Non-Hospice Clinical Volunteering ideas?

[Anthodite]

Hi everyone, I know clinical volunteering is important and I’ve been trying to look for a meaningful kind to participate in.

Hospice is too triggering for me at the moment and I rather not cry in front of patients while helping to care for them. Are there any direct patient care volunteering opportunities? I don’t want to be just stocking and doing paperwork, I want something ideally meaningful to partake in.

I work in healthcare myself but my certification is in radiation therapy so the only skills that are in my scope that apply outside RT are placing IVs, contrast, identifying allergic reactions, and taking vitals. And before anyone says this is the same emotional toll as hospice, it’s not.

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[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

You could try a free clinic, they may let you act as a MA due to your experience. Very few volunteer roles are direct patient care though; most of it is getting water or ice chips or playing games in the peds ward. See what opportunities your hospital has, being a baby cuddler in the NICU was cool.

 

[cj_cregg]

Child life in hospital, free clinic (rooming patients, intake, outreach, HIV testing, etc.). However, if you already have a decent amount of clinical experience as an RT, beyond some physician shadowing to make sure you see the doctor side of things, I'm not sure clinical volunteering in addition to that is needed - it may be useful for you to consider non clinical volunteering with underserved communities instead, for example, if that's not something already prominent on your application.

 

[Anthodite]

You could try a free clinic, they may let you act as a MA due to your experience. Very few volunteer roles are direct patient care though; most of it is getting water or ice chips or playing games in the peds ward. See what opportunities your hospital has, being a baby cuddler in the NICU was cool.

Any tips on finding free clinics to volunteer at? Is there an official source to look them up or can I just go with any place that calls themselves one?

 

[Anthodite]

Child life in hospital, free clinic (rooming patients, intake, outreach, HIV testing, etc.). However, if you already have a decent amount of clinical experience as an RT, beyond some physician shadowing to make sure you see the doctor side of things, I'm not sure clinical volunteering in addition to that is needed - it may be useful for you to consider non clinical volunteering with underserved communities instead, for example, if that's not something already prominent on your application.

Thanks! I mean I wanted to mainly focus on non clinical volunteering because I don’t have official hours for the volunteer work I’ve done like babysitting and tutoring my family, friends, and neighbors kids over the past couple years with my insane student schedule. I’m aiming to get more community service sort of volunteering like right now I’m planning on checking out either the food shelter or something else at the community center.

I just talked to a few admissions officers at a conference who said clinical volunteering was necessary their school but something about stocking linen and making copies doesn’t feel genuine to write about how impactful it is which is why I asked about anything else I could do that wasn’t hospice.

How do you go about finding them since googling “free clinic near me” alone doesn’t really help?

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Any tips on finding free clinics to volunteer at? Is there an official source to look them up or can I just go with any place that calls themselves one?

Look on your local public health dept site and hospital sites. A lot of the times they'll have a page for low income pts with resources.

 

[cj_cregg]

Thanks! I mean I wanted to mainly focus on non clinical volunteering because I don’t have official hours for the volunteer work I’ve done like babysitting and tutoring my family, friends, and neighbors kids over the past couple years with my insane student schedule. I’m aiming to get more community service sort of volunteering like right now I’m planning on checking out either the food shelter or something else at the community center.

I just talked to a few admissions officers at a conference who said clinical volunteering was necessary their school but something about stocking linen and making copies doesn’t feel genuine to write about how impactful it is which is why I asked about anything else I could do that wasn’t hospice.

How do you go about finding them since googling “free clinic near me” alone doesn’t really help?

Clinical volunteering specifically being necessary and not just clinical experience + volunteering, in whatever combination, would surprise me, but obviously I'm not familiar with the nuances of most schools. With what you said though, in addition to the clinical volunteering, I would definitely, definitely try to rack up at least 200 hrs of non clinical volunteering as well to give yourself the best shot of getting in on your first try.

Free clinics - some areas have more than others. More common these days to see FQHCs which are federally funded and not volunteer/donation based, although some states like Florida for example that are (in theory) not big fans of federal meddling may have less FQHCs/more free clinics as a result. Agree with above - check health department and hospital websites, ask any clinical social workers you may know, and I would also suggest looking at organizations that provide services to the homeless, immigrants, and refugees.

If you're still not finding anything, you may need to just do the hospital volunteering. I get that it feels less substantial than what you've been doing in your RT work, but even if you're not actually checking vitals, doing IVs, etc it's still clinical exposure, working with patients and healthcare workers of various flavors, and still valuable for your application especially if it is in a different environment than your normal work. You really don't need more than 50-100 hrs I would think with your existing healthcare experience.

 

[LizzyM]

Thanks! I mean I wanted to mainly focus on non clinical volunteering because I don’t have official hours for the volunteer work I’ve done like babysitting and tutoring my family, friends, and neighbors kids over the past couple years with my insane student schedule. I’m aiming to get more community service sort of volunteering like right now I’m planning on checking out either the food shelter or something else at the community center.

I just talked to a few admissions officers at a conference who said clinical volunteering was necessary their school but something about stocking linen and making copies doesn’t feel genuine to write about how impactful it is which is why I asked about anything else I could do that wasn’t hospice.

How do you go about finding them since googling “free clinic near me” alone doesn’t really help?

Were the people you were speaking to at the fair aware of your experience as an RT student? If not, they may have given you the generic advice of needing clinical volunteering when, in fact, it is more likely that applicants need clinical experience and that is most easily obtained as a volunteer and hence most common. Paid clinical experience is perfectly acceptable and training experiences in clinical setting will count for something (tag it other if it was neither volunteer nor paid employment).

You could try googling "federally qualified health clinics in my area" or use this site: Find a Health Center

You could also google "find a food pantry in my area" and "find a soup kitchen in my area" and so forth for shelter, social services, etc.

 

[Goro]

Camps for sick kids
Planned Parenthood

 

[Anthodite]

Were the people you were speaking to at the fair aware of your experience as an RT student? If not, they may have given you the generic advice of needing clinical volunteering when, in fact, it is more likely that applicants need clinical experience and that is most easily obtained as a volunteer and hence most common. Paid clinical experience is perfectly acceptable and training experiences in clinical setting will count for something (tag it other if it was neither volunteer nor paid employment).

You could try googling "federally qualified health clinics in my area" or use this site: Find a Health Center

You could also google "find a food pantry in my area" and "find a soup kitchen in my area" and so forth for shelter, social services, etc.

They did know!! I was told that certain admissions(like their schools) would prefer some clinical volunteering. They said my paid clinical/student clinicals in RT+non clinical volunteering were not enough. I was told I NEED some clinical volunteering. Though the biggest caveat is that I had to explain what being an RT and RT student entailed.

Also thank you so much for the resources!! You’re the best, Lizzie!!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Any tips on finding free clinics to volunteer at? Is there an official source to look them up or can I just go with any place that calls themselves one?

National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics | NAFC

The National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics is focused on the issues and needs of medically underserved people throughout the U.S. Providing a wide range of support to members and in turn patients through funding, education and training, advocacy, standards, disaster relief, and more.

nafcclinics.org

For the OP: your clinical employment covers "clinical exposure." You don't need to have clinical "volunteering" IMO. That would be like asking an RN who wants to go premed to do clinical volunteering...

Why don't you ask the schools' admissions teams if you need clinical volunteering since you already have a clinical job?

 

[jvquarterback]

What schools said that?

 

[Anthodite]

National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics | NAFC

The National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics is focused on the issues and needs of medically underserved people throughout the U.S. Providing a wide range of support to members and in turn patients through funding, education and training, advocacy, standards, disaster relief, and more.

nafcclinics.org

For the OP: your clinical employment covers "clinical exposure." You don't need to have clinical "volunteering" IMO. That would be like asking an RN who wants to go premed to do clinical volunteering...

Why don't you ask the schools' admissions teams if you need clinical volunteering since you already have a clinical job?

Thanks for the source! And also: I did, there were like "yeah we still suggest clinical volunteering"

 

[Anthodite]

What schools said that?

I don't wanna name drop them so I sent you the name.