volunteer: hospital or free clinic?

[voirlesetoiles]

I don't have enough time to do both unfortunately. Will it be better to have ~100 hours at the end of next year at a free clinic or ~84 hours working in the ER of the hospital?

the jobs:
free clinic - talk to patients and fill out forms for them to see if they are eligible, answer their questions
ER - assist the nurses with duties such as making up beds, offering refreshments to people there with the patient

I enjoy spending my time at the free clinic more than the hospital. But if hospital volunteering is what med schools focus on, by all means I'll do that.

Are there also indirect advantages to volunteering at the hospital.... does it help people get used to the hospital setting and translate into benefits during clinical rotations?

Thanks in advance.

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[Phoenix.]

I've done both, and my advice is to go with the free clinic, hands down in every sense. Better, more substantive experience and patient contact, great cause, looks great on app, more fulfilling overall. And, since you enjoy being at the clinic more, you'll get more out of it. Sounds like a no-brainer to me (UNLESS you're also looking for research opportunities, which are more likely to come about through contacts at the hospital IF it's a teaching hospital/affiliated with a med school). G'luck.

 

[voirlesetoiles]

Thanks for your feedback. Free clinic it is!! I've made my decision so quickly because I had scheduled a 4 hr volunteer session scheduled tomorrow at the hospital. Yay.... 4 hrs to spare.... for homework. haha.

 

[Pose]

Free clinic, by all means.

I work as a tech in the ED where we have volunteers...Definitely go to the free clinic.

 

[gujuDoc]

I don't have enough time to do both unfortunately. Will it be better to have ~100 hours at the end of next year at a free clinic or ~84 hours working in the ER of the hospital?

the jobs:
free clinic - talk to patients and fill out forms for them to see if they are eligible, answer their questions
ER - assist the nurses with duties such as making up beds, offering refreshments to people there with the patient

I enjoy spending my time at the free clinic more than the hospital. But if hospital volunteering is what med schools focus on, by all means I'll do that.

Are there also indirect advantages to volunteering at the hospital.... does it help people get used to the hospital setting and translate into benefits during clinical rotations?

Thanks in advance.

I'd go with which ever experience you enjoy more. Both give you exposure to clinical settings. I don't think you need to do hospital volunteering as the majority of your volunteering. I've done volunteering in a hospital for a short while and later in an offsite clinic for one of the hospitals that's 45 min away and I find clinic volunteering to be more fun. I also volunteer in a clinic associated with one of the other major teaching hospitals for USF COM and the clinic allows us to get equal interaction through a joint volunteering and shadowing program.

I don't think one is looked more highly then the other. The important thing is to show what you gained out of the experience and that you've adequately looked into what medicine is about while showing you can serve others.

 

[premedmind]

How do you people learn about these "Clinics"..I am not quite sure what the term even implies, since it is SO vague.

 

[voirlesetoiles]

Thanks for the responses! My next question is.... I might only have around 100 hours at the free clinic in May 08. Is that sufficient or should I try to get in more hours?

How do you people learn about these "Clinics"..I am not quite sure what the term even implies, since it is SO vague.

I learned about this free clinic through word of mouth, I know a few people who volunteer there and decided to give it a try. It turns out that a TON of pre-med students from my school volunteer there at some point. Do a bit of research, the yellow pages would work. Also if your school has a prehealth committee, the staff there might be able to alert you on the volunteer opps.

 

[alwaysaangel]

How do you people learn about these "Clinics"..I am not quite sure what the term even implies, since it is SO vague.

What do you mean vague? Its name is pretty clear...free clinic.

Free meaning without cost, payment, or charge; and clinic meaning a place, as in connection with a medical school or a hospital, for the treatment of nonresident patients.

Its place where uninsured patients go to get urgent or primary care.

There are tons of them around the country - most medical schools have one affiliated with them (well maybe not most, but lots). They exist for the uninsured and fill a desperate need for medical care for those who don't have it.

You've really never seen a free clinic? No wonder so many people in this country are up in arms about socialized health care - they really don't understand that health care is already socialized - its just done loosely through free clinics, ERs and county hospitals.

Now that you are educated in the definition and purpose of a free clinic, IF its something you would be interested in then there are a lot of ways to find them. Ask your school pre-med office, they might know. Go to a soup kitchen, they usually have referal services for the homeless that come to go to local free clinics -you could ask and find out about one that way. Google it. Ask a homeless shelter. If you really want to find one you can, and there WILL be one in your area (I grew up in an affluent suburb and we even have one here - not sure who its for - but its here).

Keep in mind, only do this if you're interested. Sitting in a closed room and taking the history of a person who hasn't bathed in 6 months isn't everyones cup of tea. You will deal with people with major psych problems, drug problems, etc. You will be the first point of contact for lots of people with major problems and you will have to tell them its going to be 8 months before they can get an MRI for that 6 inch tumor growing out of their neck. If any of that sounds distasteful, frustrating, or if you don't like the whole concept of giving free health care to those who can't afford insurance - then don't bother.

 

[gujuDoc]

something that's always puzzled me....

Why do people assume that your volunteering needs to be inside a hospital and that hospitals are the only place that give exposure to real world medicine?? I mean from all that I've heard the experiences volunteering in a free clinic give you a lot more opportunities then true hospital volunteering because clinics are often underserved and will give anything for people who are willing to help out. What is especially great is if you are bilingual and know spanish because many free clinics in certain parts of the country i.e. parts of central down to south Florida, California, New york, Texas, where there are high latino populations always need translators.

Translating can give you first hand experience of what it really is to be there for hours on end with a doctor not just passively following but constantly translating means you'll learn what the disease is about and remember it, you'll learn about the patients and the doctors, nurses, and other care givers. You'll get to see things beyond a typical volunteer sees because they need your services.

We have a free clinic that does that in Tampa called St. Judeo Christian Clinic. Its too bad I don't know spanish otherwise I'd love that opportunity. The remainder of the free clinics really only cater to the medstudents but don't give opportunity to premeds.