Volunteer work

[OrGoMan]

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Here is my situation.. I just started doing volunteer work in a hospital, but I really get nothing out of it, basically all they got me doing is clerk work for lazy secretarys; practically no patient contact at all. I know I have to do it, but do you think med schools will care exactly how much of it I do? Like iam thinking of just doing the minumum of 100 hours, and that will only take me like 2 months.. So when application time comes around, will adcoms care that I did only 2 months of volunteer work/100 hours??.. Also I can potentially get a job at the hospital; transporting patients all over the hospital which would give me patient contact and some extra cash, but I know med schools wanna see you "volunteering", will they look down on hospital work for money? Thanks to everyone who reads my rant, and gives advice!

 

[Rugger81]

Why dont you just continue to do the volunteering on a minimal basis (as few hours a week as possible for more than 2 months...that's what i do), and focus on getting the hospital job. that way it looks like you've been volunteering for longer than 2 months, plus you have the job to talk about.

i agree though, volunteering in a hospital can really suck. i get no sense of what it's like to be a doctor or a resident. all i do is walk around sick people, trying to restock stuff.

 

[bella_dottoressa]

I say, find volunteer work you don't dread doing. It doesn't have to be in a hospital; hospital volunteering does sometimes suck. It's so easy to find good volunteer gigs if you look around....free clinics are great and typically allow you so much more patient contact and a more meaningful experience; you can also check out something like Hospice, etc. Volunteermatch.org is a great website. I did hospital volunteer work freshman year and it wasn't that great....The next year I did things like a suicide prevention hotline, hospice, free clinic, some work teaching preschoolers, etc; stuff that I found really rewarding and didn't dread going to. I think when interview time rolls around it'll be hard to fake enthusiasm about the clerical work you did in the hospital; try to find something that excites you and is a little out of the box and go there is my 2 cents 🙂

 

[Rugger81]

to be honest, i hate volunteering. not the idea of volunteering, or the fact that i have to give some of my time to other people...that's fine. in fact, i think it's great. i just hate volunteer projects. they're always so lame and pointless. they never have anything really worthwhile. i volunteered all over a hospital, and the tasks they gave me were always lame. in high school we had awesome volunteer projects. we had car washes, canned food drives, pancake breakfasts, we read to kids, we worked carnivals, etc. now...i restock linens in an ER. i clean toys in the Peds dept.

friggin lame.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Volunteermatch.org is a great website. QUOTE]


Bella - THANKS FOR THE WEBSITE!! I completely forgot about that website 🙂

 

[g3pro]

Remember, you're not volunteering for the sake of volunteering/community service. You are volunteering to be exposed to the world of clinical medicine. Or you could get a job which does the same thing, but likely not. Once again, as I have recommended so many times before, check with physicians so that you can do shadowing!!! The reason why ADCOMs recommend volunteering while not mentioning shadowing is that shadowing is very difficult to come by.

 

[mdsh00]

Do you have any free clinics nearby? Usually they are understaffed, and therefore give volunteers a LOT more responsibilities. I volunteered at the LA Free Clinic doing intake. Sometimes they actually had be doing small procedures too.

 

[OrGoMan]

Thanks for all the advice guys.. But is the job that iam looking to get (transporting patients all over the hospital) looked down upon because its for money, and isent as "noble" as volunteering by adcoms? Or do they understand that its much better patient contact and its worth investing time in.

 

[elliot]

I started doing ER Registration then got hired... at first, I hated it since they would give me BS assignments just to keep me out of the way... However, as I learned the ropes and excelled above the rest of the volunteers, they allowed me to register patients first as a volunteer then offered me a pay position ($15.00/21 hours). The thing is that I would still do it for free. I loved it, I made so many contacts (PA's, RN's, MD's, Etc.), and got tons of references and it made me really love Emergency Medicine.

In addition, when I have a cool supervisor she lets me hang out at the trauma or cardiac room, which is exciting. I guess I got lucky being that I'm a 2nd year pre-med who gets paid for clinical exposure.. and enjoys it..

 

[g3pro]

Thanks for all the advice guys.. But is the job that iam looking to get (transporting patients all over the hospital) looked down upon because its for money, and isent as "noble" as volunteering by adcoms? Or do they understand that its much better patient contact and its worth investing time in.

I wouldn't classify moving patients around as the best clinical experience you can get. However, if the patient contact means interacting with physicians, then absolutely go for it! 🙂 But if it is mindlessly moving patients from A to B, it's not worth it.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

yea, it may not be the best exposure but it's something, and it's really what you make out of it.

when i first got a summer job in a hospital working in medical physics (before i was premed) i didn't interact too much with patients. however the few patients I did see, i really got to know and i loved it. i used to go visit a couple of them especially this little 7 yr old boy i befriended. i used to go visit him after my shift was over and even on weekends i'd make a special trip in to see him; we'd watch tv together, play cards, just talk about sports. i got to know his whole family and i had promised to take him to a baseball game when he got out of the hosptial. sadly he never did...and that's when this death stuff really hit me with patients that i had "treated" 🙁

 

[skyreaper]

I've been a host transport (orderly) for my local hospital for this past year...and yes, all I did was transport patients from point A to point B but I think I got SOOO much out of it. You learn health care giver to patient interaction, nurses/doctors/other medical personnel give you respect as a fellow team member of the hospital, you learn the workings of the hospital and its system, you make friends interested in the same field as you, get advice from doctors. The advantages are SO numerous. I knew that working might have been perhaps a backdraw to my application, but you can't live your life for the application. I work at the hospital and volunteer with other organizations that I ENJOY helping out and I get appreciated for doing it. People REMEMBER that the only reason ADCOMMS want you to volunteer at the hospital is because they want to see that you get some clinical experience in the hospital setting...will WORKING at the hospital deprive you of it? Definitely not, you get more. Second, ADCOMMS like volunteering because it shows that you are a compassionate human being...but you can volunteer for a local charitable organization that you really like doing and STILL show that you are compassionate, right? I'm currently taking an EMT-B class this summer so I can work as an ER-tech next year...I really got to know about this through my current job...working at the hospital doing ANYTHING will certainly broaden your horizons not to mention things to fill your med apps with. I hope this post will let you guys realize a few things about volunteering.

The quote for today: "The application represents you. You don't represent the application."

 

[Psycho Doctor]

true, great post

there is no point doing things just to put it on the application..they want to see you doing things you are passionate about not just loading up an application. don't think they can't tell the difference