Impact of Volunteerism in the Acute Setting

Overview

Rehabilitation, with a particular emphasis on physiotherapy and exercise, is widely promoted and strongly recommended after total knee replacement (TKR). The primary goals of rehabilitation are to improve knee range-of-motion, muscle strength, functional mobility and perceived quality of life. Exercises are usually prescribed and guided by a physiotherapist attending to the patient. The intensity of rehabilitation has an impact on clinical outcome. A study done by Lee et al in 2012 concluded that higher exercise dose translates to better function after TKR, especially in older population and for those with higher pain. Various literatures has also strongly recommended twice a day rehabilitation session for patients after TKR (Cook et al, 2008; Smith et al 2012).

Rehabilitation, with a particular emphasis on physiotherapy and exercise, is widely promoted and strongly recommended after total knee replacement (TKR). The primary goals of rehabilitation are to improve knee range-of-motion, muscle strength, functional mobility and perceived quality of life. Exercises are usually prescribed and guided by a physiotherapist attending to the patient. The intensity of rehabilitation has an impact on clinical outcome. A study done by Lee et al in 2012 concluded that higher exercise dose translates to better function after TKR, especially in older population and for those with higher pain. Various literatures has also strongly recommended twice a day rehabilitation session for patients after TKR (Cook et al, 2008; Smith et al 2012). The standard practice in the in-patient setting is that physiotherapist will attend to the TKR patients once a day and remind patients to perform exercises by themselves, following the exercise booklet given, during their free time in the ward to maximise their recovery. However, due to post-operative fatugue, pain and fearful of movement, most of the patients are not compliant to the exercises given. Volunteers have been present in health care settings for centuries. Several studies have shown that volunteers can be an essential part of the healthcare system. They are commonly involved in non-clinical tasks such as providing emotional support to patients and families (Burbeck et al., 2014), assisting with meals (Robinson et al., 2014) and facilitating recreational activities in patients with dementia (Hall et al., 2017). However, no study has investigated the involvement of volunteers in actual clinical work. Our study aim to explore the feasibility of volunteers involvement in teaching and guiding exercises which conventionally done by physiotherapists, and to investigate the effectiveness of such volunteer service. There is no existing evidence on volunteers dealing with elderly patients in acute stage right after surgery as well, and this clinical research will be the first to explore that.