Harnessing the Therapeutic Power of Volunteering

assistance in completing or publishing a report on their first quality improvement project. As we traditionally view the value of volunteering, all of these altruistic engagements focus on their benefit to the recipient. If AACN members are already familiar with volunteering and may practice it with other professional, social service, religious, educational, or environmental entities, why should critical care nurses take any additional note of this particular form of giving? One rationale could be from the accumulating evidence, gathered informally and formally, that suggests that volunteering is not just associated with paying it forward to the intended recipient, but likewise extends to paying it backward to the volunteer. Another intriguing finding from this literature is that among the benefits associated with volunteering is a substantial number of health benefits, suggesting that the affirmation “It makes me feel good” represents a considerable understatement of the actual physiologic beneficence accrued. Rather than repeating a description of the beneficial outcomes of volunteering from the point of view of the recipients, we can note where those have already been ably addressed and focus this editorial on benefits to the volunteer.