How to connect with doctors as a volunteer?

[Psylocke1902]

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So I am a Pre-med volunteering at this community small town hospital, it was my first day and I could not talk to the doctors cause they seems so busy. How do I know when to talk to them and what do I talk them so that I can likable enough for shadowing ?
P.S. I did not know when to talk to them so I just stand behind them and watch them doing their jobs, was that too creepy?

 

[colberag]

In what capacity are you volunteering? If you are just delivering coffee and newspapers, then I would not expect a whole lot of doctor interaction. Even in a role with more patient interaction it can be tough (heck, its even tough sometimes when you WORK in a hospital, much less volunteer).

 

[music2doc]

So I am a Pre-med volunteering at this community small town hospital, it was my first day and I could not talk to the doctors cause they seems so busy. How do I know when to talk to them and what do I talk them so that I can likable enough for shadowing ?
P.S. I did not know when to talk to them so I just stand behind them and watch them doing their jobs, was that too creepy?

Volunteer for awhile first. Earn yourself some respect from the staff. As a volunteer, your physician interaction will likely be minimal. Even as a hospital employee, I had to earn my coworkers' (and the physicians') respect.

And yes, that's weird. Don't hover over them and watch them work. If you are in a patient's room when the doc comes in AND the physician and patient are both ok with it, THEN stay and observe. Otherwise, get the heck outa the doc's way. Even as an employee, I generally ask the physician if s/he would like me to leave the room and I wait for good times to ask questions. I am there to work, not to observe the docs. Likewise, you are there to volunteer, not to observe the physicians.

 

[azerkail]

try catch them in the break room? introduce yourself as a volunteer/student and ask if you could shadow? as music2doc suggested, get noticed and earn respect of the staff, maybe they could point you in the direction of certain physicans more open to it.

depending on your role as volunteer, i imagine you're not totally required to hospital operations so you could shadow while 'volunteering' but if you're like a scribe or clerk or something you might have to do it after your work.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

Free Clinic.
Get out of hospital.
Why?
They make you do almost everything, and you will probably be "forced" to ask the Doctors a bunch of questions and you will be talking to them a lot too.

 

[Morzh]

In a busy hospital setting most doctors never talk to volunteers, or even the majority of the staff for that matter. Your contact person should be the volunteer coordinator and whoever the charge nurse is during your shift.

Hospital volunteering makes for poor shadowing.

 

[Frazier]

They are people too... talk sports.

 

[Stumpyman]

At the hospital I volunteered at we were instructed to not bother the Doctors, and just do whatever job we were assigned.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

i worked as a patient transporter for a year in a larger hospital and I can probably count on one hand the total number of minutes I talked to a physician in an aspect not related to the chart/patient/treatment. doctors don't talk to the staff very often and many are aware of the hierarchy in the hospital and won't talk to you. some are cool, some aren't.

and if your position is related to the doctors, i find it odd that you can't talk to the doctor. if it isn't related to them, standing behind them and watching is way creepy.

 

[mightymoose02]

Volunteer for awhile first. Earn yourself some respect from the staff. As a volunteer, your physician interaction will likely be minimal. Even as a hospital employee, I had to earn my coworkers' (and the physicians') respect.

This is good advice.

I think way too many pre-meds get too anxious and expect to just follow around medical doctors right away.

What I did was... pick a hospital with a legit volunteer program/office and ask about what kind of exposure they get. Is it mundane paper work? or front desk? etc. Either way, if they put you in a certain department, you will at least have some chance to meeting a doctor.

I started out as paper work with the nurses and then started talking to the orthopedic technicians little by little. Of course, we all became friendly and they decided to allow me to follow them around. (I actually put on a few casts myself on patients) After a few weeks, they let me follow around a PA (Physician's Assistant) and they deal with patients/doctors/etc. As I got to know them better, they decided it was OK to introduce me to the doctors. After that, it was pretty much going back and forth between following around technicians, PAs and doctors (whenever they all had time).

Everybody was very nice!

Work your way up.

 

[Psylocke1902]

In what capacity are you volunteering? If you are just delivering coffee and newspapers, then I would not expect a whole lot of doctor interaction. Even in a role with more patient interaction it can be tough (heck, its even tough sometimes when you WORK in a hospital, much less volunteer).

I am volunteering in the ER where I basically clean up the rooms after the patient is out, checking in on patients and deliver lab sample. On orientation day, the coordinator told me that my main job is to observe and learn from the doctor and nurses, so I got all stalker-y on them docs. Now that I know to start small, It will be much better, let's hop it works cause I'm a pretty shy person. Thank y'all

 

[Morsetlis]

It's like picking up girls or dating.

You gotta have the moves.