在医疗保健组织内做志愿者的机会几乎是无穷无尽的。从协助灾难应对到与患者聊天，医疗志愿者帮助降低劳动力成本并填补服务空白。
根据美国劳工统计局的数据，2010 年 9 月至 2011 年 9 月期间，美国约有 6430 万志愿者，其中 7.7%（略高于 490 万人）在医院或医疗保健机构中志愿服务。此外，3.1%（近 200 万人）自愿提供医疗、咨询和紧急保护服务（例如，作为 EMS）。
医疗保健行业志愿者工作类型的例子包括：
作为迎宾员或在医院的信息台工作
在血库或献血活动中协助献血者
文书和办公室职责
探访接受住院服务的人士
运行书车或患者支持中心
笔译和口译服务
在医院系统中充当快递员
数据输入和记录更新
研究
运输服务
在受灾地区提供谨慎的帮助
捐赠该领域的专业知识（例如，一名退休医生在农村社区诊所做志愿者）
当志愿
服务出现问题时 志愿者在医疗保健行业中扮演着如此重要的角色，很自然地假设组织寻求并只接受最好的临时工，特别是因为他们可能与一些最脆弱的人群一起工作。但是，如果医疗保健组织没有为其所有志愿者建立背景筛查计划，则情况可能并非如此。
2012 年，新闻媒体披露，一家深受儿童和青少年欢迎的组织几十年来拒绝对其志愿者进行背景调查，声称这些屏幕会吓跑潜在的志愿者，效果不佳且成本过高。
结果，该组织允许数百名有猥亵和虐待历史的成年人在其项目中与未成年人合作。当该组织最终采用志愿者背景筛查政策时，它有一个重大缺陷——它不需要对其现有志愿者进行筛查。顺便说一句，许多过去曾被定罪的志愿者继续伤害儿童。
虽然这个新闻故事不是关于医疗保健组织，但它表明掠夺者可以多么容易地损害组织的声誉并损害旨在帮助他人的志愿者计划。
医疗保健志愿者筛选最佳实践
除了对其志愿者进行犯罪背景调查之外，医疗保健组织还需要验证他们没有任何医疗制裁或排除。
虽然志愿者的背景筛查不一定与医务人员、管理人员或护理人员的筛查完全相同，但全面筛查有助于降低严重风险。以下列表列出了一些医疗保健志愿者筛查和监控最佳实践：
犯罪检查：通过进行可能有助于识别其他潜在犯罪记录信息的搜索来调查个人的犯罪记录。此类搜索的示例包括 观火 的 秒查 服务、全州犯罪检查、全国性犯罪者登记处检查和成人虐待登记处检查
制裁检查和监控：在当前和更新的列表中查找制裁和排除，特别是如果志愿者提供医疗服务、直接与患者合作或处理患者信息
身份检查：包括社会安全号码验证，如果志愿者协助驾驶，还包括机动车记录检查
药物测试：医疗机构可以选择将尿液药物测试作为正在进行的志愿者筛查和监测计划的一部分
总之，有效的背景调查计划有助于识别不应接触患者或员工的医疗志愿者，并可能淘汰对组织品牌构成风险的个人。
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between September 2010 and September 2011, there were about 64.3 million volunteers in the U.S. Of this population, 7.7 percent (a little over 4.9 million individuals) volunteered in a hospital or health care setting. Plus, 3.1 percent (almost 2 million people) volunteered to provide medical care, counseling and emergency protective services (for example, as an EMS).
Examples of types of volunteer work within the health care industry include:
Working as a greeter or at an information desk at a hospital
Assisting donors at a blood bank or blood drive
Clerical and office duties
Visiting those receiving in-patient services
Running a book cart or a patient support center
Translation and interpretation services
Acting as a courier within a hospital system
Data entry and record updating
Research
Transportation services
Assisting with care in an area affected by a disaster
Donating expertise in the field (for example, a retired doctor volunteering at a rural community clinic)
When Volunteerism Goes Wrong
With volunteers serving such critical roles in the health care industry, it’s natural to assume that organizations seek and only accept the best contingent workers, especially since they may work with some of the most vulnerable populations. This may not be the case, however, if the healthcare organization does not have a background screening program established for all of its volunteers.
In 2012, news outlets revealed that a popular organization for children and youth refused to run background checks on its volunteers for decades, claiming that the screens would scare away potential volunteers, weren’t effective and cost too much money.
As a result, the organization allowed hundreds of adults with histories of molestation and abuse to work with the minors in its programs. When the organization finally adopted a volunteer background screening policy, it had a major flaw—it didn’t require the screening of its current volunteers. Incidentally, many volunteers who had a past abuse convictions continued to harm children.
While this news story isn’t about health care organizations, it shows how easily predators can damage the reputation of an organization and hurt a volunteer program that’s meant to help others.
Health Care Volunteer Screening Best Practices
In addition to running a criminal background check on its volunteers, a health care organization needs to also verify that they don’t have any medical sanctions or exclusions.
While a volunteer background screen many not necessarily have to be identical to one run on medical staff, administrators or caregivers, a thorough screen can help mitigate serious risks. The following list identifies some health care volunteer screening and monitoring best practices:
Criminal checks: Investigate an individual’s criminal history by conducting searches that may help identify additional potential criminal records information. Examples of such searches include HireRight’s Widescreen Plus™ service, statewide criminal checks, National Sex Offender Registry checks and Adult Abuse Registry checks
Sanction checks and monitoring: Look for sanctions and exclusions on current and updated lists, particularly if a volunteer provides medical care, works directly with patients or handles patient information
Identity checks: Including Social Security number validation and, if the volunteer is assisting with driving, a motor vehicle record check
Drug tests: A health care facility may choose to include urine drug tests as part of an ongoing volunteer screening and monitoring program
In summary, an effective background check program can help to identify health care volunteers who should not have access to patients or employees, and possibly weed out individuals who pose a risk to an organization’s brand.
