Playing with pediatric patients as a clinical experience

[unumsolum]

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One of my coworkers volunteers at the local children's hospital playing with toys with the patients. I understand this passes the "if you can smell the patients" rule, but I was wondering how valuable this is in terms of clinical xp? Any other input anyone has?

I would like to get a little more clinical experience, I have a few hundred hours working as a CNA and doing other clinical volunteering (which was mostly cleaning/restocking and I didn't find to have sufficient patient interaction). I think this is an activity I would enjoy and it works better with a college schedule than employment.

 

[Basalganglia4life]

If you would enjoy this and it could help you better understand why medicine is the right path for you then go for it. I just wouldn’t make it your only clinical experience

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It shouldn't be your only hospital-based experience; you should also witness doctor-patient interactions. For more direct patient exposure, being a CNA probably helps you, depending on your responsibilities. Otherwise, we need people who work in childcare/daycare settings.

 

[LizzyM]

Where have you worked as a CNA? If the children's ward or out-patient waiting room is a different venue, then it gives you that added exposure as well as being an opportunity to engage with young patients when they may not be feeling well, when they are bored or afraid or in a bit of pain. Being comfortable in that environment is a good experience to have. And it is a very needed service (saying this as the mother of a child who was entertained and distracted by pediatric volunteers on several occasions).

 

[unumsolum]

Where have you worked as a CNA? If the children's ward or out-patient waiting room is a different venue, then it gives you that added exposure as well as being an opportunity to engage with young patients when they may not be feeling well, when they are bored or afraid or in a bit of pain. Being comfortable in that environment is a good experience to have. And it is a very needed service (saying this as the mother of a child who was entertained and distracted by pediatric volunteers on several occasions).

I worked in a nursing home and doing home care for bout 150 hours each. I do consider the home care to be "legit" as the person I worked with needed significant amts of nursing care so it wasn't just doing their shopping or w/e

 

[unumsolum]

It shouldn't be your only hospital-based experience; you should also witness doctor-patient interactions. For more direct patient exposure, being a CNA probably helps you, depending on your responsibilities. Otherwise, we need people who work in childcare/daycare settings.

I have CNA xp, plus shadowing, plus volunteering in an endoscopy clinic and the ER. That's the clinical xp I have so far, do you think that's enough plus the play room volunteering? I can say my existing volunteer experiences aren't very meaningful, idk how I would write about them.

Otherwise I may try to do EMT or get a hospital CNA job but I would rather spend the time elsewhere if you think the box is already checked

 

[Goro]

One of my coworkers volunteers at the local children's hospital playing with toys with the patients. I understand this passes the "if you can smell the patients" rule, but I was wondering how valuable this is in terms of clinical xp? Any other input anyone has?

I would like to get a little more clinical experience, I have a few hundred hours working as a CNA and doing other clinical volunteering (which was mostly cleaning/restocking and I didn't find to have sufficient patient interaction). I think this is an activity I would enjoy and it works better with a college schedule than employment.

It's a very admirable clinical experience.

 

[pinkbowbunny]

One of my coworkers volunteers at the local children's hospital playing with toys with the patients. I understand this passes the "if you can smell the patients" rule, but I was wondering how valuable this is in terms of clinical xp? Any other input anyone has?

I would like to get a little more clinical experience, I have a few hundred hours working as a CNA and doing other clinical volunteering (which was mostly cleaning/restocking and I didn't find to have sufficient patient interaction). I think this is an activity I would enjoy and it works better with a college schedule than employment.

If playing with the pediatric patients is their only responsibility of their volunteer role, this is not really clinical experience in my opinion. Even though it is in a clinical setting (hospital), the activity is not clinical (playing). If you are looking for something flexible that can fit into your college schedule and carries more responsibility, look into being an ER scribe. The ER is open 24/7/365. You can scribe on nights, on weekends, on holidays, and can arrange your work and school schedule to minimize conflict. Scribing (at least for me) didn't require any extensive training/certification. You could also look into being an MA (unsure if your state requires MA certification). Or, why not continue the CNA work in a different setting to diversify your patient interactions?

 

[LizzyM]

I have CNA xp, plus shadowing, plus volunteering in an endoscopy clinic and the ER. That's the clinical xp I have so far, do you think that's enough plus the play room volunteering? I can say my existing volunteer experiences aren't very meaningful, idk how I would write about them.

Otherwise I may try to do EMT or get a hospital CNA job but I would rather spend the time elsewhere if you think the box is already checked

You have more than enough clinical experience with patients. You should look for NON-clinical experience. Some might say that playing with patients in the hospital would be non-clinical but because they are patients in a hospital, others will disagree. You don't want to be in a position where adcoms will disagree on whether or not something was a non-clinical community service. Get face-to-face experience in a non-clinical setting with non-patients who need services they can't afford to pay for such as food, shelter, tax prep assistance, clothing & hygiene products, etc.

 

[unumsolum]

You have more than enough clinical experience with patients. You should look for NON-clinical experience. Some might say that playing with patients in the hospital would be non-clinical but because they are patients in a hospital, others will disagree. You don't want to be in a position where adcoms will disagree on whether or not something was a non-clinical community service. Get face-to-face experience in a non-clinical setting with non-patients who need services they can't afford to pay for such as food, shelter, tax prep assistance, clothing & hygiene products, etc.

Sounds good! I've been volunteering at a local diaper bank and I've been liking it a lot, so I'll keep it up. Also Crisis Text Line, which I know doesn't "count" as much but I like enough to do just for the sake of it