Volunteering Stories

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premyo2002

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Recently, I've been doing extra hours volunteering at a hospital. I am one of those people that all the bad things happen to; nevertheless, I have a ton of stories. I?m sure I?m not the only one so, I thought I would start a thread about these volunteer experiences. I'm sure there are some great volunteer stories
Here is my most recent one:
I was volunteering in the OR, and the surgery I was observing had just finished. While the Anestiologist was waking him, I brought in the patients gurney. Then I noticed the patient, a rather large man, was moving around a lot: trying to rip out the LMA. Being well experienced in these matters, I tried to help out by holding the patient?s body and left arm down. The anestiologist held the patients right arm down while he was pushing some med. The anestiologist muttered something to me, so I looked up just in time to see the patient?s right arm come free. The rest happened in slow motion. I saw a fist clinch, and then the fist grew closer and closer. I stood there like a deer stuck in the headlights. The fist eventually landed about 2 inches above my right eye. I staggered back, like I had just been hit by mike Tyson, until I landed on the gurney I had pushed in for the patient. I should have locked the gurney... it rolled back and hit the wall with a bang. Everyone laughed at me... I?m not sure how they got the patient to the recovery room-I didn't help because the ER doc was checking me out. I was ok and I helped the patient back to his room an hour later. Here is our conversation:

patient: What happened to you (a knot on my head)
premyo: You hit me when you woke up
patient: No I didn't
premyo: Yes, you did but..
patient: :confused: NO... Did I?
premyo: Yeah, but it's ok because I ripped out your catheter... just kidding, it happens, just as long as you don't hit me now we're ok..:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

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doesn't anyone else have a story... please humor me!
 
nah; nothing exciting like that ever happens to me....

maybe you're overly accident prone?

thanks for sharing :)
 
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i changed this old man's diapers once. that was kinda interesting. but other than that, my volunteer experiences were sorta ho-hum
 
yeah... the changing of elderly people's diapers is an interesting task indeed... but enough of that.

Things to be aware of while helping elderly people. If they ask you to fluff their people or adjust something on the gurney, they may just be wanting you to get close enough to grab your family jewels!!! :eek: (Has happened twice for me, sadly once by an old lady, and once by an old man... I was very confused.) They don't play gently :(

My best story would have to be the "ER autopsy" (Personal Journal Excerpt):

Now, I wouldn?t leave this summary unfinished without a true but amazing story from the ER. It all started Month the Date around time when a suicide attempt rolled through the double doors. The man was in his late XY, and attempted a suicide by jumping off an overpass and falling forty feet to the ground. The man actually lived up in X City in a managed care facility previous to the incident, but some how hitchhiked down here to the XY area. People that reported seeing him before the event, said he was mumbling in incomprehensible words, and acting very bizarre and strangely. It was later found out that days before he went missing from the managed care facility, his wife had finally filed for divorce and he was forced to sign the papers. The reason why he was in a managed care facility was due to a minor stroke that he incurred, causing him to lose part of his memory and sustain mild cognitive brain function loss. Getting back to the story, the man came through the double doors, thrashing and jerking violently on the gurney. When he was finally rolled into the main Trauma room, a team of RNs, RTs and DRs went to work on him (room full of acronyms). They started by sedating him heavily, and then proceeded to intubate him. The man?s extremities felt cold to the touch. The next task at hand was to stabilize his blood pressure.

Over the span of 30minutes the patient received 4 units of blood. Unfortunately, no matter how much blood and fluids he received his MAP would not rise above 40mm Hg. This was not good as it is emergency procedure to stabilize the patient before transportation to the OR or CT room. Somehow, someway, the patient was losing blood, but the physicians could not figure it out. After the mobile x-ray tech brought back the x-rays initially taken when the patient first came in, it was found that the patient had multiple cracked ribs and a pelvic fracture. With this evidence, the head trauma surgeon decided that two chest tubes were necessary for this patient, one for each side. Two nurses began a rapid setup procedure, sterilizing the region of operation and setting up the instruments to be used for the procedure. Two trauma physicians gowned up, and proceeded to make an incision on the side of the chest in between two ribs. Once the incisions were made the physicians inserted Kelly forceps and proceeded to grab and yank, in order to tear, open a whole into the peritoneal cavity. When the holes were made, blood came gushing out on either side, spilling and soaking rags lying on the floor. When the chest tubes were finally placed, and most of the excess blood in the cavity was drained, his blood pressure shot up to 67mm Hg. This of course was short lived, as his blood pressure dropped back down to 33mm Hg. Since there were no options left that the physician could do, he decided to open up the chest cavity right then and there in the main trauma room. At this time, there were approximately 20 people standing in the ER all gazing at what the main trauma surgeon was going to do next. Dr. X, the trauma surgeon, proceeded with a scalpel to make a horizontal incision connecting the two chest tube holes. Once that was complete, he grabbed a chisel and hammer and proceeded to hammer from one side the chest hole to the other, completely bisecting the chest cavity from side to side. With the breast plate spreaders, he proceeded to ?pop? the top portion of the breast plate up, as if it were the hood of a car. In front of what was a rather amazed and gruesomely curious crowed stood a beating heart and two inflating and deflating lungs. Next, Dr. X, and another trauma physician proceeded to perform rapid interrupted suturing upon all the internal lacerations they could find. However, the dramatic attempt to save the man?s life failed as his heart proceeded to fibrillate. All that was left to be done was watch the ECG monitor slowly come to an end. He was pronounced dead an hour later.

Now, this would be a fascinating story if it ended there, but it doesn?t. Dr. X called out my name (MDTom) and told me to gown up, and put on some gloves. In his words, ?it was time for a lesson in anatomy.? When I touched the soft tissue of the lungs it had a soft slimy feel to it. The lungs were covered in black speckles, which were, according to doctor X, in all of us due to lymphatic blockage by every day air pollution and particulates. He had me feel one the main arteries that travels along with the vena cava that distributes blood to the inferior portions of the body. As I felt it, I came across a small laceration that he said, ?was the main reason why he bled to death.? He said that if he had gotten to it in time, he might have been able to apply pressure and patch the artery with suture material. Unfortunately, time had run out, and with that he proceeded to close up the chest cavity. When all was said and done, he made an interesting remark: ?I bet this will probably be the freshest human tissue that you will be able to examine, even compared to your human anatomy class you will take in med school.? So with that, I went home early, and pondered the meaning of life. Wondering that someday, I to may become a human anatomy lesson to some new med school recruit trying to make the grade in life.


Wheww? ? ? I don?t know if I will ever be able to top that story any time soon? :wow:
 
bump

we need some good stories in here...:clap: :clap: :clap:
 
1) Story #1 - So I am nurse asked me to go take a set of vitals... so i do.. and the nurse comes in right in the middle. As we leave the room she informs me that the Blue tipped thermometer is for the mouth... and the RED one is not. A big OPPS on that one.

2.) I went to take vitals on an elderly woman who i should have known had mental problems when she grabbed my arm and asked me if i was real. I said yes and went to take her temp.. with the correct thermo this time... when i had realized that the sleave to the thermometer didnt stick. So i said, " Just kidding". To which the woman replied with a blood curdling scream. Well turns out the woman is a paranoid schitozophrenic who thinks everyone is trying to trick her

3.) A nurse in the ER told me to come with him to a patients room to help him remove a cathader. When he pulled the sheets down, i kid you not, it was the largest penis known to man. I really dont see how this man walked unless he used his penis as a pogo stick. It was bigger than my arm. Turns out the nurse made me go into the room just to see my reaction. He was given the nickname Long Dong Silver for good reason

.. and thats all i got..... they probably are not as funny as when they happened but whatever
 
Originally posted by dustin04ag


3.) A nurse in the ER told me to come with him to a patients room to help him remove a cathader. When he pulled the sheets down, i kid you not, it was the largest penis known to man. I really dont see how this man walked unless he used his penis as a pogo stick. It was bigger than my arm. Turns out the nurse made me go into the room just to see my reaction. He was given the nickname Long Dong Silver for good reason


Did you manage to work that story into your application? :p :p :p
 
During my first volunteer rotation in L&D I told the nurse that I was assisting that Im pre-Med and I wanted to see a vaginal birth. She was pretty excited and within the next 5 minutes she got me into a room. She walked me in, and introduced me as a "student" who wanted to observe. I took my place in the corner of the room, and looked toward the action. Well, I started feeling kind of uncomfortable because her husband/baby daddy, was staring at me. He was about 6'4 300lb Hispanic man sleeved with tattoo?s, you know, the kind of guy who could kick my a$$ and eat a sandwich at the same time. For the next 10 minutes he stared at me and I was thinking. 'Man, this guy doesn't want me looking at his wife from this angle, and Im going to get my arse kicked". Then the doctor says, "i see the head"... and the baby comes flying out-all why the guy is still staring me down. As soon as the baby starts to cry, so does he. This man cried more than anyone I had ever seen in my life. So i realized he wasn't staring at me, I was just his focal point: at least I was able to help out somehow.:D
 
Once when I was pouring water into a cup for a patient I could have sworn one of the ice chips looked like President Bush.


How do you guys get to see and do all those cool things?:confused:
 
Originally posted by mh2002ny

How do you guys get to see and do all those cool things?:confused:

Seeing an ice chip that looked like President Bush isn't cool?


:confused:
 
I was working in the triage one night taking vital signs and assessing patients with no immediate emergencies. Therefore I didn't think twice when a man staggered through the ER entrance. He looked pretty disheveled and could barely talk. Nevertheless, I told him to calm down and try to sit still while I took his vitals.

One of the security guard came over and asked if the man was alright and it was then that we found out that he had been stabbed multiple times in the back!! (he had been wearing a jacket which was why I didn't notice before) Anyways, not really funny, but boy did I feel like an idiot!
 
Originally posted by nrddct
One of the security guard came over and asked if the man was alright and it was then that we found out that he had been stabbed multiple times in the back!! (he had been wearing a jacket which was why I didn't notice before) Anyways, not really funny, but boy did I feel like an idiot!
:eek: "gasp":eek:
 
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Originally posted by mh2002ny
How do you guys get to see and do all those cool things?:confused:

Persistence with patience... be intent on your goal of having the best volunteer experience. Don't be afraid to ask to watch certain procedures... (possibly participate if you know the doctor or nurse well enough). However, don't cross the line and become a persistant pre-med that thinks they should be privy to anything. In other words, asking you usually doesn't hurt.
 
Hey premyo2002, I've been lookin' all over for ya! I myself don't have any of these interesing stories yet, but maybe I will, seeing as how I was accepted to the same hospital volunteer program as premyo (but at a different hospital)

:oops:

Anyways, I thought that I'd drop by and say, keep it up, there's gotta be more stories.
 
bump

"...excuse me sir... I would like some more stories please... ... YOU WANT WHAT???, MOOORREEE STORIES YOU SAY???"
:) :)
 
I used to volunteer in a hospital with a well known orthopedic program and these big (and georgeous!) guys used to come strolling in and would do the most amazing stuff!!

One night an older man (50's) had been hit by a cab while he was riding his bycycle. He was rushed in alive but with his lower leg bone completely doslocated out from it's ankle socket. Of course he was screaming bloody murder all the while but then in come my guys :love: who stand around looking at the x-rays, talking among themselves, analyzing their moves, and this poor slob in the background is STILL screaming. No clothes and ok, just a regular sized penis - sorry! - but buck necked. My humble job was to clean up stuff and bring in other stuff for the drs and nurses.

I was allowed to see his injuries and man! the lower long bone was completey ejected from the skin and sticking out above his ankle in just the weirdest way. Completely clean and no blood tho. No fun.

Finally these golden boys leap into action and within about the count to One-Two-Three Go! they had pressed down on him is such a way to just P O P this bloody bone back into place. A very loud pop, too.

These ortho guys are so the coolest ! :D and then they just calmly walked out like it was nothing.
 
biodude, where is your first rotation?
 
ER stories are great. Being witness to procedures and interactions between docs and patients is the best, and listening in on patient histories/assesment/plan etc is a close second. Critical care gives you a chance to participate in the saving of someone's life (even if you're not doing any medical procedures, you're still part of the team). Plus you get to practice talking with patients.
 
For more stories, you should check out the Emergency Medicine forum and click on the "Things I learn from my patients" thread.

Very funny stuff.
 
premyo2002 - My first rotation will be in a basic nursing floor. It'll either be in Medical Pulmonary, Oncology, or Gynecology/Urology. I'm hoping NOT to get Gyne/Uro. It just seems to be a bit dirtier and less fun-sounding than the other two.

Well, I don't have any stories myself, but I do have a friend who volunteers in the Emergency Department at the hospital a lot. He told me once about a patient who was brought in. This young man had been riding his bicycle and a car crashed into it, sending him flying head-first into the pavement. When he was brought in, he was bleeding profusely, and a lot of the blood ended up on the ground and on peoples' clothes.

Well, later on, my friend found out that the patient had AIDS. Luckily for my friend, he was wearing protective gloves and a gown...but now he thinks that the nurses are crazy because most of 'em there don't wear gloves when handling patients :D
 
I have not volunteered in a nursing floor since my first rotation. Trust me, it is probably one of the most boring rotations in the hospital. So don't get discouraged if you don't have anything exciting to post. There is a lot of down time: after a few hours of doing nothing you'll be happy when a nurse asks you to help change a diaper.
 
premyo2002 - Hey dude, I left you a PM. Did you reply to it yet? By the way, I'm not gonna just stand there with nothing to do if the nurses have nothing for me to do. I'll walk around and talk to the patients. I think that's a good way to develop bed-side manner, which is something that in-patients want to highly see in their docs.
 
Originally posted by Biodude
...When he was brought in, he was bleeding profusely, and a lot of the blood ended up on the ground and on peoples' clothes.

Well, later on, my friend found out that the patient had AIDS. Luckily for my friend, he was wearing protective gloves and a gown...but now he thinks that the nurses are crazy because most of 'em there don't wear gloves when handling patients
I volunteer at the triage desk of a trauma center, and am finishing up EMT training. 'BSI' is ingrained on my brain, so I'm a glove-wearin' maniac. But most of the nurses I work with don't usually glove up much either. Most likely, the ones at your friend's ER aren't too worried about it because they know you can't get HIV from blood that's spilled or splashed onto your intact normal skin, much less floors or clothing.

I did have gloves on the time the guy stumbled through the front door, bleeding down the front of his shirt. A friend of his had been whipping a bike chain around, and snagged the guy behind the ear. Ow.
 
yeah, I'm paranoid about catching something at the hospital. I probably wash my hands a hundred times during an 8hr shift. None of the nurses seem to take the same precautions.:confused:
 
two weeks ago, we had a 20-ish girl come into the ER with this funky smelling sore on her arm. Turns out getting stabbed by a pencil can do that to you over a few days...

ruminations on hygiene:

yeah, count me in on the paranoidness of handwashing. i work on an ambulance, and sometimes you don't have time to wash your hands. we have this waterless anti-bacterial gel dispenser in the ambulance. it kills the germs, but just moves the dirt evenly around your hands. it provides a false sense of security, and I depend on that security more than i'd like to.
 
Well.. here's a funny one about a guy that came into the ER once. He had gone to get his nose pierced, which was ironic because he hated needles. (He was doing it for his gf, the things guys in love will do). Anyways, he was perfectly fine while he was getting his nose pierced, but the minute he got up, he got kind of lightheaded and fainted into a case of glass. Well, his nose was cut really badly and he had to get rushed to the ER, where of coarse, the nurses and doctors had to treat him by using MORE NEEDLES. Poor guy. The even sadder thing is the nurses and doctors would go in and treat the guy all solemnly but the minute they had closed the curtains they would bust up laughing so hard. So sad... but so funny ( I can't imagine how his gf must have felt later....)
 
I have volunteered in an ER for over a year. My most memorable story is actually a very sad one. I had nothing to do so I asked the patients in the ward if they needed anything. This old man said that he wanted a pillow. The ER was all out of pillows and so I had make a "fake" pillow with a whole bunch of towels and pillow case. I gave it to him and we talked for a while. I went to deliver some speciments to the lab and by the time I came back about 10 minutes later, the attending and the entire staff was doing CPR on the old man that I had spoken to. He was pronounced about 15 minutes later and that was it. The whole thing seemed like a melodramatic ER episode but as I stood there watching them working to save this man, I realized that it was very real.

dmitri
 
An old man grabbed my a$$ yesterday... he must have thought my a$$ was the nurse's that I was helping. Im glad im an unattractive male and this doesn't happen a lot. I feel for you ladies
 
one last bump... then i'll let the thread die....
 
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