Emergency Department Intern

[TheConfused]

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I have an opportunity to become an intern for Sutter Hospital over the summer, I'm basically going to be helping around in the ER room (according to my friends), is this worth it? It's only four hours a week and I don't think I'll be getting into it much with that little time. The problem is that the hospital is in my college town which means I'll have to live there over summer as well as sublease an apartment to live in.

 

[GatorsKW14]

What do you mean by "intern"? Considering it is only 4 hours a week, it sounds like a volunteer position. It would definitely not be worth subleasing an apartment in my opinion, unless you had a job or something more meaningful to do in town as well.

 

[TheConfused]

What do you mean by "intern"? Considering it is only 4 hours a week, it sounds like a volunteer position. It would definitely not be worth subleasing an apartment in my opinion, unless you had a job or something more meaningful to do in town as well.

I could also take classes over summer, lowering my workload over the school year and the max is 4 hours per week and we're only allowed one position per person go aggies

 

[ghiblijiang]

Yo! Fellow aggie here. If you can, do the ER intern at UCDMC because it's a lvl 1 trauma center where you get to actually see crazy stuff all the time unlike Sutter hospital. But if you had a choice, don't go to the ER even if it's in UCDMC because it's severely over staffed with volunteers that you don't get to do all that much. On top of that, the nurses there are kinda annoyed of seeing too many of your kind(volunteers) anyway. Pick a specialty where there are less volunteers even if it's something like CT Scan because you'd actually have a chance to interact with techs. During down times in CT, you can talk to radiologists if you choose to bother them in their dark cave, though some can be arrogant and find you annoying but others are chill, especially the residents.

 

[catie_jane]

Depends what you mean by intern. I did an internship over the summer of my junior year and I was able to shadow a doctor for their 8 hour shift (saw patients with them, was able to ask questions, read scans with them, look at labs, assist with minor procedures, and watch traumas/codes). I was able to get 2 LOR out of this position and was then offered a scribe position in the same ER. So for me it was a very valuable experience but I'm not sure if the word "intern" is the same context as mine for your position

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Since we don't know you personally, this question is hard to answer. There are people that can turn a short 4 hour a week volunteering thing into something much more rewarding. If you're going to go in and be a wall flower every single time, then no, it's not going to be worth your time or the money. If you go in and network, then 4 hours will likely turn into something way more worthwhile.

I started off as a yellow shirt in the ER at UCDMC. Found a doc that I really liked, became a research assistant, and eventually got a job in the ER. I'm certain I wouldn't be in med school now if it weren't for the attendings that supported me along the way. There's a very fine balance between being an asset to the attendings/residents and being annoying - bringing snacks to share by the way? One of the greatest ways to get remembered.