What is your Clinical Volunteering like?

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iFearMCAT

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I just started a program that is pretty hands on with the patients at my university hospital. It took a while to set up but its great so far...

For everyone who volunteers at a hospital or clinic, what do you guys or girls actually do? When I volunteered in high school I spent 650 hours at the front desk on Friday nights:laugh: (joking about the Friday nights part, who would do that to themselves? especially in high school, let alone college) with the only patient contact being wheeling patients around and delivering things I collected at school to their rooms. Hence, out of those 650 hours, I saw and contacted with patients for like 150-200 hours.

Are there actually any places out there, maybe small clinics, that let you take patient history? If you aren't a licenced RN or EMT or phlebotomist or physical therapist do they even let you around patients other than wheeling them around or entertaining? Are there really any meaningful clinical volunteer activities out there (ie: not just changing the sheets, sitting at an ER desk...)?

PS: Does anyone know if summer camps for pediatric patients count as clinical activities even though you are not in a clinical setting?

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I think it would be hard to get clinical experience through volunteer positions.

Currently I have over 3000 hours as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Maybe you should consider getting your CNA license.

Also I'm planning on applying for an ER Scribe position and if I don't get that I will take EMT classes.
 
Thank you. That sounds really great. If I could go back and do it over again, I would definately consider that.
 
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I doubt there are many positions that would allow you to do this officially, but I'm sure you can get varying degrees of patient contact if you talk to the nurses. I helped out a triage nurse, for example, and got to do vitals. Nothing great, but certainly more interesting than many other things.
 
At my school we have student run clinics (about 7) in the city in which undergrads do triage, vitals and basic lab, med students do patient history, exams, blood draw etc with volunteer doctor oversight. It's pretty awesome considering its has a ton of patient interaction. Also some of the clinics have nutrition programs so you can educate patients on how to manage their chronic diseases one on one. :)
 
licensed EMT-B so that helps....

my clinical volunteering is as a medical/nursing tech (requires CNA or EMT-B) at a free clinic w/ basic duties including:


  • Performing a primary and secondary assessment on pts (incl. vitals, preliminary H&P, obtaining C/C, etc.)
  • Perform any basic labs the physician or NP requests
  • Spanish interpretor as needed
  • Assist in basic operations as requested (sometimes very basic surgical stuff)
  • Float in the pharmacy (i.e., pharm tech work) or elsewhere as needed

I also work (paid) on a psych unit, where my EMT license is helpful (both in terms of getting a job and in the medical side of my job) but is not required (my degree is what is required for that position), doing such things as:


  • Psych evals on admission
  • Ongoing psych evals
  • Running therapeutic groups
  • Taking, monitoring and charting vitals and other medical needs
  • Observation of pts
  • Helping the CNAs get their stuff (the really fun work....) done if all of my stuff is done
 
I work as a Nurse Tech. I do vitals q4 hours on all the patients I'm assigned (usually 8-15 depending on the day). I give baths, change beds, d/c IVs, d/c foleys, check glucose levels, help ambulate patients, and help the nurses with dressing changes. And on the days I'm lucky enough to get floated to peds, I get to do all of that PLUS I get to color with kids while we watch Indiana Jones. Fun times.
 
With Clinical Care Extenders in SoCal volunteers feed patients, take vitals, hook patients up to monitors, do CPR, hook up EKG leads, observe surgery and childbirth, transport, deliver labs, etc.
 
Let's see... I volunteered for 4 years at my internship.
I worked everywhere in the hospital, from the ER, NICU, LD, Peds, and ICUs..

Clinical stuff I've done include:
-observing various procedures and surgeries, including cesections, open-chest procedures, angiograms, etc...
-helped with delivering babies (I was a leg-holder... lots of fun)
-fed and held infants and babies in Peds and at the NICU
-helped with splints, staples, stitches and did CPR on patients in the ER'
-helped in Radiology with CT scans and ultrasounds


I think that about sums it up...
 
I volunteer in my local community hospital's ED. Mostly I clean rooms and run errands, but I also get to interact with patients making sure they are comfortable, getting blankets, drinks for family members etc. Nothing clinical, but as I have got to know the nurses and docs they invite me to watch more and more procedures, which is a great experience. The ED is quite slow so nothing too exciting has happened yet, but it is fun talking to patients and watching how ER docs work.

Also I work as a night tech in a sleep lab, so lots of patient exposure in my job.
 
As far as clinical volunteering goes...i have zero.

I have however volunteered doing other things such as Campus Kitchen and Habitat for Humanity...but I'm currently getting into Hospice.

What about clinical experience period...how much you guys have?

I work as an aide in the hospital, and so I've gotten over 1000 hours so far with that...and also have put in roughly 50 hours of shadowing. I'm not sure if my physician shadowing is sufficient, maybe it won't matter since I see doctors working every shift...and get to help them out sometimes...
 
I got my CNA license my soph yr in college and started working 32-40 hrs a week as a CNA in a nursing home during my junior yr. I've been doing that for a little over a year now. That's pretty much the only significant clinical experience I've had, aside from a brief stint at a local hospital. That experience was enough to get me interviews and an acceptance. I think getting your CNA license is a great way to get experience, plus, it gives you a taste of what it's like to work under the doctors and nurses and makes you much more understanding and appreciative of everything they do.
 
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:thumbup: Fellow CCE

what hospital are you at if you don't mind me asking?

I've heard horror stories about CCE from friends who've done it so I decided not to. Though my clinical volunteering at the school's med center could barely be called clinical. Decided to become an ER scribe instead, much better experience, plus I get paid so its win win :D
 
I've heard horror stories about CCE from friends who've done it so I decided not to. Though my clinical volunteering at the school's med center could barely be called clinical. Decided to become an ER scribe instead, much better experience, plus I get paid so its win win :D

The CCE experience is what you make of it. Seriously, I had some awesome times and I learned a lot. I love the program. However, I have known people who didn't like it at all. Those are usually the people who think it is "below" them to change beds, diapers etc because they want to be doctors ( I seriously heard this from people). Anyways, there are those who just get what they want from it and move on and there is nothing wrong with that. But clinical experience is the biggest advantage over other volunteer programs. I thought about doing the ER scribe thing in addition, but I simply didn't have time with research and volunteering.
 
It's about responsibility and impact. Being responsible for things = awesome. Getting ordered around = not so much.

I wouldn't mind changing beds/diapers if I were the only one in the ward who is assigned to doing that. Hell, I'd take a housekeeping/janitorial job if it counts as clinical experience :)
 
Last summer I volunteered in the emergency department of a community hospital. Unfortunately, the volunteer programme wasn't all that well organized insofar as the volunteer coordinator didn't seem to have that much of an idea of what ED volunteers were needed for and the medical staff didn't have a solid idea of what volunteers were allowed to do. Nonetheless, it was overall a good experience, and there was lots of patient contact.
My responsibilities included:
-Setting up beds
-Making sure patients and their families were comfortable (getting pillows, extra blankets, chairs for relatives, finding a nurse if necessary, etc)
-Calling patients in from the waiting room
-borrowing stretchers from other departments
-acting as a companion for patients (or in some cases more like supervising them)
-running errands for ED staff
-doing whatever other things (like helping to move patients) the nurses told me to do
 
I've heard horror stories about CCE from friends who've done it so I decided not to. Though my clinical volunteering at the school's med center could barely be called clinical. Decided to become an ER scribe instead, much better experience, plus I get paid so its win win :D
Most of the complaints I have heard about the CCE program are about the program being too up-tight and demanding. It's four hours a week and you are expected to follow through on your shifts, I don't think that's too much to ask. And if you are volunteering in the hospital, aren't you expecting to be doing grunt work? I agree though that you definitely have to know how to get the most out of it as possible. To do that you need to:
-join leadership team (it is volunteer-run for the most part so this is a great opportunity)
-volunteer in a slower-paced ER (easiest place to talk to doctors since they are there most of the time)
-switch to a new dept for each rotation
-work hard to make a good impression on the hospital staff
-be assertive in talking to/shadowing doctors
-ask doctors you get to know to submit notes for your file, which will later be included in your LOR
-get to know the person that writes your letter
-finish at least 200 hrs and ask for your LOR by Mar of your application year

CCE is an excellent program and I highly recommend it!!! I was at QVC & ICC in West Covina.
 
Clinical stuff I've done include:
-observing various procedures and surgeries, including cesections, open-chest procedures, angiograms, etc...


I don't suggest spell it like that on your med-school apps :)
 
I volunteer at a Free Clinic that is run by medical students...The med students are pretty cool, they'll supervise me taking the pt. history and allow me to present it to the attending...They'll sit there and teach me the different diagnoses and treatments. If you live near a medical school, I would definately see if you there is any type of student run clinics around you could volunteer at.
 
just get a clinical job. simply being in the vicinity of patients = :thumbdown:thumbdown
 
just get a clinical job. simply being in the vicinity of patients = :thumbdown:thumbdown

Agreed! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


Volunteering is good too but you'll get so much more out of an actual clinical job where you have responsibility, receive ongoing training, and are actually held accountable because they're paying you to do a job and to do it right.
 
If getting a job were easy we wouldn't have a recession.
 
What schools have student-run free clinics? I've never heard of any but I think that sounds so cool :)
 
If getting a job were easy we wouldn't have a recession.


True, but if you have the skills and are willing to do the footwork, there are jobs out there. Trust me... some healthcare fields have turnover rates of 6-12 mos (average) and while people are still holding onto their jobs tightly, people still do get burned out and begin looking for new places to work. All you have to do is find a place in need of help. They're out there if you look.
 
you should be able to find a doctor who will let you volunteer in his office or work front desk...that is fairly easy...then start doing procedures and vitals and stuff whenever you get the chance...if you're lucky you can work your way up to full clinical...just gotta pay your dues.

if you want to play with the big boys you have to shovel s*$t for a while. or get and EMT-b
 
Last summer I volunteered in the emergency department of a community hospital. Unfortunately, the volunteer programme wasn't all that well organized insofar as the volunteer coordinator didn't seem to have that much of an idea of what ED volunteers were needed for and the medical staff didn't have a solid idea of what volunteers were allowed to do. Nonetheless, it was overall a good experience, and there was lots of patient contact.
My responsibilities included:
-Setting up beds
-Making sure patients and their families were comfortable (getting pillows, extra blankets, chairs for relatives, finding a nurse if necessary, etc)
-Calling patients in from the waiting room
-borrowing stretchers from other departments
-acting as a companion for patients (or in some cases more like supervising them)
-running errands for ED staff
-doing whatever other things (like helping to move patients) the nurses told me to do


I volunteer in the burn unit at my hospital and this is exactly what I do as well.
 
There are ALWAYS CNA jobs open. If you want to be a glorified wiper (ahem, I think you know what I mean), then that's a good job.

I personally work as an EMT, and also volunteer at the hospital once a week.
 
i love my volunteer job

its basically a shadowing experience

here's what my volunteering days usually consist of:

i volunteer in the MICU

1) come in around 2pm
2) sit down and talk to all the nurses for about an hour
3) bring meds that come in through an automatic shoot to their patients (just lay them on the desk outside the room)
4) talk to the nurses for about an hour
5) watch any procedures that go on (usually MD procedures, but also any interesting procedures that nurses may do that I haven't seen yet)
side not here: whoever is performing the procedure generally explains to me every step of what is going on (unless its a new RN, or a an RN student...the best one I have had was a resident in the pediatric er who basically commanded me to follow him and explained in great detail everything that was going on...i maybe retained 5% of the information because he was talking to me like i knew what the hell he was saying...ive had a few nurses do this as well...maybe they think im a med student?)
6) go get a coke and maybe subway from downstairs
7) come back and talk to nurses for about an hour (maybe watch tv if its super slow)
8) transfer patients (sometimes)
9) talk to patients and families/ try to make them more comfortable (this actually has some real meaning to it)
10) leave around 6
11) rinse and repeat up to 2x per week
 
Most of the complaints I have heard about the CCE program are about the program being too up-tight and demanding. It's four hours a week and you are expected to follow through on your shifts, I don't think that's too much to ask. And if you are volunteering in the hospital, aren't you expecting to be doing grunt work? I agree though that you definitely have to know how to get the most out of it as possible. To do that you need to:
-join leadership team (it is volunteer-run for the most part so this is a great opportunity)
-volunteer in a slower-paced ER (easiest place to talk to doctors since they are there most of the time)
-switch to a new dept for each rotation
-work hard to make a good impression on the hospital staff
-be assertive in talking to/shadowing doctors
-ask doctors you get to know to submit notes for your file, which will later be included in your LOR
-get to know the person that writes your letter
-finish at least 200 hrs and ask for your LOR by Mar of your application year

CCE is an excellent program and I highly recommend it!!! I was at QVC & ICC in West Covina.
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
one for each bolded point lol

Leadership Team is a great opportunity and you learn SO MUCH. Seriously. Plus, you work with the people/person who is writing your recommendation letter so you get a great one!

Assertiveness is really important too. I was kinda shy before starting the program and now, two years later, I can talk to anyone at anytime about anything. I've heard from many nursing students that it helps them during their clinical rotations because they're already comfortable in the hospital.

I'm at Hoag :)
 
FWIW:

When I submitted my Primary Application, I had about 80 hours of clinical volunteering, and upwards of 100 hours clinical shadowing.

99% of my clinical volunteering was helping patients go over paper work, and explaining policies.

I had plenty of non-clinical volunteer hours as well.

I don't think they're going to care what you've done. If you've already put in 150 hours+, you're doing great.

Med Schools just want to see that you actually understand and enjoy what goes on in clinical medicine. I read somewhere that a good chunk of applicants get into an interview saying they want to be a clinician, but have little to no clinical experience.

Long story short, keep doing what you're doing and don't worry about it.
 
Hospital volunteering sucks, I fetch blankets and pour people soda. But I'm grateful for all the exciting activities people list on SDN for their volunteering since I'll most likely just lie and incorporate some of those into a personal statement next year.

Best post in this thread :smuggrin:
 
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