Over the last few decades, technological developments have impacted all aspects of life. This is also true in the case of the healthcare sector and development organizations. Communications strategies have been adapted, focusing on digital communication, incorporating various social media applications as well. Social media use facilitates building the image of an organization, creating a social identity, sharing achievements and demonstrating long-term goals and projects. Studies have argued that recruitment platforms should also strengthen online recruitment (as incorporated use of digital platforms in order to attract the most well-prepared and motivated young volunteers)[1] as Internet has become an important resource for involving and recruiting volunteers as well as creating various opportunities for participation[2].
While there are obvious advantages of digital communication – they can reach a much broader audience and increase the impact of raising awareness campaigns, this focus could also increase the already existing digital divide within communities as well as in the reach of volunteers.
It could be argued that nowadays everyone can access technological devices and these devices are making our life easier, faster and more comfortable. We can access an infinite amount of information within a few seconds. However, this beautiful utopia, the democratism of information society and digital equality have a long way to go. There are significant differences between the Global North and Global South as well as in regional and national level. Inequalities presented by the digital sphere also affect volunteers, such as access to online recruitment or ability to participate in online projects. Since volunteering is dependent on resources, recruitment and engagement, unequal provisions of these factors imply inequalities in volunteering. What is relevant here is whether these inequalities are reinforced by new opportunities for online volunteering or whether online volunteering is an opportunity to overcome inequalities by mobilizing different people [3].
The crisis presented of the COVID-19 pandemic is an interesting case study of the gradually changing and increasingly challenging field of medical volunteering.
The digitalization of the health sector has already started worldwide, as for instance, telemedicine, online prevention, eHealth records, mHealth, just to mention a few. The current pandemic has been further impacting all aspects of healthcare, which will not disappear without trace even after the second wave. While the digital health care itself has its up and downsides (e.g. virtual care performance VS the rapid dissemination of false information), the circumstances presented by the current global crisis can either further complicate the situation or build opportunities from the challenges.
Volunteers are “valuable resources”
They enhance patient care and augment healthcare experiences through physical means, emotional and educational support. Working with volunteers is a cost-effective method to increase patient experience. Comforting, helping with education or dealing with isolation simply through a friendly communication are just a few services provided by volunteers which have a cumulative effect that can be linked to more positive treatment outcomes. Additionally, many medical volunteers discover a passion for helping others and may ultimately devote their lives to it by pursuing a career in the medical field. Thus, volunteering supports medicine by addressing patients’ needs more comprehensively[4]. However, how the number of cases started to increase across the globe, new restrictions came into force such as social distancing. The lack of volunteers increased the task of health care workers who were already overwhelmed and experienced shortages of resources. For instance, in the United States, end-of-life care programmes have been cancelled and students who cannot attend school due to medical reasons lost access to tutors[5].
Is the integration of digital volunteering into telehealth an equitable solution?
Studies have shown the obvious benefits of telehealth such as the increase healthcare efficiency and patient satisfaction while decreasing waiting times and increasing accessibility[6],[7]. They argue that virtual hospital volunteering cannot replace the physical tasks volunteers usually perform in hospitals, but it can address important patient contact services that volunteers provided before the pandemic. Furthermore, the role of social networks and social media groups proved to be a tremendous amount of support during the lockdown.
Nevertheless, the assets of virtual solutions question equality in terms of access from patients’ point of view as well as from volunteers as higher socioeconomic classes are more likely to have reliable internet connections and devices[8]. Likewise, in countries of the Global South, there is continuous interest toward the implementations of eHealth services, however, these implementations are not always successful as high failure rates have been reported as a result of eHealth readiness. Thus, although there is a huge potential, the already existing disease burden presented for insurance by the lack of health literacy could worsen due to lower level of eHealth literacy.
For sure, we can clearly see an increase of using digital technologies in education; schools changed to digital education within days as the lockdowns were introduced internationally. Today there is a much bigger portion of people work in “home office”, since it is still highly recommended in several countries. Similarly, programmes employing volunteers need to adapt to the new reality and build more on technological solutions. However, social determinants of health, health inequalities along with the equitable access to technology should be taken into consideration in order to meet the needs of All.
[1] Saura JR, Palos-Sanchez P, Velicia-Martin F. What Drives Volunteers to Accept a Digital Platform That Supports NGO Projects? Front. Psychol. 2020; March. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00429.
[2] Silva F, Proença T, Ferreira MR. Volunteers’ perspective on online volunteering – a qualitative approach. International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing. 2018;15: 531–552.
3] Ackermann K, Manatschal A. Online volunteering as a means to overcome unequal participation? The profiles of online and offline volunteers compared. New Media and Society. 2018; 20(12): 4453-4472. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818775698.
[4] Pickell Z, Gu K, Williams AM. Virtual volunteers: the importance of restructuring medical volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical humanities. 2020; Aug.
[5] Pickell Z, Gu K, Williams AM. Virtual volunteers: the importance of restructuring medical volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical humanities. 2020; Aug.
[6] Michael T Kemp et al. eClinic: increasing use of telehealth as a risk reduction strategy during the covid-19 pandemic. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open. 2020; 5(1).
7] Judd E Hollander and Brendan G Carr. Virtually Perfect? Telemedicine for Covid-19. N Engl J Med.2020; 382(18) :1679–81. [8] Pickell Z, Gu K, Williams AM. Virtual volunteers: the importance of restructuring medical volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical humanities. 2020; Aug.
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