Last Watch: Developing an Inpatient Palliative Volunteer Program for U.S. Veterans in Hospice

This project offers encouraging evidence of the impact of providing companionship and compassionate care to actively dying Veterans. Veteran-centered care serves as a guide for volunteer program objectives including goals based on measuring outcomes of volunteer visits offered to Veterans, frequency of visits to those desiring volunteer involvement and documentation of goals on the resident plan of care. Forty-eight Veterans were admitted to the Palliative Integrated Care (PIC) Unit during the project review period with a median length of stay (LOS) of 7 days, ranging 1-50 days. Goals were met for Veterans with LOS > 3 days; however, it was more challenging to meet the needs of Veterans with shorter stays. Data for this project were collected over a 6-month period. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is responding to the needs of end-of-life Veterans who do not have family or friends readily available through the No Veteran Dies Alone initiative.