What's it like to volunteer in the ER?

[LACMA]

Hi there! I'm going to start volunteering in the ER next week. Can you guys tell me what it was like for you? What's the craziest thing you've ever seen?

I'm not sure how much i'll get to see, because the hospital i'm going to doesn't look like it has that much of an active ER, and the things you can do for someone are very limited but I guess I'll see 🙂

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[CowboyNiceguy]

I'm sure it depends on the specific hospital you volunteer at. For me, the work was pretty boring stuff -- delivering papers to doctors, taking patients to other parts of the hospital, faxing things, taking patients to their rooms. I didn't see anything too exciting or memorable. A lot of people with simple problems and no business being in the ER, and a lot of people with drug problems.

 

[0dee]

It's very boring. I didn't get to do anything, except the usual like provide wheelchairs to patients. I mean I get it, we aren't medical professionals and any contact with patients the hospital will be liable for it. On the other hand, I've had an amazing experience at the local free clinic where physicians allow you to get a lot of patient contact, and at one point I was doing patient intake and vitals for a couple of weeks.

 

[Cookiess]

Your experience will greatly vary depending on the hospital's ER department and your volunteer program. For me, it was a fun experience because I got to see a huge variety of cases during every shift and talk to physicians from different subspecialties that were paged in for consults. As a volunteer, you'll likely have your fair share of volunteer duties (ex. cleaning patient beds, getting food for patients, wheeling patients to the lobby, and other administrative tasks), but the experience might be what you make of it. When volunteer duties were completed, some of the ER staff let me shadow the ER physicians. I saw a wide spectrum of cases from broken bones to dislocated shoulders to strokes and pediatric cases.

 

[jqueb29]

Probably the 906th bed I got to wipe down

 

[drab]

My ER experience was a little different as it was apart of my EMT certification. They had me shadow the techs, but I participated in putting in a catheter on a 20 year old that OD'd, which was difficult for me, and I did chest compressions on a 72 year old diabetic that coded as he was coming in the door. I also took vitals for the triage nurses a lot. It was some good hands on experience.

 

[sc7dr]

Just wanted to put in my own two cents to this thread that I really want to thank any ER volunteer. I work as an ER tech and I am immensely grateful to the volunteers that help with cleaning patient rooms, transporting patients, and getting patients comfortable (delivering food, drinks, blankets, pillows, etc). It really helps with the flow of the ER especially when there are a lot of critical care patients all at once. It's really hard to stop working on, let's say, a STEMI patient to bring a 4th pillow to the elderly dementia lady next door by request of her family member. Definitely don't downplay the roles of volunteers in an ER! They are essential to the team!

 

[TMC07]

I agree with several of the posts above. I loved my experience in the ER for so many reasons.

 

[Lost in Translation]

Depends on your ED. I got to do the usual take patients places, but I also got to assist residents in suturing, LPs, got to observe stuff like fishing a razor out of a stomach, see some bilateral amputation traumas come in (didn't get to participate because obviously.)

 

[WedgeDawg]

My experience was pretty tame in terms of excitement, but I got to meet a lot of cool people and a lot of patients were very willing to talk to me because I wasn't wearing scrubs or a white coat (also I probably looked like I was 16).

 

[Boogy'sChick15]

I am just finishing up my rotation in the ER for my volunteer "internship", and it has been pretty fun. The usual stuff that I do at my hospital consists of cleaning the beds, transporting patients to X-ray, Ultrasound, CT, and MRI, taking vital signs, and delivering specimen to the lab. In addition to transporting patients however, we are required to stay with the patients during CT and MRI's, so I get to sit with the tech and observe the images. On other occasions I have observed PA's and physicians in our rapid treatment room perform simple procedures. For example, last week we had a patient who was shot in the mouth with a pellet gun, and I observed the PA remove the metal fragments from the patients lips and tongue, and then stitch the remaining wounds. Another time we had a patient come in with a stab wound to the lower stomach, and I assisted the nurses with getting him set up in a bed and took his vitals. I have not yet experienced a patient code yet, but some of the other volunteers have, and I know that one of them had to assist with chest compressions.

Besides the patient interaction I receive, I have also met many wonderful nurses, techs, PA's and physicians. I am very sociable, and have become friends with some of the techs and PA's, and when they know I am working a shift, they always call me over when something good comes in. Overall it has been an amazing experience working with the patients and with the hospital staff.

 

[takeurmeds02]

My ER experience was a little different as it was apart of my EMT certification. They had me shadow the techs, but I participated in putting in a catheter on a 20 year old that OD'd, which was difficult for me, and I did chest compressions on a 72 year old diabetic that coded as he was coming in the door. I also took vitals for the triage nurses a lot. It was some good hands on experience.

😵 As a volunteer??

Edit: Sorry, just read the EMT cert part

 

[Mad Jack]

It's like moving empty stretchers and handing out blankets for endless hours. Always felt bad for our volunteers and would try to come up with more exciting things for them to do, but there really isn't much.

 

[LACMA]

Wow! So many responses! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences 🙂

 

[ZPakEffect]

Don't volunteer in the ED. You won't make a whole lot of difference and the work is mindless. Work as a scribe in the ED and spend your volunteering time doing something meaningful.