Experiences of mealtime assistance delivered by volunteers: an extended literature review.

Trained mealtime volunteers are ideally situated to provide mealtime assistance to older patients in general hospital settings. Older patients are at risk of becoming undernourished and dehydrated while in hospital as a result of various factors, such as cognitive impairment and lack of mealtime assistance. This article details an extended literature review that was conducted to explore the lived experiences of older patients, staff, relatives and volunteers of mealtime assistance provided by volunteers. The findings suggest that continual use of mealtime volunteers in practice could improve the quality of care. Mealtime volunteers could be educated on the importance of communicating information pertaining to patients' food and fluid intake to enhance patient monitoring. Furthermore, additional training for mealtime volunteers could be streamlined and standardised to improve patient care and safety.