•••quote:•••Originally posted by gabe922:
•zest,
if you're going to be in sf, and you want patient contact and meeting doctors, the best thing that i can recommend is volunteering in the sf general hospital on potrero. it's the second busiest er in the state, the program allows their volunteers much more freedom than other similar programs (cpr, fingers inside bodies, etc...) one big aspect of the job description is patient advocation, so you'll have patient contact as well. if you want a more researchy sort of experience, then you probably could find a UCSF lab job...but for what you're talking about, SFGH seems like the better choice.
good luck!
just a note, to volunteer in the SFGH, there are two training sessions required along with an orientation, so if you're in the area, you might want to get started before the summer begins.•••••I SO second this!!! I voluteered there for 3 years, and it was AMAZING! It's really hard work, but I can't think of any other opportunity in SF that will give you more insight on what it means to be a doctor. Also, at least when I was there, there are many other programs that you can do after you complete 120 hours (I think). One is working in the Tom Waddel Clinic. Huge patient contact; they essentially train you to be an MA, and because this clinic treats almost exclusively uninsured, and mostly homeless, you see and do A LOT. Another cool program has you "follow" an attending in the ER at SFGH. What you are, in actuality, is his or her slave for eight hours. I did this. I was pimped along with the residents, I did rounds, I looked up information for diagnosis, I looked up and learned to analyze charts, I assisted in too many proceedures to go into here. Even the residents would go out of their way to explain stuff to me.
SFGH was, and still is, the one thing I did that made getting through every hoop I've had to jump through for med school worth it. And I can't tell you how many contacts I've made through that program. I'm now working for the Dept. of Statistics and Epidemiology at UCSF as an assitant researcher - a well paid job that I love - partly because of my service at SFGH.
If you do chose to work there, I highly recommend a semester of working the 11pm-4am shift on a Friday or Saturday night. There's nothing like it. Along with moving guerneys and changing the batteries in odd equipment, I did chest compressions, digitally explored bullet wounds, and even made a few pick-ups (dislocated shoulders, ruling out ETOH for concussions, and I even picked up a relative having an MI!). There's nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like it!
Nanon
