Enhancing Volunteer Integration in Pediatric Care: Exploring Relationships, Facilitators, and Barriers.

Introduction: The integration of volunteers into healthcare has become increasingly relevant for improving patient care and addressing systemic resource constraints. In pediatric settings, volunteers offer essential emotional and personalized support. However, their collaboration with healthcare professionals is often hindered by challenges such as role ambiguity, limited space, and insufficient communication. Description: This study investigates the dynamics of collaboration between healthcare professionals and volunteers in pediatric hospital care. Drawing on narrative interviews with 25 volunteers from an Italian organization, it explores lived experiences and identifies key factors shaping volunteer-professional interactions. The findings are categorized into two main dimensions: organizational arrangements and interpersonal dynamics. Discussion: Facilitators of effective collaboration include temporal continuity, access to dedicated spaces, shared training initiatives, and improved communication. Barriers such as staff turnover, lack of formal recognition, and unclear role boundaries can undermine volunteer engagement. Informal relationship-building and structured information sharing were found to enhance cooperation and care quality. Conclusion: The study highlights the need to strengthen both structural and relational aspects of volunteer integration in pediatric care. By addressing these dynamics, healthcare institutions can enhance volunteer contributions, improve patient experience, and support the broader implementation of integrated care models.