2024 Funded Micro Grant
SOOTHE-ing Patients Needing Companionship
Shreya Sriram
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Many of our inpatients experience lengthy hospital stays while recovering from impactful procedures and surgeries. This experience may be accompanied by feelings of isolation, high levels of distress and physical or mental pain.
SOOTHE volunteers, also known as SOOTHErs, are medical and nursing student volunteers who are trained to meet with patients identified as needing companionship. This training will be developed with input from each units’ nurses, social workers, physicians, and other student experiences to adequately prepare SOOTHErs to address patients’ advanced needs or questions.