Classify: is this volunteering or shadowing?

[enterthepanda]

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I work (edit - sorry, should have written volunteer) at a free clinic. I am in the room while the doctor meets with the patient, translating for them. The doctor does not work full time at the clinic, but as a volunteer.

Is this volunteering or shadowing? I get the feel that it's more volunteering, but I'm not sure.

Your classification and help are much appreciated.

 

[Seven of Nine]

volunteering. you are filling a position that would otherwise be filled by someone else. in my book, shadowing is more of a visiting role than a participatory role (though you might help lift a leg or hand the doctor a tool). paid interpreters aren't "shadowing" a doctor for their own benefit/clinical exposure.

 

[TexasMDtobe]

Why can't it be both? Classification would depend on what you get out of it, and if you are there volunteering while simultaneously observing a physician interacting with a patient, I'd call it shadowing too. It also sounds like clinical exposure, so you have a three-for-one situation. Very efficient.