than do volunteers (Netting, Huber, Borders, Kautz, & Nelson, 2000). Concern exists that volunteer ombudsmen suffer from insufficient training, inadequate supervision, and generally poor support (Harris-Wehling et al, 1995;.…”