Hospital I volunteered at no longer has my record.

[mike colts]

Hello,

I applied to medical schools in Canada and USA this year and am now waiting to hear back.
There is one thing that concerns me about my application. I volunteered at a hospital in 2009 in Toronto and wrote this as one of my EC's.
The problem is when I called the hospital they said they not have records of me volunteering. I still have the contact information of some nurses and doctors I was helping during my time there, so if any schools ask I can provide them with their contact information. The problem is if the medical admission team calls up the hospital and asks them, without contacting me.
I don't want to appear as a liar.

any advice?

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[TxC]

Does the hospital have a volunteer services director or someone with a similar title? I always thought that a hospital that has volunteers has to have someone coordinate everything (schedules, training...). If there is such a person, this is the person you should have listed as the contact.

Who did you list anyway? You said you already applied and are waiting to hear back.

 

[Psai]

Whatever bro, there's pretty much no chance that anyone will check it out. Aint nobody got time fo dat

 

[mike colts]

I just wrote the hospital name and provided the number of volunteer services.

I guess cause they have literally 100's of volunteers each year and the fact that I volunteered in 2009, they no longer felt the need to waste space and keep my record.

Does the hospital have a volunteer services director or someone with a similar title? I always thought that a hospital that has volunteers has to have someone coordinate everything (schedules, training...). If there is such a person, this is the person you should have listed as the contact.

Who did you list anyway? You said you already applied and are waiting to hear back.

 

[singergirl18]

I would have stuff ready to go in case a school questioned you, but you probably won't have any issues. With the increase in apps this year, it seems like admissions offices are pretty busy and won't be calling a ton of places, but I could be wrong. If for some reason they tried and were told the hospital has no record of it, I'm sure they would contact you before raising a fuss. Trying to update schools with extra contact info for something that more than likely won't be a problem would just waste everyone's time.

 

[GameTheory29]

It's something you can't worry about unless it comes up. More likely, they're looking for reasons to accept you not disregard you. This is just going to cause you extra anxiety for no good reason.

I accidentally listed my service trip to another country as an 'artistic endeavor'. You just can't worry about stuff like that. All I can say is drop-down menus are often unpredictable . And when you're looking over your AMCAS many times, you're often not checking what you headlined the activity under even when obsessing over reviewing the app haha.

 

[operaman]

Definitely keep the contact info handy in case there's an issue, but it's highly unlikely anyone goes to that extent to vet your application unless you put something really extraordinary under that activity. For just basic volunteering, I'm not sure what they would hope/expect to find by calling. Even if they do, everyone in medicine knows how disorganized hospitals can be and will not immediately think you're lying.

 

[Planes2Doc]

This is ridiculous. You provide free labor or them, and they can't do something as simple as holding your record? How insulting!

You can maybe use a nurse or doctor as your reference if you're really worried.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

This is ridiculous. You provide free labor or them, and they can't do something as simple as holding your record? How insulting!

You can maybe use a nurse or doctor as your reference if you're really worried.

Oh wow! You've been in cryo-sleep for quite some time. Great to have you back!

 

[Planes2Doc]

Oh wow! You've been in cryo-sleep for quite some time. Great to have you back!

Thanks! It's nice to be back. School has been a bit crazy, but I've missed posting on here too much.

 

[notbobtrustme]

no one cares

 

[Planes2Doc]

no one cares

You have no idea how much this has brightened up my snowy Sunday morning.

 

[Promethean]

As other have said. No one is going to check your references unless you give them some reason to, and even then, they probably won't. If you said something or did something to make them question whether you were being honest about your experiences, rather than checking it, they would probably just pass you over for someone who didn't creep them out. They don't have time to waste confirming your integrity. It is basically the honor system, with the caveat that if it ever came to light that you had lied about something, your career would basically end right at that point.

So, I wouldn't sweat it, if I were you.

 

[AlteredScale]

Hello,

I applied to medical schools in Canada and USA this year and am now waiting to hear back.
There is one thing that concerns me about my application. I volunteered at a hospital in 2009 in Toronto and wrote this as one of my EC's.
The problem is when I called the hospital they said they not have records of me volunteering. I still have the contact information of some nurses and doctors I was helping during my time there, so if any schools ask I can provide them with their contact information. The problem is if the medical admission team calls up the hospital and asks them, without contacting me.
I don't want to appear as a liar.

any advice?

1) contact healthcare workers that you may have talked to while volunteering, ask them if you can use them as a reference and just put it on the application.
2) even better, if you had a good professional relationship with the shift team ask for a letter. This will be your hour verification of your time and can also be a letter that suggests you have certain traits that are conducive of going into healthcare.

Idk, that's what I did. Perhaps a little neurotic. All in all I wouldn't sweat it as all the others have said. App reviewers don't have time to call up your volunteer service and ask for a record.

 

[LizzyM]

You applied already, right? You gave the name of the hospital and the number of hours but did you also list a contact person? I'm having a hard time understanding why you think that this is a problem now. When did you apply?

 

[Winged Scapula]

As a physician I'm only required to keep patient records for 7 years. I wouldn't think twice if a hospital informed me they no longer had records on a volunteer from 6 years ago.

 

[mike colts]

Hey everyone,

thanks for the help, looks like they found my hours logged stashed away in a folder, all good now!

 

[Catalystik]

they found my hours logged stashed away in a folder, all good now!

Stress averted, and another gastric lining saved: The reward of persistence.