Application - Volunteer

[alk27]

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Hi I was just wondering if any one knows if hospice looks better for volunteer experience then in hospital volunteering....

 

[Mattabet]

If anything, hospital is probably better than hospice, but assuming you're helping people that adcoms would describe as patients (using medicalesque methods) then either can probably serve your purpose.

 

[TexasPhysician]

If you are looking for volunteer work and NOT shadowing, I would usually steer clear of volunteering in a hospital. Volunteer work should be something you are passionate about......i.e. not making beds in a hospital.

 

[hoot504]

I think working at a hospice might give you more to talk about during an interview, otherwise working at a hospital always looks good

 

[alk27]

Thank for the replies.... I am just trying to set myself apart on my application. I thought hospice would be a good start. I volunteered at the UW medical center when I was finishing my undergrad... but it was basically just delivering flowers and wheeling discharges out... I wanted more hands on.... so I thought I'd get into the hospice, get on a research, and then volunteer like a couple hours a week at the children's hospital. Am I over doing it ?

 

[Stratego]

I think that having experience with patients in a variety of settings is helpful. The important thing is to interact with sick people. Hospice is more likely to give you hands-on experience, but less likely to result in physican contact that you can parley into a shadowing experience. I think you're on the right track.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Thank for the replies.... I am just trying to set myself apart on my application. I thought hospice would be a good start. I volunteered at the UW medical center when I was finishing my undergrad... but it was basically just delivering flowers and wheeling discharges out... I wanted more hands on.... so I thought I'd get into the hospice, get on a research, and then volunteer like a couple hours a week at the children's hospital. Am I over doing it ?

Sounds good to me. Just don't overextend yourself, so that grades or whatever else suffers.

 

[Food]

Hospice is better, IMO. I'm actually doing it right now. For one, you have far more patient contact. The entire point of being a Hospice volunteer (if they train you) is to talk to people who are terminally ill. This allows you to see both the good side and bad side of caring for somebody (sometimes they want you, sometimes they hate you). Also, after a few months of talking to a patient twice a week or so, they usually die. This puts you in a difficult emotional position, and I think medical schools like that kind of thing. I think it's a good experience and allows you to confront death more often than you would see in a hospital (since all patients in a Hospice are supposed to die within six months or so).

If you do want to volunteer at a hospital - I'd advise a Rehabilitation hospital or something similar - where you can actually at least observe or interact with patients. Otherwise, like they say - you'll just be making beds, transporting lab samples and MAYBE talking to a patient once in a while.

 

[Wiingy]

It depends on the hospital. I volunteered in an ER, and I got a very nice mix of responsibilities ranging from transporting patients, making beds, following doctors around, helping nurses set things up and getting a better idea for how the ER "works." In my free time (a large part of the ER is standing around waiting for something to happen) I'd talk to patients that seemed frustrated (wait times were long) and try to cheer them up (usually at least 1-2 hours in a 4 hour shift) or get to know them a little bit better. You'd be surprised at how a little attention in such a confusing place can brighten up someone's day. Keep in mind that it is very difficult to get "hands-on" jobs in a hospital as a volunteer... you have no real training and think of the liability for the hospital! (I did get to take vitals tho). I've also volunteered a bit in a nursing home, but that's mostly cheering old people up and giving them someone to talk to.

Don't worry about what looks "better", try to think of what you will get more out of - it will make for a more convincing and meaningful experience, which is what adcoms want to see.