Is this a normal hospital volunteer experience?

[Josh7]

Hey everyone,

So at the beginning of this semester I began volunteering at the local hospital for three hours a week. I was assigned to oncology which is a field that I am somewhat interested in. My shift is Saturday from 6-9 PM so only the really serious and unhealthy patients are still there 🙁.

During the ten weeks that I've been volunteering I've already seen two people die and had to accompany them down to the morgue.

Is this normal? Is your hospital volunteering experience as depressing as mine? I'm not complaining obviously, I realize this happens at hospitals I'm merely curious.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Cinclus]

I never visited or brought anyone to the morgue, though I did see someone die in the ED (I wasn't at a trauma center, so not too many deaths going on). It sounds like something that would be more common with the type of volunteer position you have.

 

[lobo.solo]

I don't think this is common at all. At the hospital I work at, volunteers barely do anything... I don't think staff would let them take a dead body to the morgue.

 

[Skull Pell]

This isn't really normal but sure does make for an eye-opening experience, at least the end of life part of medicine. Although it is normal for people who work at a hospital to do bradycare, we have transport staff to do the run to the morgue. It just depends on the facility. You're going to be numb soon after 30+ people pass away during your shift..I guess.

 

[Geebeejay]

Hey everyone,

So at the beginning of this semester I began volunteering at the local hospital for three hours a week. I was assigned to oncology which is a field that I am somewhat interested in. My shift is Saturday from 6-9 PM so only the really serious and unhealthy patients are still there 🙁.

During the ten weeks that I've been volunteering I've already seen two people die and had to bring them down to the morgue.

Is this normal? Is your hospital volunteering experience as depressing as mine? I'm not complaining obviously, I realize this happens at hospitals I'm merely curious.

Volunteers do not bring people to the morgue in the hospital I work at. Yours is either understaffed, or in violation. Otherwise, I only saw one person die while I was a volunteer over the course of a few years.

 

[Josh7]

Volunteers do not bring people to the morgue in the hospital I work at. Yours is either understaffed, or in violation. Otherwise, I only saw one person die while I was a volunteer over the course of a few years.

I don't put the person in the body bag and then carry them down there. I am in the room when this process occurs and I collect the patients personal belongings then accompany the nurses while the body is being carted downstairs. It's a very surreal and sad experience, especially seeing the patients family members leave the room one by one 🙁

I changed the word "bring" to "accompany" in the original post as not to cause any more confusion

 

[Geebeejay]

I don't put the person in the body bag and then carry them down there. I am in the room when this process occurs and I collect the patients personal belongings then accompany the nurses while the body is being carted downstairs. It's a very surreal and sad experience, especially seeing the patients family members leave the room one by one 🙁

I changed the word "bring" to "accompany" in the original post as not to cause any more confusion

That's a little more comforting, but every volunteer I've worked with has had zero involvement with any aspects of post-death care.

 

[theWhat]

yeah that seems like a big overstep in role as a volunteer imo.

 

[dfib slim]

.

 

[myronnie]

That's a little more comforting, but every volunteer I've worked with has had zero involvement with any aspects of post-death care.

At the hospital where I volunteer (a very large teaching hospital affiliated with my Ugrad), they assign volunteers to morgue duty..Yesterday the coordinator was joking with us that they assign teenage volunteers to the morgue

 

[pre med 2014]

I've never seen anyone die, I feel like there is a really small probability that someone goes right when you are there since you're only there for a 3 hour window.

I have volunteered in a field where mortality rates are high so I am surprised you have seen two deaths.

 

[Translation]

Teens on morgue duty=weed out.

My hospital volunteer duties were mundane. A couple shifts later, I found a more meaningful role in a hospice. It's just what you get out of it that counts.

 

[LizzyM]

yeah that seems like a big overstep in role as a volunteer imo.

Why do you say that? What qualifications are needed to carry a patient's belongings to a new location and assist in a patient transfer? It seems lower risk that transferring a living patient and his belongings to the front door & yet volunteers do that all the time.

 

[StudyShy]

As a student, I did lots of postmortem care and helped transport my fair share of bodies to the morgue (mostly in paramedic school but I was also very curious about the process). At my hospital, security usually sends them to the creepy "fridge."

 

[chrismenz4]

I don't think this is common at all. At the hospital I work at, volunteers barely do anything... I don't think staff would let them take a dead body to the morgue.

this.

 

[plumhill]

I didn't have this experience as a volunteer, but once I started working at my University hospital as a sitter (which is traditionally a job done by pre-med and pre-nursing students), two of my patients coded. And I know there have been volunteers in the ED who have seen patients die.

 

[Geebeejay]

Why do you say that? What qualifications are needed to carry a patient's belongings to a new location and assist in a patient transfer? It seems lower risk that transferring a living patient and his belongings to the front door & yet volunteers do that all the time.

The morgue in the hospital I work at is a very secure, hidden location. It's deep in the bowels of the hospital in the basement, past the kitchen, and in an unmarked door that has no swipe access - security must escort you. Security won't even mention it over radio, they have a code word for it (room 89, or something like that). I would only imagine that hospital policy wouldn't let just any non-payroll volunteer roll down there with bodies. Not even mentioning how lifting and placing a dead body onto a refrigerated pseudo-gurney is both creepy and brutal, and not all volunteers are eager, curious students.

Usually a nurse and tech bring bodies to the morgue, accompanied by security. I also work at a very political, hierarchical hospital, so maybe this isn't the norm.

 

[Echoseven]

The morgue in the hospital I work at is a very secure, hidden location. It's deep in the bowels of the hospital in the basement, past the kitchen, and in an unmarked door that has no swipe access - security must escort you. Security won't even mention it over radio, they have a code word for it (room 89, or something like that). I would only imagine that hospital policy wouldn't let just any non-payroll volunteer roll down there with bodies. Not even mentioning how lifting and placing a dead body onto a refrigerated pseudo-gurney is both creepy and brutal, and not all volunteers are eager, curious students.

Usually a nurse and tech bring bodies to the morgue, accompanied by security. I also work at a very political, hierarchical hospital, so maybe this isn't the norm.

I volunteer in the ED which is a major trauma center for the region, so I have seen quite a few deaths. The hospital has staff that come from the morgue to transport the bodies, so I've never been involved with taking them out of the department, but I have helped to move the bodies from the bed to the covered gurney. I don't find this creepy or brutal, and I don't think this is outside the bounds of what a volunteer should be doing at all, especially when the staff is aware of your career goals. I agree with LizzyM that moving a deceased patient is much less risky than when I help patients get to the restroom or take them out to the pick-up area after discharge.

I can see that this might be disturbing for a volunteer not interested in pursuing a career in medicine, but most people who volunteer in a setting like ED or oncology are eager students, not retired adults looking to stay involved in the community.

 

[Josh7]

The morgue in the hospital I work at is a very secure, hidden location. It's deep in the bowels of the hospital in the basement, past the kitchen, and in an unmarked door that has no swipe access - security must escort you. Security won't even mention it over radio, they have a code word for it (room 89, or something like that). I would only imagine that hospital policy wouldn't let just any non-payroll volunteer roll down there with bodies. Not even mentioning how lifting and placing a dead body onto a refrigerated pseudo-gurney is both creepy and brutal, and not all volunteers are eager, curious students.

Usually a nurse and tech bring bodies to the morgue, accompanied by security. I also work at a very political, hierarchical hospital, so maybe this isn't the norm.

This is how it is at the hospital I volunteer at. While walking to the morgue the nurse called security to let us in, it was a very secret process but very interesting and a great experience. Today I had to do this again actually 🙁

 

[theWhat]

The morgue in the hospital I work at is a very secure, hidden location. It's deep in the bowels of the hospital in the basement, past the kitchen, and in an unmarked door that has no swipe access - security must escort you. Security won't even mention it over radio, they have a code word for it (room 89, or something like that). I would only imagine that hospital policy wouldn't let just any non-payroll volunteer roll down there with bodies. Not even mentioning how lifting and placing a dead body onto a refrigerated pseudo-gurney is both creepy and brutal, and not all volunteers are eager, curious students.

Usually a nurse and tech bring bodies to the morgue, accompanied by security. I also work at a very political, hierarchical hospital, so maybe this isn't the norm.

Yeah I dunno, it just seems to me like a sensitive matter, but that's just my opinion. While it is low risk, I would think that the way in which bodies are handled need to be under a strict protocol. I could be completely off base though, as I've never helped with such thing and most volunteers seem to be pretty respectful and thoughtful people.


Correction, I just realized they are helping move belongings,not taking the body down by themselves. Huge difference, yeah that totally seems fine.

 

[Cambino]

Why do you say that? What qualifications are needed to carry a patient's belongings to a new location and assist in a patient transfer? It seems lower risk that transferring a living patient and his belongings to the front door & yet volunteers do that all the time.

This, and isn't it debatably a good experience for someone to have who are pursuing the become a doctor? Death in medicine is all too frequent so being exposed it is a prudent phenomenon.

 

[theWhat]

This, and isn't it debatably a good experience for someone to have who are pursuing the become a doctor? Death in medicine is all too frequent so being exposed it is a prudent phenomenon.

Yeah I think it is a good experience, I was just thinking in terms of the sensitive matter of giving a volunteer the full responsibility of transporting a deceased patient. One has to be careful in regards to dealing with bodies. This doesn't seem to be the case, I misread their original description, my bad.

 

[ValentineLissar]

I never accompanied a deceased patient down the morgue alone, but I have helped the transport team with transporting the patient's stuff too. The team also let me go into the morgue since I was curious. I don't think it's stepping out of bounds as long as you're not doing the stuff alone.

 

[Geebeejay]

I volunteer in the ED which is a major trauma center for the region, so I have seen quite a few deaths. The hospital has staff that come from the morgue to transport the bodies, so I've never been involved with taking them out of the department, but I have helped to move the bodies from the bed to the covered gurney. I don't find this creepy or brutal, and I don't think this is outside the bounds of what a volunteer should be doing at all, especially when the staff is aware of your career goals. I agree with LizzyM that moving a deceased patient is much less risky than when I help patients get to the restroom or take them out to the pick-up area after discharge.

I can see that this might be disturbing for a volunteer not interested in pursuing a career in medicine, but most people who volunteer in a setting like ED or oncology are eager students, not retired adults looking to stay involved in the community.

I've never seen a volunteer move a patient from anywhere to anywhere (other than pushing a stretcher). I'm not saying they can't or aren't capable, but I'd be very surprised if any hospital policy allows this. The concern I would have from an administrative perspective, is what happens when a volunteer, who has not been trained on moving patients, hurts his back, drops a patient, mishandles a body or hell, alleges to suffer PTSD from the event? Again, I'm not saying you aren't capable of doing things, and you probably are more than capable. I would just be surprised if any hospital would knowingly take the risk to permit an unpaid, non-employee to handle bodies in any way.

Accompanying the transport team, pushing a stretcher, carrying belongings, or observing - that's another matter, and I can see that happening, no problem.

 

[SBuck53]

I work as a tech in an ER, and part of my duties involve transporting the deceased to the morgue. I had a curious volunteer ask to help. I had to clear it with the nursing supervisor, but I didn't think it was too much of a problem as the volunteer just observed.

 

[link2swim06]

Hey everyone,

So at the beginning of this semester I began volunteering at the local hospital for three hours a week. I was assigned to oncology which is a field that I am somewhat interested in. My shift is Saturday from 6-9 PM so only the really serious and unhealthy patients are still there 🙁.

During the ten weeks that I've been volunteering I've already seen two people die and had to accompany them down to the morgue.

Is this normal? Is your hospital volunteering experience as depressing as mine? I'm not complaining obviously, I realize this happens at hospitals I'm merely curious.

Go to another floor. Oncology is especially rough (esp peds onc). I am nearly 5 months into 3rd year and have only seen 1 patient die (a code I responded to).


Apart from oncology and the MICU/SICU patients rarely die. Most terminal patients are transfered to nursing homes or hospice to die.

During undergrad volunteering for 3 years I never saw a patient die.

 

[TheMightySmiter]

I think most people did not read OP's additional post where s/he stated that s/he only transported the deceased patient's belongings and was NOT involved in the actual transport or handling of the cadaver. I think that, while emotional, this job is not outside the realistic capacity of an average volunteer. It seems as though it could be a valuable experience to learn about coping with death and dying--this is something that some seasoned physicians still have trouble with.

 

[theWhat]

I think most people did not read OP's additional post where s/he stated that s/he only transported the deceased patient's belongings and was NOT involved in the actual transport or handling of the cadaver. I think that, while emotional, this job is not outside the realistic capacity of an average volunteer. It seems as though it could be a valuable experience to learn about coping with death and dying--this is something that some seasoned physicians still have trouble with.

Agreed

 

[Josh7]

Go to another floor. Oncology is especially rough (esp peds onc). I am nearly 5 months into 3rd year and have only seen 1 patient die (a code I responded to).


Apart from oncology and the MICU/SICU patients rarely die. Most terminal patients are transfered to nursing homes or hospice to die.

During undergrad volunteering for 3 years I never saw a patient die.

I think I will eventually volunteer somewhere else in the hospital but while oncology is especially sad to me I think it's a very valuable experience. Talking with patients is really interesting since a lot of the patients have lived extremely meaningful lives and really want to talk about their kids, life experience, thoughts on politics etc.

I would like to volunteer in the ER as well. I'm sure that would be interesting.

 

[BabyDoc86]

There was only one instance in all of my years of volunteering where I was physically present in the room when a patient died. I helped the nurses clean up the body before the morgue staff came to take it. I'm also a hospice volunteer so death is pretty common. I'm sorry this has happened to you, because of course it can be depressing. Learn from it but don't dwell on it too much.

 

[Dmr6186]

When I volunteered at a hospital, I helped the employees take down deceased patients to the morgue. I'd assume the amount a volunteer is allowed to help depends on the hospital or how the employees/supervisors feel about you.

It was strange at first. I started to really heat up and sweat a little under my clothes because I had never encountered this before. Strangely enough, after a few times, you get used to it... Sometimes it's helpful to know that these patients aren't suffering from such terrible chronic diseases and can finally move on.

 

[eefen]

While the situation is unusual for a typical hospital volunteer, it seems in line with the fact that you are working in the oncology department.

When I volunteered in the ED, I would occasionally help transport/transfer live patients. It wasn't until I worked as a patient transporter that I made morgue runs, though. I actually ended up using one of those encounters to frame my personal statement.