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Volunteering at a hospital as a 18-21 year old is not the same as treating a patient with a disease as an MD.
Do you really need to volunteer??
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Volunteering at a hospital as a 18-21 year old is not the same as treating a patient with a disease as an MD.
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lol. Those organic chemistry, A&P, general chemistry, general biology, and other pre-med courses sure do a good job of teaching you want to do when a patient goes into cardiac arrest (hypothitcally speaking) when pusing them in a wheel chair. I worked as a patient transporter for three years of high school.
After having worked in a hospital for three years, I really wanted to smack a few of the pre-med students that I took classes with because of their view of how great medicine is and how they can be a doctor like House or the supid show Grey's Anatomy (the girls treated watching Grey's Anatomy like like a religion....the people who actually worked in a hospital while going to college and were pre-med didn't give a crap about the show Grey's Anatomy).
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The most helpful thing a volunteer can do is the stuff that a nurse doesn't want to do or a doctor doesn't want to do. This can include getting a patient chart, getting coffee for the doctor or nurse, getting the patient reading material, transporting a patient in a wheelchair, getting paperwork, getting a journal issue or article, and other similar scunt work. This is just part of the path. You can't legally do much more then this with out the proper schooling because of the laws that are in place to protect patients and the community.
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One of the best things I've done is secured a volunteer position in a gastroenterology clinic near my house. I get to assist with transport of patients, take vitals in the procedure room, watch blood pressures drop from 170/115 by simply talking to very nervous patients, observe the procedure, assist with grunt work in the procedure room (making sure patients stay on their side, holding arms if they start to come out of the anesthesia, apply pressure when the scope gets caught, etc.), and talk to patients post-procedure as they come out of the anesthesia. It has really been a great experience, and I'm hoping it might open the door to a job as a tech next summer.
Moral of the story is that it sounds like all of the big university volunteer positions are the same deal (wheeling people out, etc.). If you can find a spot at a smaller place then people will probably be more willing to throw you a bone. I do however plan on doing the university hospital volunteering next year simply because I enjoy spending time in a clinical setting, and don't mind doing the crappy stuff given I've already got pretty good clinical experience through shadowing (outside of gastroenterology) and volunteering at the gastroenterologists.
Moral of the story is that it sounds like all of the big university volunteer positions are the same deal (wheeling people out, etc.). If you can find a spot at a smaller place then people will probably be more willing to throw you a bone. I do however plan on doing the university hospital volunteering next year simply because I enjoy spending time in a clinical setting, and don't mind doing the crappy stuff given I've already got pretty good clinical experience through shadowing (outside of gastroenterology) and volunteering at the gastroenterologists.
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And who said it was? But to go into medicine, you need to show that you are devoted to helping your community, even if it's not paid work, or if it's boring.
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Without some sort of training, that is about all you can really do as a volunteer. What you did as a volunteer is a good way to get the feet wet in the medical field.
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I said that because a previous poster said that a person that can't stand helping people out as a volunteer, how are they going to stand being a doctor. The two are at the oposite ends of the world, lol.
I'm not saying a person should volunteer, I'm just helping keep people with a realistic view point for what a person can actually do as a volunteer.
Being a volutneer in a hospital isn't really helping your community. You are helping the particular task that you are assigned to. If you are talking to a person after a procedure or wheeling them out of the hospital, you are only helping that particular person. That is only one person in a community.
If you want to help out the "community," go be a fire fighter.
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Exactly, but it sounds like the larger university volunteer programs don't even allow this extent of work. At least I feel like a member of the medical team, and I think you can more easily get this experience at a smaller institution.
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This is going to be a tough love kind of post, so I apologize in advance if it offends you. But you're in luck, because you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. And you know what? Med schools don't have to accept you, either. There are a couple thousand people trying to get into my school, and we only have 32 seats. This school requires research experience from all applicants, but the adcomm also really cares a lot about fit. Don't want to be a team player if it doesn't suit you? Not interested in participating unless there's something directly in it for you? Think some jobs are beneath you and not worth your time? You can count on plenty of rejection letters coming in the mail, because there are tons of other people who will have stats as good or better than yours, and who have much better attitudes.
Sometimes you have to do things you don't feel like doing because they're the right thing to do and you have an obligation to do them. Med school isn't a college frat party, man. Talk to some doctors about all the paperwork and other stupid administrative crap they have to do. Go into the clinical rotations forum and read all the posts by med students who hate having to do scut in the hospital. And if you think pushing wheelchairs and doing other boring jobs for free is bad, I've got even worse news for you. At most schools besides mine, you'll be doing all kinds of scut like that during third year while literally paying thousands of dollars per semester for the privilege of doing it. Plus people will be evaluating you on how much effort you put in and pimping you on how much you know, and yes, there will be a test at the end.
If you don't want to volunteer in a hospital, then get some shadowing experience and volunteer somewhere else. Or go do something else instead of medicine. No one is going to force you to do anything you don't want to do, but there will be consequences of any choice you make. One consequence of having no volunteer service may be that you don't get into the med school you want, or you don't get into med school at all. But it's still a choice you're free to make, and you can do whatever you want. Just don't whine about it if the powers that be slam the door shut in your face because you come across as someone who is going to bail on the team as soon as the going gets tough or, heaven forbid, BORING.
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Using volunteerism as a measure of someone's desire to help the community out is pretty foolish, to say the least. We're talking about people who're going to be doctors. Why do they need to spend time doing menial tasks when they're going to be busting their asses for the rest of their lives to better society? I'm much more concerned that pre-meds get experience that's actually going to inform their decisions to become physicians. I really couldn't care less how much time they've spent with Harvesters.
That said, you've got to play the game, and if adcoms want volunteerism, give them volunteerism. I just think it's a ridiculous requirement.
That said, you've got to play the game, and if adcoms want volunteerism, give them volunteerism. I just think it's a ridiculous requirement.
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I haven't read all of the posts in this thread, so, I'm not sure if something similar has been said but wanted to add my opinion anyway. Before I started volunteering at a hospital, I heard from several friends that they didn't enjoy the experience because all they did was file papers, and I wanted to make sure that that didn't happen to me. So, when I went in for an interview, I told them what was important for me to get out of volunteering. Specifically, I said that I wanted to get a lot of patient contact, and that I would like to volunteer in Inpatient Psychiatry because I'm very interested in Psych. And that's exactly what I got and I absolutely love it! When I'm volunteering, I get to talk to and learn a lot about the patients, I attend group sessions with patients, and the nurses and mental health workers have been very nice to me and tell me about the patients and their treatments. The patients have also told me that they enjoy having me around, so, it makes me feel good that I'm making their hospital experience a little more pleasant. Overall, it has been a great learning experience. If you want to get a lot out of your volunteering experience, speak up and make sure that people know what you are interesed in doing!
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If you think being a volunteer/serving your community is a polar opposite to being a doctor, then don't do it. But don't expect to get into med school with an attitude like that.
It doesn't have to be a hospital setting, but if you honest to god can't think of a SINGLE volunteer opportunity that would be beneficial to others and fun for you, you are not thinking very hard at all.
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Huh? Where did I say I can't stand doing volunteer work? I worked in a hospital for three years. I love working in the hospital and clinic setting. I work as a clinical research coordinator as my day job right now.
The crap you have to put up with as a volunteer is no different then the scut crap you have to put up with with any job in the hospital (paper work, holding hands to comfort others, fetch this and that, and so forth and so forth).
I think you are misunderstanding (or misremembering, lol..gotta love Clemens for that) what I'm talking about in my previous posts.
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I kind of like volunteering because then the nurses/unit clerks/physicians are less stressed. I mean, once you start volunteering you become part of a 'healthcare community.' And why wouldn't you want to help out the members of your community? 😕
I realize my post comes off as kind of goody two-shoes, but seriously, though. Can you take any enjoyment in the fact that you just made a bunch of peoples' lives a tiny little bit easier? Don't you think that you'll be grateful for someone helping you out when you become a physician?
My $0.02, (redeemable for 50 volunteer hours at your local hospital.)
I realize my post comes off as kind of goody two-shoes, but seriously, though. Can you take any enjoyment in the fact that you just made a bunch of peoples' lives a tiny little bit easier? Don't you think that you'll be grateful for someone helping you out when you become a physician?
My $0.02, (redeemable for 50 volunteer hours at your local hospital.)
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I've worked a lot of different jobs in my life:
Pre-college jobs:
1: Lived on a farm for 18 years.
2: Worked at a feed mill for 6 months.
3: Worked at factory for 3 months (got laid off)
4: Worked at a factory for 6 months (seasonal job)
5: Worked as a personal trainor my senior year of high school
6: Worked as a patient transporter for just over three years
College jobs:
1: Research assistant
2: Lab assistant
3: Security guard (I gave one chick a ticket for parking in the wrong lot and she chewed my ass off and one random day I was sitting next to one of her friends in the library and the friend that I was sitting next to on the computer came over to get help with understanding a genetic concept (mapping genes) so her friend said that I could help her with genetics. So I said thanks, but no thanks. She then said she was sorry for chewing my ass off for giving her a ticket. I then helped her.
4: Maintenance
5: Hospital internship (aka volunteer work)
6: Research internship
Post-college jobs:
1: Clinical Research Coordinator
2: Health search expert (two positions)
3: Medical Fact checker
4: Research Associate
Yeah, volunteering in a hospital sucks. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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You can do all of that and gain relevant experience for yourself if you have a job at that hospital.
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I don't know about the state where you live in, but in California something like this would be completely *illegal.* The privacy laws surrounding psychiatry are even worse than normal, and for what you described to be legit you would have had to somehow get written consent from every single patient you interacted with/talked about.
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Volunteering in hospitals is usually dumb, in my opinion. Although I had a really good position because I got to work with patients (which is good for essays later-plus I think it is what they want to see).
However, why would you volunteer in a hospital? There are a million other options that look just as good if not better-and are probably more fun. You could work in an abused women's shelter, a nursing home, etc. All of these would show that you are caring and willing to work with "patient" types of people. It would show that you know what it is like to are for other people. If not those things you could do any kind of interesting volunteer work that showed a commitment to helping others ie habitat for humanity.
I wish that I had done one of these things and kept up with it more than I did. I sorta jumped around from activity to activity. Don't do that.
However, why would you volunteer in a hospital? There are a million other options that look just as good if not better-and are probably more fun. You could work in an abused women's shelter, a nursing home, etc. All of these would show that you are caring and willing to work with "patient" types of people. It would show that you know what it is like to are for other people. If not those things you could do any kind of interesting volunteer work that showed a commitment to helping others ie habitat for humanity.
I wish that I had done one of these things and kept up with it more than I did. I sorta jumped around from activity to activity. Don't do that.
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I think it depends on the clinic that you try and volunteer at. I shadowed at a medical genetics department for 80 hours and was able to be apart of everything (like a fly on the wall for every process that was going on for that 80 hours....I was even able to go to a meeting to talk about genetic test insurance coverage..talk about trying to work the system to get a family to have a genetic test covered by an insurance company). I than tried to shadow another medical genetics department at another clinic and I had to sit behind a glass window and just listen into the session and couldn't do anything else. I could only do it for one day!!!!! Talk about getting screwed over!!!!
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Most of the locals around here are obsessively following regulations, especially since the feds were sniffing around the hospitals last month.
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Hmm. I don't see how it is illegal for me to talk to patients and learn about them (if that is what you are referring to) when they willingly provide information about themselves to me. The nurses also have to give me some information on the patients, because some Psych patients have violent tendencies and I need to be aware of that and maybe avoid interacting with certain patients.
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I also agree with Milkman's statement.
Clinical experience should ultimately allow you to make a well-informed decision about becoming a physician. You should be able to communicate how your experiences relate to your interest clearly and honestly while applying, whether on a secondary application essay or during an interview. What constitutes such an experience (and how much time should be invested into said experience) will depend entirely on the individual; there is no "formula" to follow, nor should the opinions of others in an anonymous message board community be taken as absolute facts. For some, simple hospital volunteering may be all that it takes (and I think a lot of you are underestimating the value of "wheelchair pushing" or "errand running" in a hospital, independent of how interesting/enjoyable it may be). For others, something more involved, such as clinical research, may be needed. Whatever the case, only YOU can determine if you are getting something useful/enlightening out of it. If that is not the case (or if you find your experience unsatisfying for other reasons), then go out find another thing to do.
Clinical experience should ultimately allow you to make a well-informed decision about becoming a physician. You should be able to communicate how your experiences relate to your interest clearly and honestly while applying, whether on a secondary application essay or during an interview. What constitutes such an experience (and how much time should be invested into said experience) will depend entirely on the individual; there is no "formula" to follow, nor should the opinions of others in an anonymous message board community be taken as absolute facts. For some, simple hospital volunteering may be all that it takes (and I think a lot of you are underestimating the value of "wheelchair pushing" or "errand running" in a hospital, independent of how interesting/enjoyable it may be). For others, something more involved, such as clinical research, may be needed. Whatever the case, only YOU can determine if you are getting something useful/enlightening out of it. If that is not the case (or if you find your experience unsatisfying for other reasons), then go out find another thing to do.
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I did this type of work for a little over three years. Hospitals have transporters so nurses can stay with the patients. They also hire department assistants to do a lot of the errand running so the healthcare workers can focus more on the patient aspects.
Anything more you want to know?
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I want to call the B.S. on this one... but since it says "Medical Student" next to your name, I don't think I can. Anyway, that's pretty amazing.
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That's nothing. Once, the CT surgeon I was shadowing actually let me operate on his patient. I was like "Aye let me crack this guy's chest open" and he was like "Go right ahead"
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Yeah, but yours doesn't say medical student, so you're obviously lieing. 😉
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Dammit!
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lying
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I agree with this as well. Several earlier posts seemed to suggest that in order to be a doctor, one must also have a burning desire to volunteer and serve the community in what we all have come to view as the typical pre-med activities before applying. I am not so sure that this is true. There are many admirable reasons to pursue medical training and many positive qualities of potential applicants that may not be reflected by the number of raw hours spent scrubbing pots in the local soup kitchen, or filing medical charts somewhere behind the scenes. I can understand the idea behind the defacto requirement of volunterring as a way to maybe screen out applicants that do not have a sense of dedication or service to others (which is important for physicians), I just think that it is a very poor way to go about it. After all, it is easy to do some quick volunteering activities and fluff up an application to make it look how ever you want, without feeling or believing in any of the "community service" and "helping people" concepts. And there are many caring and dedicated applicants out there who look after others and their community in less formal, less easily documented ways.
In the end, it is another box to check. Another hoop to jump through. There are many many more, so might as well get used to it. 😉
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