Continue volunteering in hospital setting?

[blomar]

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So I have one more year before applying, and I volunteered 100 hours this year at a hospital in volunteer services (discharging pts) and for the nursing unit on the ortho/neuro floor (thought this would be a little interesting, ended up just being bitch work mostly replacing linens).

Basically my question is with this one year left should I continue volunteering at a hospital or do something else? If I continue at the hospital I think I'm going to go back to discharging patients because I was not a fan at all of what I was doing this semester.

The hospital is an easy 3 hour shift every sunday whereas I know other things (Habitat for humanity, etc) are probably not as predictable and dependable.

I have pretty decent shadowing experience as well so I don't think clinical exposure is really an issue for me any more.

and if it matters, I'm a texas resident really hoping to get into UTSW.

 

[NickNaylor]

I would rather continue doing the volunteering, accrue more hours, and lengthen the time that you've been involved with this experience. In other words, I would rather have that one experience for two years than two experiences for one year.

But there are other factors that you should consider too. For example, do you have other community service activities? If not, then maybe I'd go with doing something else. Do what you think is best.

 

[FloridaMedicine]

I would rather continue doing the volunteering, accrue more hours, and lengthen the time that you've been involved with this experience. In other words, I would rather have that one experience for two years than two experiences for one year.

But there are other factors that you should consider too. For example, do you have other community service activities? If not, then maybe I'd go with doing something else. Do what you think is best.

+1 also if possible ask your volunteer coordinator to rotate you to other volunteer postitions. At my hospital there are tons of things to do (not saying they are fun or exciting) but I guess it on depends on what you want to do.

 

[Catalystik]

I'd look at 100 hours of hospital-based clinical experience as being below the average of 150 hours over 1.5 years. Rather than quitting a position that will soon have a nice degree of longevity, switch it up and try a different department within the same hospital for variety.

To better appeal to a wider variety of med schools, you might also engage in a few hours of nonmedical community service each week, ideally for a cause you care about that helps those with poor economic resources. Besides H for H, there are a lot of other options out there.