Is this appropriate volunteer work?

[plumhill]

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I volunteer as a hospital advocate in the Emergency Department at various hospitals in the Columbus area. I went through 40 hours of training to work as an advocate for sexually assaulted patients who come into the ER, and I am on call three times a month, with each shift being 8 hours. In addition to that I also take calls from the 24 hour Rape Crisis Hotline for the Columbus area. As an advocate, my job is to emotionally support the patient, answer any of the questions they might have regarding the procedural technicalities involved in caring for patients who have been sexually assaulted, as well as talk to their family members if they come to the ER.

I love what I do, and regardless of the answer I probably won't quit this volunteer position. But is this something that would be looked upon favorably by medical schools? I also volunteer at the free clinic in Columbus once a week for about 4-5 hours each time.

I only ask this because I realized that most of the volunteers in this organization are training to be social workers or counselors, not doctors, and I was wondering if maybe this wasn't the right "kind" of volunteer work for pre-medical students...

 

[dmf2682]

I volunteer as a hospital advocate in the Emergency Department at various hospitals in the Columbus area. I went through 40 hours of training to work as an advocate for sexually assaulted patients who come into the ER, and I am on call three times a month, with each shift being 8 hours. In addition to that I also take calls from the 24 hour Rape Crisis Hotline for the Columbus area. As an advocate, my job is to emotionally support the patient, answer any of the questions they might have regarding the procedural technicalities involved in caring for patients who have been sexually assaulted, as well as talk to their family members if they come to the ER.

I love what I do, and regardless of the answer I probably won't quit this volunteer position. But is this something that would be looked upon favorably by medical schools? I also volunteer at the free clinic in Columbus once a week for about 4-5 hours each time.

I only ask this because I realized that most of the volunteers in this organization are training to be social workers or counselors, not doctors, and I was wondering if maybe this wasn't the right "kind" of volunteer work for pre-medical students...

I hate to say it, because you probably go to OSU, but yeah that stuff is pretty good. Awesome in fact. Keep doing it and good luck.

and go blue 🙂

 

[LifeTake2]

I volunteer as a hospital advocate in the Emergency Department at various hospitals in the Columbus area. I went through 40 hours of training to work as an advocate for sexually assaulted patients who come into the ER, and I am on call three times a month, with each shift being 8 hours. In addition to that I also take calls from the 24 hour Rape Crisis Hotline for the Columbus area. As an advocate, my job is to emotionally support the patient, answer any of the questions they might have regarding the procedural technicalities involved in caring for patients who have been sexually assaulted, as well as talk to their family members if they come to the ER.

I love what I do, and regardless of the answer I probably won't quit this volunteer position. But is this something that would be looked upon favorably by medical schools? I also volunteer at the free clinic in Columbus once a week for about 4-5 hours each time.

I only ask this because I realized that most of the volunteers in this organization are training to be social workers or counselors, not doctors, and I was wondering if maybe this wasn't the right "kind" of volunteer work for pre-medical students...

This is EXCELLENT activity.

You volunteer to make a difference, schools look to see that you have to see what kind of person you are. They can tell the difference between someone that picked their volunteer activity because it was something they wanted to do vs something they did for their application.

 

[crazycooljoel]

I would agree with the other two responses. If nothing it cannot hurt your chances; however, I believe it would help quite a bit considering the hours you are putting in and on a schedule that interacts with patients in an unpaid and volunteer status.

 

[blueberry123456]

This is going to sound super creepy, since I just joined... but I am a member of the same organization in Columbus. I just do the helpline though. So you aren't alone!

Also, if it means anything to you, every single doctor/other medical professional I have mentioned this to has made a huge deal about how great it is and that it should be a huge part of my application. I'm not applying until next year, so take that for what it's worth though 🙂.

 

[LizzyM]

I don't see this often but I did work closely with a med student who had done that while in college. I think it would be considered a very altruistic activity.

 

[medaholic]

this is a great activity. i work with the admissions committee, and this is probably better than the generic hospital gift shop stuff we see all the time

 

[plumhill]

This is going to sound super creepy, since I just joined... but I am a member of the same organization in Columbus. I just do the helpline though. So you aren't alone!

Also, if it means anything to you, every single doctor/other medical professional I have mentioned this to has made a huge deal about how great it is and that it should be a huge part of my application. I'm not applying until next year, so take that for what it's worth though 🙂.

That's not creepy! I'm excited that I'm not the only pre-med there. If your'e going to the next inservice we can talk, maybe?

 

[PennMedMan]

Yeah, Im not sure why this is really even a question. This is a top notch activity that adcoms are going to love. Not that you're doing it for that reason, of course.

 

[plumhill]

Yeah, Im not sure why this is really even a question. This is a top notch activity that adcoms are going to love. Not that you're doing it for that reason, of course.

My main concern/observation was that the vast majority of people who volunteer for this organization are training to be social workers or counselors, or something of that nature. Columbus has a pretty large pre-med population (with OSU and all) and I was surprised that there weren't very many pre-meds with this group...oh well!

 

[blueberry123456]

That's not creepy! I'm excited that I'm not the only pre-med there. If your'e going to the next inservice we can talk, maybe?

Definitely! I'd love to. I thought I was the only premed there too. I should be at the next one... I just realized that I don't have the schedule for inservices past the end of the year, so I'll have to email Debbie about that.

Anyway, I don't really want to give you my name on here (I'm kinda paranoid about security on the internet haha) but I take helpline shifts every Saturday morning. So just check the schedule and you can see my name, and then I'd love to meet you at an inservice!