hospital volunteering- what do YOU do?

[sylus]

To state the obvious, a lot of people on here volunteer or have volunteered at a hospital. From what I've seen, everyone seems to have a different experience. So-

What do you do while you're there and how much do you enjoy it?

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[135892]

Basically just play with little kids. Not real clinical experience, but I enjoy it nonetheless

 

[scattun]

I volunteered in the endo department of a hospital. I made linen packets, moved stretchers, and took patients to the exit in wheelchairs. I would give it a 3 on a 1-10 scale of enjoyable.

 

[tiedyeddog]

I volunteer at the MICU here. Basically, I man the volunteer desk. I go back to the units and make sure patients can be seen by visitors. Also, I relay messages from family to nurses and vice versa. A lot of times I try to talk to/comfort families in the waiting area. I enjoy it a lot! I volunteered somewhere else my first quarter as a freshman and basically, I stapled a lot of papers and never saw a patient. After that, I got assigned to the MICU and I've been working there for over a year now. I know most of the nurses by their names and many of them know me. Generally, I feel like I'm needed, eh?

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Geeze Im glad I didnt!

 

[Doc Henry]

I do volunteer research in the ED and its pretty cool. When research is slow we can shadow the docs, help with procedures, etc. Not too mention its a level one trauma center, so we see a ton of crazy stuff.

 

[UCFMOP]

I pretty much do what the med techs do at FL hospital in Orlando. The department is preparing us eager pre-meds to replace these poor high school educated hard-working people to save the hospital money.

 

[Vido]

I volunteer at a caner center and i think that its fun and interesting. i don't regret that experience and totally recommend it

 

[FearAndInsomnia]

I volunteer in the ED at a small rural hospital. I pretty much do normal pre-med volunteer grunt work: clean out rooms, restock rooms, perform minor surgeries, run specimens to the lab, move patients to CCU/Med-Surg, Shadow the docs, answer call lights. Depending on the doctor who is in the ED i'll feel differently about volunteering. some night i feel like an over dressed janitor other night i'll feel like i'm actually gaining something from volunteering there.

 

[kakaboro]

perform minor surgeries

haha.

 

[DrZaius]

I do compressions on codes that come in.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

I wipe butt all day, and enjoy every minute of it.

 

[DrZaius]

I wipe butt all day, and enjoy every minute of it.

Man, you're getting tons of clinical experience! Super lucky

 

[badapplestix]

I'm currently volunteering in an ER department. I make beds, restock rooms, run specimens to lab, etc. I don't feel like I'm doing anything useful. I'm starting to wonder if this is going to help me in the long run, or if I should find something else.

 

[FullTiltMD]

if you get involved in the typical hospital volunteering scenario, you will most likely regret it. you're better off getting your clinical experience through shadowing and for volunteering/service, get involved with whichever cause you feel most strongly for, regardless of whether or not its within a hospital. i volunteered at 3 different departments at my local hospital and didnt learn anything besides how to fold linens and transfer phone calls to nurses. thumbdown

 

[LandSpeed]

yeah, I've been a volunteer. I'm kind of nostalgic for it, too... days when I could cruise in wearing my light blue blazer and stock syringes and gauze, tell patients "I'll tell the nurse" about 30 times a shift, and take up room at the clerks desk asking doctors to eyeball my bike injuries and tell me what to take for bronchitis since I didn't have health insurance. Those were the days.

 

[HopesDefender]

Im technically doing an unpaid Internship called clinical care extenders

basically Im a volunteer
Right now I am in ICU, I get to see all sorts of things, like a trach being done, it seemed rough, like mining.
and I saw someone get intubated today after something ended up obstructing a trach .

I get to go along during the trauma rounds sometimes, and I get to hear about ongoing cases, and at the same time the main trauma Dr asks me questions related to the case, like a quiz, ony in front of perhaps 15 random people. Sometimes they are even questions about what I am seeing on the monitor from x rays or scans of the patients and I have to point out the differences in the B4 and after.

the last round I did for three months was in labor and delivery
I saw babies come out! both natural delivery and C-sections.

oo and sometimes you get to observe surgeries standing right behind the curtain near their head with a birds eye view from a stool.

As far as grunt work goes, I pay for this experience in answering phone calls, bringing samples to lab, helping to move and clean patients, bringing food trays, paperwork, grabbing supplies, stocking supplies, and anything anyone needs you to do that doesnt involve a procedure or handling medications, in other words anything not legal is not allowed.


I love it. Well maybe not the part where I help clean poop off people, but I like to think I am sufficient at staying pretty serene when I have to do gross things instead of making the "EW its nasty" face.
But its good experience overall. Especially for observing the interactions between all the members of the staff.

 

[lilmuck03]

I'm at Ben Taub in Houston (huge county hospital). When I started it was just grunt work, but I've been there a while now and am starting to get some real patient contact. The patients at "the Taub" are positively the most interesting I've encountered. Most are indigent and whatever brought them to the EC is usually advanced beyond what most people can stand. The suffering can be a little much at times, but there are those one in a million cases that make it worth it. Ben Taub is also the teaching hospital for Baylor so sometimes I can convince a resident to teach me a thing or two

 

[191159]

Blah you Cali people get this Clinical Care Extenders program and the ER scribe program while Florida has nothing even close to these experiences. sigh.

 

[armybound]

I used to volunteer in the ED.. I'd take lab samples to the lab and would do whatever they needed.. hold a patient still (babies usually) for IVs, remove old bed linen and replace it with new ones, etc. I didn't enjoy it.. the nurses weren't friendly at all.

Now I volunteer in the PACU. I work directly with the CNAs there, so I do whatever they do.. a lot of restocking linens and supplies and a lot of transporting patients to their rooms. I really enjoy this job, actually.. the nurses, docs, and other staff are extremely friendly. I don't really get to see much "medicine" though.. I see patients come out of surgery and recover, but there's not really much to that other than managing pain.