The effect of volunteers' care and support on the health outcomes of older adults in acute care: A systematic scoping review.

Most included studies were small before-after designs without matched control groups, so changes cannot be confidently attributed to volunteers. Volunteer roles, numbers, training and duration varied widely, and no study used standard criteria to evaluate volunteer training. Nutrition studies often included prescribed oral nutritional supplements, so increased intake cannot be attributed to volunteers alone. Delirium measurement was inconsistent, and one study used surrogate markers such as length of stay, antipsychotic use, falls and death instead of standardised delirium assessment. The search was limited to English papers published between 2002 and 2017, so relevant work in other languages or earlier years may have been missed. Volunteers were present on weekdays only, so the findings may not apply to weekend care. Some studies did not report participant age ranges, volunteer numbers or volunteer type, limiting how well the interventions can be reproduced.

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Do not read this review as proof that volunteers improve outcomes for older adults in acute care. The evidence is mixed, many studies were small before-after designs, and nutrition studies also gave oral supplements, so the effect of volunteers alone cannot be separated.