How do you get hospital experience?

[dizzle]

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Hi everyone

I am wondering how people went about getting experience in a hospital. Did you just contact the human resources department and apply?

If anyone in NYC has some suggestions, I would love to hear them.
Thanks very much.

 

[LoneCoyote]

I'm not in NYC but most hospitals out here have some sort of volunteer office that you can contact. Usually, they will have a scheduled training session that you go to before you can start. You can also look into volunteering at hospices or other facilities if you cannot get into a hospital program. Good luck.

 

[gaki]

I had an internship at Florence Nightingale Health Center on the UES on manhattan in art therapy program. I know they have a volunteer program there that I think even high school students go to. The hospital (at least the rec dept where I was at) was very nice and the staff was friendly and helpful. Its a geriatric population, some of who pretty much lived there, some who were there for long-term care but were not necessarily there permanently, and some who just visted the day program. I also interned at Mt Sinai in the pediatric oncology unit. much more "hospitallish" and full of busy doctors, and I didn't see any other volunteers except those who got there as part of a school program.

 

[learss]

Hi everyone

I am wondering how people went about getting experience in a hospital. Did you just contact the human resources department and apply?

If anyone in NYC has some suggestions, I would love to hear them.
Thanks very much.

NY Presbyterian has a great volunteer program. Lots of places in the hospital to volunteer. Also, Mt Sinai has a strong volunteer program. Both are on the upper east side.

 

[dizzle]

thanks to all of you!

 

[Yellow Snow]

Just a side note, some of the formal post-bac programs include hooking you up with choice volunteer spots. One of the pluses.

 

[gaki]

i did not know that. thanks for info. hmmm...!

 

[911Med]

Date nurses.

 

[Verbatim81]

Date nurses.

...or date their daughters...

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

I'm doing volunteer work at a VA hospital in NYC. you can check with the volunteer department.

Bellevue has a very nice volunteer program that seems to give you a lot of exposure

 

[OpenIntro]

And for those of you that have or are volunteering at a hospital, particularly those in the emergency rooms, what kind of tasks are you normally assigned to do?

Also, I'm curious as to the shifts that people are on at the hospitals?

 

[Febrifuge]

When I was a volunteer, I worked 4 hours a week (7pm to 11pm on Sundays). I sat at the triage desk and talked with the nurses there. When a space was free in the back, I'd escort the patient back to the appropriate cubicle. If the pt had family or friends with them, I'd give a visitor pass to that person. If a room needed cleaning, I'd strip the linens, wipe down all the flat surfaces with disinfectant wipes, and put new linens on. It's not glamorous, but the staff can tell who's in it for real experience, and who's marking time half-assedly so they can put something on an application later.

Me, I got to know the people and the place, and when I was certified EMT I got hired in that same Level 1 Trauma ED. So I got that goin' for me. Which is good.

 

[jeanne]

Any advice as to the best approach to securing an MD to shadow? Maybe it's just my personality, but not knowing any doctors personally, I find it difficult to just start cold-calling to see if they wil give me their time. Any suggestions?

 

[sidewalkman]

I don't know if it's the "best," but try free clinics in your area where docs are volunteering their time.

 

[jeanne]

Thanks, Will do! 🙂

 

[Trismegistus4]

Any advice as to the best approach to securing an MD to shadow? Maybe it's just my personality, but not knowing any doctors personally, I find it difficult to just start cold-calling to see if they wil give me their time. Any suggestions?

I second this request. I do know some doctors personally and have met more through having one in the family, but all the doctors I've talked to have looked at me like I was from Mars when I mentioned shadowing. Even though some of them aren't that old, they don't seem to think all this shadowing/volunteering that people on SDN are always talking about is very important; they seem to believe that all one needs to do is take the classes and the MCAT. And even though most of them are friendly and nice enough, I get the impression they don't really want to spend their busy workday with some pre-med schmoe following them around everywhere.

 

[MEG@COOL]

I second this request. I do know some doctors personally and have met more through having one in the family, but all the doctors I've talked to have looked at me like I was from Mars when I mentioned shadowing. Even though some of them aren't that old, they don't seem to think all this shadowing/volunteering that people on SDN are always talking about is very important; they seem to believe that all one needs to do is take the classes and the MCAT. And even though most of them are friendly and nice enough, I get the impression they don't really want to spend their busy workday with some pre-med schmoe following them around everywhere.

If any hospitals are associated with a med school then some doctors will already have med students with them.... They probably wouldnt care having you tag along then. I did this some.... Then I also shadowed the on call doc alone one time too and he grilled me over the stuff he just taught me like I was a student lol. I wasnt paying attention that closely and he caught me off guard!!!!

 

[bmjones]

I was just browsing through this thread and thought I would add my 2 cents. In my opinion, one of the best ways to get first hand experience is to be an EMT. I started out working for the ambulance company at my school (UCLA) and later worked in an emergency room. Although volunteering is good, the volunteers in our hospital do not interact much with patients. As a tech we can practice patient assessments, treatments, and it gives a great opportunity to talk with the doctors, which at my hospital were happy to explain things. A lot of doctors will be hesitant to let you shadow them if you aren't a hospital employee due to new HIPPA laws about patient privacy, so that is becoming difficult. I know that in my ER, we had a daughter of one of the cardiologists who wanted to spend the day observing and they wouldn't let her.
In review:
If you want to volunteer, do it in the E.R. cause there is much more to do
If you are only a frosh/soph then go take the 8 week EMT class and work for AMR or something.
And if you can, go work at a hospital as a tech. If nothing else, it will give you a chance to see what being a doctor is really like.