What Can I Expect?

[pedssurgtobe]

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I think that I am going to try and volunteer in the ED at a local hospital near my university. What exactly are volunteers in the ED involved with and are there any different responsibilities? Thanks!

 

[zipnogg]

They should tell you all that at the volunteer orientation. Every hospital has different policies for their volunteers. e.g. a hospital I volunteered at allowed volunteers to transport patients while another one I also volunteered at did not permit that.

 

[sistergldenhair]

I think that I am going to try and volunteer in the ED at a local hospital near my university. What exactly are volunteers in the ED involved with and are there any different responsibilities? Thanks!

I worked as a clinical care extender (CCE) in a hospital here in Southern California for about 700-800 hours. It was a hands-on volunteer internship and I literally was like a CNA. On my first 4 hour volunteer shift in the ER, I was asked to help do CPR for 35 minutes on a gunshot victim (with the staff ER Techs) and I also assisted with holding for a child who needed to have staples placed in his scalp. The next shift I helped push back in a dislocated patellar bone, which was really interesting!

I actually wrote my personal statement on that first experience of doing CPR (I had gotten my CPR cert the month or two prior and of course had NO experience on a real person)

Nonetheless, every ER is different. At the hospital I now work at as an ER Tech, the ER volunteers have no patient care access whatsoever. They can help us clean and change gurneys, offer the patients and family members a blanket or water (if not NPO), and help escort them via wheelchair when they are discharged from the ER. I'm sure I'm not lending them enough credit, but what I'm getting at is that the patient experiences are very slim. You can be a volunteer initially as a jumping off point, but maybe consider becoming an EMT or even a nursing assistant to subsequently be able to get the hands-on experience. It really can solidify your desire to continue with medicine (as well as providing you tons of experience to reflect upon and use in your rotations in med school)

Hope this helps! 🙂