Thank you all for the feedback thus far. I agree that as long as the volunteer has the proper training and oversight, and is placed appropriately, that there is no reason an "unpaid staff" cannot process the information as well as a "paid staff." We do have clinical outreach volunteers that are not employed by us serving on our mobile care team, so there is precedent for volunteers to have the access to patient information--but as I said, it's just never been done with hosptial volunteers and we are working against the "pink ladies" image.
Would love to hear from others!