what to expect in volunteering...need fast insight

[dr.kicia]

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So...hey everyone, i managed to get some volunteering set up at the advocate's (thanks for the info CBENEDIC, it worked lol). Unfortunately the pediatric unit and my dream of teaching kids art will have to wait till next semester since there was no openings for this one.
I have agreed to volunteer in an emergency room though, but have no clue what to expect. This is for real my first volunteering experiance and i would love to get some insight. I have my orientation tomorow.

 

[MedSchoolFool]

Depends on what whether you are in a level 1 hospital or not. I've heard that level 1 volunteers get much more of a hands on type experience...you might even get to push patients to get X-rays! Yippee!

From my experience, though, and from the threads I have read on SDN for the last 3 years, you can expect to put papers into folders, and put folders into files. And repeat.

Bring something to read. It's not that exciting or fulfilling of a thing. But by all means do it! Admins will love it and you will end up with a decent LOR when you're done. Hopefully, you will have a better experience than many of the rest of us.

My advice is to do Hospice or become an EMT. You'll get a chance for some real patient care. 👍

 

[KeyLime]

When I volunteered in the ER, I ended up fetching a lot of drinks, and warm towels. If I was lucky, I was asked to run samples down to the lab. I was only in the ER for a semester and I switched to a different department (L&D).
Like the poster above wrote, it really depends on the hospital you are at. Mine was really busy, and the Docs really didn't have to time to chit-chat or do any sort of mentoring. However, I'm glad that I did it. Even though I wasn't in on any of the action (and I shouldn't have been because I had no idea what I was doing), I was able to observe a lot from afar.

Best Wishes!