Volunteers are increasingly considered as core members of
interdisciplinary palliative care teams, and thus no longer
“informal providers.” The definitive trend towards formalizing
the role of hospice volunteers is indicated not only by national work to
develop best practices (Ferris et al., 2002),
but also by efforts of the Canadian Council on Health Services
Accreditation to develop quality indicators for accrediting volunteer
agencies. This movement emerged from a need to coordinate, define and
standardize the role of volunteers in palliative care settings, as well as
to manage organizational resources and maintain standards of excellence.
The purpose of this forum is to highlight the possible impact of this
development on the nature of volunteer contribution to end-of-life
care.