"All up in the ER, treating them with regard!"

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XeReX

Aspiring Surgeon
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Hey guys i recently got a volunteer job at the hospital of my state capital. I will be working in the ER. I just wanted to ask you guys what kinda of roles u did while working in the ER, and what kind of experiences you had.

I have heard that volunteers are ignored by many professionals working in the ER, as it is always crowded and looks like a havoc so no one has time to pay attention to volunteers, so in your opinions is it worth it to volunteer in the ER?
 
I was a volunteer in the ER which I now work in as an RT. As a volunteer I was pretty much ignored by everyone unless they needed me to do something specific. I don't think it has anything to do with people being too busy to acknowledge volunteers; it has to do with people's attitudes. Really, how long does it say to say thank you to a volunteer for cleaning a bed, or changing a soiled laundry bag?

Sometimes the ER staff would ask me if I was planning on going into medicine. As soon as I told them that I was in respiratory therapy school, most seemed to warm up a little toward me. Perhaps they have an issue with people only wanting to volunteer in the ER because they want to use it on their med school application.

Now as a staff member in the ER, I love chatting with the volunteers. A lot of them have interesting stories to tell, and I think would be great colleagues.
 
In the ER I work at the volunteers "round" on patient rooms/waiting room and offer things like warm blankets, drinks/cookies to non-patients, and coloring books and stuff to kids. Until recently they were allowed to help transport patients to x-ray, assemble charts, put on the wristbands and things like that, but not anymore cause they just did a massive review of all the little things like that going on and decided it was too much of a liability risk.. which is a shame cause helping make charts and stuff was really helpful when it got busy.

If they are really good at staying quiet and out of the way, their can usually get away with standing in the corner of the trauma bay when big stuff comes in and watching.

As for your original question, the volunteers are actually greatly appreciated at my facility. They aren't able to really help with how busy things are sometimes, but they can make the overall patient experience a little better. And for the experience you get I would think it would definitely be worth it.

But its probably true that no-one will "pay attention" to you very much. The best volunteers are the ones who are proactive about making themselves helpful without being asked (but don't overstep their limits). Don't expect to get all chummy with the doctors and don't ask questions like your shadowing unless really slow.
 
But its probably true that no-one will "pay attention" to you very much. The best volunteers are the ones who are proactive about making themselves helpful without being asked (but don't overstep their limits). Don't expect to get all chummy with the doctors and don't ask questions like your shadowing unless really slow.

There definitely is a lot of room for you to be proactive. Be very clear on the limits of your position, but make the most of it.

I got to know a few of the respiratory therapists in the ER while I was volunteering there, and after a while they started letting me observe traumas. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself, but recognize that the staff are busy, and they don't owe you anything.

All the best with your volunteering!
 
In the ER I work at the volunteers "round" on patient rooms/waiting room and offer things like warm blankets, drinks/cookies to non-patients, and coloring books and stuff to kids. Until recently they were allowed to help transport patients to x-ray, assemble charts, put on the wristbands and things like that, but not anymore cause they just did a massive review of all the little things like that going on and decided it was too much of a liability risk.. which is a shame cause helping make charts and stuff was really helpful when it got busy.

If they are really good at staying quiet and out of the way, their can usually get away with standing in the corner of the trauma bay when big stuff comes in and watching.

As for your original question, the volunteers are actually greatly appreciated at my facility. They aren't able to really help with how busy things are sometimes, but they can make the overall patient experience a little better. And for the experience you get I would think it would definitely be worth it.

But its probably true that no-one will "pay attention" to you very much. The best volunteers are the ones who are proactive about making themselves helpful without being asked (but don't overstep their limits). Don't expect to get all chummy with the doctors and don't ask questions like your shadowing unless really slow.
Yeah i ll keep that in mind
Don't expect to get all chummy with the doctors and don't ask questions like your shadowing unless really slow.
i was thinking about doing that like asking doctors "oh so can i shadow you, see i want to be a doctor, i am a premed" then i was like neweeee not a good idea. Yeah i just wanted to step in the hospital so that i can network and try to get a paid job in the hospital.
 
When I volunteered in the ER, it was very cool. I got to follow a bunch of different types of people around (MDs, RNs, Lab techs etc). I got lots and lots of patient interaction. There was this one woman who had sliced the top of her foot off (dropped a pane of window on it) and it turned out I worked at a steakhouse with her husband. I also had a very good friend of mine's Dad come in for MI symptoms. I got to follow his whole case from lab work to see if cardiac enzymes were elevated to finally taking him up to the hospital proper for a night of observation (he didn't have an MI thankfully). Only downside was I got first hand experience about HIPAA stuff. Couldn't call my friend and tell him his dad was in the ER.

Now, the one thing I will say is this was part of EMT-b training so they were litterally training me. I wasn't just volunteering like a random student off the street so I'm not surprised if others had different experiences.


I volunteered in the ER during college as an "off the street student" and my level of involvement really depended upon the attending. Some loved having students (I have one give me a live gross anatomy lesson as she did a tumor resection), others just wanted me to stand in the corner and keep my mouth shut. It'll depend on who you work with.
Legally, they can't let you touch patients unless the patient explicitly gives permission.
 
i used to work in the ER of a large urban hospital. things were going pretty good, but one day about 3 months in it all got blown to hell. i remember the day pretty well. it was about 10pm on a monday night and a guy was being flown in on a medevac chopper, call-ahead report for gunshot wound. trauma team's on standby, and the resident running the team that night (never liked him to start with) is already rubbin me the wrong way, making bets with the interns on who's going to get to the slug first. well the patient gets in, we rush him off while the paramedics are yelling their report at us as we shoot down the hallway. story's pretty gnarly, some sort of drug deal gone wrong. the patient's a junkie, and it's obvious. he starts screaming and resisting, flailing about. I get a shot of haldol ready along with a vial of morphine, ready to go and look to the resident for the verbal order. The punk doctor says NO! I stare at him incredulously and say "Mike, the haldol and pain meds are good to go, I'm ready to inject." To which he says "What part of no don't you understand?" Again the incredulous look on my part. He goes "I'm not going to be a part of helping a junkie get his fix." I can't believe it, but I shut up and hold the patient down. He starts trying to get an IV in, but obviously it's hard as hell since the patient's flailing his arms all over the place. Frustrated, he takes it out on, saying "What kind of stupid untrained monkey do you have to be to not even hold down an arm?!" At this point I'm up to my elbows in this patient's blood, probably contagious with god knows how many diseases, and I've just had it. I can't take it anymore, so I walk out and call a cab. when it came near the license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything i can say this cab is rare, but i thought naw forget it yo homes to Bel Air. I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and i yelled to the cabyo homes smell ya later. I looked at my kingdom I was finally there to sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air
 
i used to work in the ER of a large urban hospital. things were going pretty good, but one day about 3 months in it all got blown to hell. i remember the day pretty well. it was about 10pm on a monday night and a guy was being flown in on a medevac chopper, call-ahead report for gunshot wound. trauma team's on standby, and the resident running the team that night (never liked him to start with) is already rubbin me the wrong way, making bets with the interns on who's going to get to the slug first. well the patient gets in, we rush him off while the paramedics are yelling their report at us as we shoot down the hallway. story's pretty gnarly, some sort of drug deal gone wrong. the patient's a junkie, and it's obvious. he starts screaming and resisting, flailing about. I get a shot of haldol ready along with a vial of morphine, ready to go and look to the resident for the verbal order. The punk doctor says NO! I stare at him incredulously and say "Mike, the haldol and pain meds are good to go, I'm ready to inject." To which he says "What part of no don't you understand?" Again the incredulous look on my part. He goes "I'm not going to be a part of helping a junkie get his fix." I can't believe it, but I shut up and hold the patient down. He starts trying to get an IV in, but obviously it's hard as hell since the patient's flailing his arms all over the place. Frustrated, he takes it out on, saying "What kind of stupid untrained monkey do you have to be to not even hold down an arm?!" At this point I'm up to my elbows in this patient's blood, probably contagious with god knows how many diseases, and I've just had it. I can't take it anymore, so I walk out and call a cab. when it came near the license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything i can say this cab is rare, but i thought naw forget it yo homes to Bel Air. I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and i yelled to the cabyo homes smell ya later. I looked at my kingdom I was finally there to sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air

nice recycling!
 
that's 3 minutes of my life i'll never get back so i better use it when i can :laugh:
 
is it worth it? depends what you want out of it, and what you could be doing instead.
 
OP - From my 6 months in the local ED (btw, I've heard its bad form to call it the ER - 'room' implies much less than it really is):

- Most of the time was spent doing predictable stuff: prepping rooms, filling stock, wheeling patients, drinks to patients, family and friends, chatting w/ patients to keep them calm and happy.

- Be proactive about finding things to do. Help the nurses or EMTs with stuff they prefer not to do. It is more interesting and they will love having you around.

- Be proactive about letting people (nurses, docs, techs) know your education plans. They will invite you to see something interesting. The CT scan techs were always pointing out things to me and answering questions. A couple favorite nurses and one particular doc let me help irrigate wounds and hang around during simple procedures.

My biggest frustration was knowing I could do more, and not being able to. But as others have said, know your role and make the most of it.
 
OP - From my 6 months in the local ED (btw, I've heard its bad form to call it the ER - 'room' implies much less than it really is):

- Most of the time was spent doing predictable stuff: prepping rooms, filling stock, wheeling patients, drinks to patients, family and friends, chatting w/ patients to keep them calm and happy.

- Be proactive about finding things to do. Help the nurses or EMTs with stuff they prefer not to do. It is more interesting and they will love having you around.

- Be proactive about letting people (nurses, docs, techs) know your education plans. They will invite you to see something interesting. The CT scan techs were always pointing out things to me and answering questions. A couple favorite nurses and one particular doc let me help irrigate wounds and hang around during simple procedures.

My biggest frustration was knowing I could do more, and not being able to. But as others have said, know your role and make the most of it.

This is true. Being proactive is an absolute must. We're not going to come find you to get you to do stuff in most cases and if we do, you had better do it and do it right because if you neglect to find that wheelchair quickly when we ask you to do it, you can bet we're not going to ask you again (and, if you tick us off enough times, we'll probably ask the volunteer coordinator to replace you with someone who actually wants to be there, seeing as, at least at my hospital, they typically have a very long waiting list of volunteers to pick from).

As for what you call it... ED is preferred since at most hospitals it is the Emergency Department. You might have several different "ERs" (e.g., a Psych ER, a Trauma ER, a Burn Unit, etc.) within the Emergency Dept. My hospital (one of the busiest EDs in the country) has a total of 6 distinct units that are a part of it (each having 10-20+ beds) and specialized for a different type of pt (psych, children, adult acute, adult trauma/immediate life threat, wound & urgent care, etc.)
 
This is true. Being proactive is an absolute must. We're not going to come find you to get you to do stuff in most cases and if we do, you had better do it and do it right because if you neglect to find that wheelchair quickly when we ask you to do it, you can bet we're not going to ask you again (and, if you tick us off enough times, we'll probably ask the volunteer coordinator to replace you with someone who actually wants to be there, seeing as, at least at my hospital, they typically have a very long waiting list of volunteers to pick from).

As for what you call it... ED is preferred since at most hospitals it is the Emergency Department. You might have several different "ERs" (e.g., a Psych ER, a Trauma ER, a Burn Unit, etc.) within the Emergency Dept. My hospital (one of the busiest EDs in the country) has a total of 6 distinct units that are a part of it (each having 10-20+ beds) and specialized for a different type of pt (psych, children, adult acute, adult trauma/immediate life threat, wound & urgent care, etc.)
Good to know
 
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