Campaign for Action: Riverside’s Volunteer RNs, a Source of Knowledge and Experience

OhioHealth nurses and volunteers were featured in the latest articles in the Campaign for Action’s blog, Charting Nursing’s Future.

Campaign for Action, backed by AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is working to transform health and health care through nursing, and building a healthier America.

The articles highlighted OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital’s Volunteer RN program and the benefits it has in the field of nursing.

Gerry O’Shaughnessy, program founder and director, told the campaign that one objective of the program is for more-knowledgeable RNs to serve as voices of experience on the floor. “We tell the nurse managers that advising is something the volunteers can do,” she says to Campaign for Action “If they see a patient looking yellow and the new nurse doesn’t recognize that, the volunteer can advise them to get their preceptor or manager to come in and diagnose.”

Diane McCarthy, RN, BSN, is one of the volunteer nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit at Riverside Methodist Hospital, that is pictured to the right, showing her expertise and guidance to a younger nurse.

The program took about a year to kick off but has since gained 15 volunteers. The program is looking to expand and will take all the help they can get.

Read the full article on the generation gap in nursing here.

Read the full article on the Volunteer RN program’s benefits here.

Learn more about OhioHealth’s Volunteer RN program here.