UW Hospital is suspending its 350 student volunteers because of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, which is spreading quickly across the UW-Madison campus, hospital officials announced Friday.
This is the first time the hospital has ever suspended volunteers because of exposure concerns.
According to UW Hospital and Clinics spokesperson Aaron Conklin, UW-Madison volunteers typically work 1,000 total hours per week, but none are trained to provide medical care to patients.
Instead, Conklin said, student volunteers often help by assisting nurses, working in the UW Children's Hospital play room or by filling out paperwork, among other tasks.
Conklin said the temporary suspensions were made in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The hospital's student employees, however, will not be affected.
""The employees actually have to follow certain protocols in terms of dealing with patients whose immune systems are compromised, whereas student volunteers may not,"" Conklin said.
University Health Services' student employees will not be suspended, according to UHS Executive Director Sarah Van Orman. UHS does not employ any volunteers.
""There's a very different kind of risk in a hospital ... you're in a very closed setting with a large number of patients who are pretty much all at very high risk,"" Van Orman said.
Van Orman said the hospital's response is not surprising given that H1N1 cases may have doubled since last week, when 198 cases were reported.
Conklin said other university hospitals have been taking similar precautions.
