How do you make the most of hospital volunteering?

[r_salis]

I volunteered at a hospital last summer, and was placed as a "family advocate" in a surgical waiting room -- keeping families apprised of the progress of family members' surgeries. It was booooooring (though I did get to observe some really cool eye surgeries). I finally gave it up because I felt pretty useless.

How can I have a better experience as a volunteer? I'd love to do something that was useful to the hospital *and* rewarding for myself.

What kind of volunteer jobs/experiences has everyone had?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[XCanadianRagwee]

I volunteer 6 hours a week at the local hospital (there are only two in our town).

I work in the emergency room, which is tons of fun. I get lots of patient interaction, nurse interaction and some doctor interaction, plus a chance to see all the "cool" stuff that comes into the hospital (which in all honesty isn't much--I'm in a podunk town, most of the more interesting stuff goes to the bigger city just down the road).

I take vitals of patients, have performed EKGs, hook patients up to monitors, help draw blood, and watch anything and everything I want to, as long as I have the doctor and/or nurses' permission.

I love it and that's why I volunteer six hours a week instead of 3 like I use to. Here are some hints:

Make sure you get into the area of the hospital you want to be in. Trust me, I was in a similar setting as you and I really didn't get all that much out of it. If your first choice is full go for a second or third. If you get stuck doing something you hate, look for a volunteer experience elsewhere.

Ask about what you can and cannot do while you are at the hospital. For example, the other hospital in town volunteers cannot perform vitals on patients at all, and barely get patient interaction other than when they are stocking their room. I was asked to suture a patient once, although I declined (second day at the ER and I didn't need to mess anything up). I know if i was in the other hospital I would be so bored there compared to what I do now.

If there is another hospital in town ask about their volunteer program.

Also, rather than volunteer you might ask to shadow a doctor around the hospital. There are a few people I know who do that instead of volunteering.

Hope this helps. As I've always been told, if you don't like doing it, then quit and find somethign else.

 

[Yogi Bear]

i've volunteered at a bunch of places and the ones that i find most rewarding have the fewest volunteers cuz u end up doing more. on the other hand, volunteering at places that have a lot of volunteers (such as a university hospital) was less enriching cuz i was really limited in what i could do (basically, handing out water pitchers, etc). many of my friends who volunteered in ER ended up just making beds. pretty dry....

 

[Karina]

I was a volunteer for the Child Life Department at a children's hospital for a little over a year (until they hired me as a child life assistant). I really enjoyed it. You get LOTS of patient interaction, and I formed really cool bonds with the kids. You get to see a lot of stuff, and I got to learn, since the child life department educates families and patients. I sometimes got to do medical teaching and things like that. I thought it was so much fun, and rewarding. So much, that I had to apply for the job when I heard the position was open. 🙂

Best of luck!
Karina

 

[Jedi In Training]

r_salis

I volunteered in the emergency department of a county hospital with a huge patient load and overworked nursing staff. That in itself made me a welcome presence. I was asked to assist physicians with some procedures and sent everywhere on errands. Knowing I could do more, I enhanced my experience because I could speak Spanish (this was in Oakland, California) and learned how to do EKGs (concurrently volunteering with the cardiology department during my first few months). With another language I was often asked to assist physicians as an interpreter or to interview patients myself. Knowing about EKGs, I could record them or look for old/previous recordings in the filing room if a physician wanted one.

I agree with Yogi Bear and XCanadianRagwee that you should volunteer in a place where you have personal interest in what you are doing and where you are doing it. Karina sounds like she is having such an experience at the Children's Hospital she works at.

 

[silverline]

Hmm, I've visited and asked around a few hospitals (Kaiser Permanente locations) but the only open position they had was for someone to read children's books to patients who are waiting in the pediatric ward.

I wonder if I'm not asking the right questions to the volunteer staff, or maybe they just don't need volunteers at this time? 😕

 

[Iffy premed]

all hospitals want volunteers
they just differ in the extent that they allow the volunteers to participate in actively giving care
i volunteered in ER before, wasn't exciting at all
didn't talk to doctors or talk about patients' cases with the nurses
but I stuck through it
if you happen to be in a volunteer position that you find rewarding...great
but if you don't, don't worry, the admission committees understand that volunteers aren't allowed to do alot
but they still want to see a level of committment to whatever you are doing
medicine for real physicians isn't exciting all the time neither

 

[conure]

Wow the responses here are running the gammet. Why? It depends on the Department and the Staff. If the staff has learned to appreciate and use its volunteers you are golden. Pediatric wards are always friendly, and reading or playing games is really rewarding as well as needed.

My ER does not use its volunteers wisely because no one wants the responsibility of looking after us. So it becomes a lot of observation and an opportunity to reflect. Also if you just accept that you have non responsibility then you can just simply talk with the patients. You will quickly learn who wants to talk and what to say.

Good luck.

 

[Jedi In Training]

Originally posted by silverline
Hmm, I've visited and asked around a few hospitals (Kaiser Permanente locations) but the only open position they had was for someone to read children's books to patients who are waiting in the pediatric ward.

I wonder if I'm not asking the right questions to the volunteer staff, or maybe they just don't need volunteers at this time? 😕

An HMO keeping volunteers away from areas of clinical intervention doesn't surprise me. I know because I once volunteer at Kaiser during high school (worked with kids admitted into the pediactric ward).

I know that opportunites can vary with respect to the area in which you live. See if there are any local clinics that serve the homeless/indigent populations. As Iffy premed stated: all hospitals want volunteers. But you have to look around for the hospitals/clinics that are willing to let you participate in the things that you are interested in. Even now in medical school, I find myself having to be resourceful in finding the unique/didactic opportunies (i.e., contacting other local medical schools). Good luck.

 

[DALABROKA]

Originally posted by r_salis
How can I have a better experience as a volunteer? I'd love to do something that was useful to the hospital *and* rewarding for myself.

Try to get a part time or PRN job in a hospital, you learn alot more and are allowed to do much more as an employee, rather than a volunteer. Once you get your foot in the door as an employee, you can meander all around the hospital and do all sorts of things when you are not "on the clock".

Cheers,
DALA

 

[LoneCoyote]

Originally posted by Jedi In Training

I know that opportunites can vary with respect to the area in which you live. See if there are any local clinics that serve the homeless/indigent populations.

I agree with Jedi on this one. If you have one in your area see if you can volunteer at an understaffed/underserved hospital, like a county hospital or the VA. I volunteer at the county hospital here and I have seen tons of stuff I would not have seen otherwise and have gotten to do much more, ie taking vitals, having extensive interaction with patients, helping nurses with procedures, than I would be doing were I at the university hospital, or the hospital in the nicer part of town where most of the pre-meds volunteer. And I agree that Spanish is a big plus for volunteering at a hospital like this. If you just know really basic phrases you may be a big help. Even here where 90% of the patients at the county hospital are Latino and we're 40 minutes from Mexico many doctors and nurses don't speak any Spanish at all. I also think that volunteering in this environment, especially emergency room, will really help you decide if you love medicine because you'll be exposed to some pretty rough cases. Good luck finding a good volunteer job 🙂

 

[SuzyQ]

I volunteered at a local hospital in the peds section and all I did was fold baby towels for 4 hours....i stopped going after the second day...geez