Volunteering In Same Day Surgery. What Should I Expect?

[Confused 20]

On Monday morning I will begin volunteering in the same day surgery wing of my local hospital. I asked the lady asked the individual who was head of the volunteering services to place me in a position in which I would have patient contact. Is this a good place to gain clinical experience? What type of duties will I most likely be asked to perform? Any input from someone who has volunteered in same day surgery or knows anything about what I may be asked to do is welcome to respond. Any input will be appreciated. Thank you.

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[DropkickMurphy]

Ever heard the term 'scut monkey'? Basically you'll most likely be doing any of the unskilled, tedious and mundane tasks that don't require much thought or a license to perform. Think of it as the medical equivalent of a McJob.

 

[MirrorTodd]

Ask if you can observe some surgeries. I wish my hospital would have put me in same-day surgery. I got to observe some when I was in AIT for the army at the same day surgery of Brookes Army medical center. That seems like a great place to volunteer, scut or no scut.

 

[Dr JPH]

On Monday morning I will begin volunteering in the same day surgery wing of my local hospital. I asked the lady asked the individual who was head of the volunteering services to place me in a position in which I would have patient contact. Is this a good place to gain clinical experience? What type of duties will I most likely be asked to perform? Any input from someone who has volunteered in same day surgery or knows anything about what I may be asked to do is welcome to respond. Any input will be appreciated. Thank you.

As a volunteer some hospitals have very strict rules about what sort of patient contact you can have. This is for HIPAA and liability reasons.

You maybe asked to lead patients back to rooms, straighten up after they leave a pre-op suite, carrying charts, picking up charts, etc.

basically a volunteer will be responsible for all of the jobs that are time consuming that no one else wants to do

Your best bet would be to find a doc who knows youre interested in medicine and hopefully they will let you watch something.

 

[gary5]

You're not going to get to do much clinically, but that's OK because you don't have the skills. However, if you have an excellent attitude and ask the residents politely, they'll let you observe and maybe let you do something cool. When I was in undergrad, a resident let me put a few stitches in someone. I nearly passed out because they had a laceration that seemed to go to the skull, but it was still very cool. That was ER.

 

[aliendancer84]

At least at the hospital I used to volunteer at, the people in same day surgery wheeled people around, got them water or crackers, brought them bins to vomit in, went to find the family in the waiting room when they were ready to leave, talked to people...nothing really medical.

 

[Catalystik]

"You maybe asked to lead patients back to rooms, straighten up after they leave a pre-op suite, carrying charts, picking up charts, etc.

basically a volunteer will be responsible for all of the jobs that are time consuming that no one else wants to do"

In addition to the above, you will learn to sanitize beds and wheelchairs, make beds, bring snacks and refill water jugs, socialize with patients and their family members, and wheel patients to their cars when they are discharged. Essentially, you are an aide to the Certified Nurse Assistant and will be saving that person some work. But you do have patient contact. And you can glean a lot of interesting clinical information from the nurses.