NYC... Is it too late to apply to volunteer in a hospital over the summer?

[buttahz]

Hey, so I'm a Freshman, and I'm finding out the hard way that if you want to do some summer hospital volunteering, applications need to be done quite early... like january/february.

Well, right now I'm trying to look for hospitals that'll still accept applicants. I've made a bunch of calls to hospitals in queens and manhattan, and some of them are giving me a chance to apply. I recently had an interview to volunteer at one hospital, and I essentially got rejected (nicely, though... "I can't guarantee you a spot... I would encourage you to do something else...")

Also, how do I find a shadowing opportunity? I'm starting to email random physicians working in specialities i'm interested in, at local hospitals. No response yet. If anything, could I send a fax to my own PCP and ask if he has any colleagues willing to take on a student shadowing them? Or is that a violation of some sort of the doctor/patient relationship?

Is it too late to find a summer volunteering opportunity at a hospital right now?
As of now, my summer plans just look like a short research internship (all for june,) volunteering at an ambulance corps around my place, and taking a church pilgrimage to spain for august. I feel like hospital volunteering is one of those things you need to do early, and you need to do a lot. Like, I feel bad enough that I didn't do any volunteering at a hospital at all during high school. (I got waitlisted from a 7 year MD/BS program just because of that...)

**EDIT:: aSagacious caught my mistake... I was doing this pretty quickly and typed MD/PhD instead of BS/MD D:

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[aSagacious]

Well, right now I'm trying to look for hospitals that'll still accept applicants. I've made a bunch of calls to hospitals in queens and manhattan, and some of them are giving me a chance to apply. I recently had an interview to volunteer at one hospital, and I essentially got rejected (nicely, though... "I can't guarantee you a spot... I would encourage you to do something else...")

Just keep doing what you're doing. The deadlines will vary by hospital so all you can do is ask each hospital in your area.

Also, how do I find a shadowing opportunity? I'm starting to email random physicians working in specialities i'm interested in, at local hospitals. No response yet. If anything, could I send a fax to my own PCP and ask if he has any colleagues willing to take on a student shadowing them? Or is that a violation of some sort of the doctor/patient relationship?

Asking your PCP is fine (and quite common). Once you get your foot in the door as a hospital volunteer you might be able to arrange something with the attendings there.

As of now, my summer plans just look like a short research internship (all for june) volunteering at an ambulance corps around my place, and taking a church pilgrimage to spain for august. I feel like hospital volunteering is one of those things you need to do early, and you need to do a lot.

That's a fair amount of activities. Sure you, ideally, want to have a couple hundred hours of volunteering by the time you apply, but there's no exact figure or rate at which you must accumulate the hours.

(I got waitlisted from a 7 year MD/PhD program just because of that...)

What program was this? I've never heard of a MD/PhD program being offered out of high school (perhaps you mean a BS/MD program?)

 

[buttahz]

@aSagacious: yeah, you're right. I meant to write BS/MD... my bad

The thing about the volunteer ambulance corps is that I'm not an EMT.i've been volunteering with my college's ambulance corps as an attendant, but the only opportunity for me to get trained as an EMT was during the spring, and seeing as I'm taking 20 credits + commuting, I can't fit it in 🙁

Also, the program was Sophie Davis... one interviewer grilled me on why I had negligible hospital experience and implied that it was my major flaw.

 

[theWUbear]

just interviewed as a formality and was accepted into the volunteer program at university hospital (newark)'s emergency department. program looks like a sweet deal

 

[LadiiKay]

Hey, if you join a VAC that's not part of your school campus, they'll usually pay for you to take the class over the summer, or reimburse you after a year of membership. There's a lot of places in nyc offering the course over the summer, check the remsco website. If you're in the queens area i suggest you check out ridgewood, woodside, jamaica estates, glen oaks, or flushing VACs because they are the busiest ones.

 

[buttahz]

yeah! i'm checking out one in forest hills, it's closest to my neighborhood. they do want cpr certification, which you have to get outside, before you can even be a dispatcher, though. I think it would take me the same time to eventually get to be an emt as it would through my school. I'm so keen on volunteering with ems though because I want to observe how professionals deal with high stress medical emergencies...

 

[petyr_baelish]

had to do it...

 

[buttahz]

no, not st. johns. but I do commute to a school in nyc.

 

[Political]

Elmhurst Hospital in Queens will be accepting new volunteers on april 1st, call them really early, like 8 in the morning, to get a spot since alot of people (*ahem* premeds) will be wanting a spot aswell.

 

[LadiiKay]

yeah! i'm checking out one in forest hills, it's closest to my neighborhood. they do want cpr certification, which you have to get outside, before you can even be a dispatcher, though. I think it would take me the same time to eventually get to be an emt as it would through my school. I'm so keen on volunteering with ems though because I want to observe how professionals deal with high stress medical emergencies...

you may want to ask around before you stroll into forest hills to join them, because a lot of vollies do not have crews every night. The ones I listed are out every night which is awesome because your schedule gives you a lot more room to go and pull tour. I highly recommend flushing if you want to stay in that area because flushing is insanely busy and they get some of the best jobs! There's a few classes starting in May/June that will get you certified by the end of August so check it out.

do u go to st johns?

Better question, do you go to st. john's?