What's the best department to volunteer at in a hospital?

[Pkboi24]

I'm going to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX. I was just wondering what department would be the richest in terms of clinical experience, patient interaction, and physician interaction. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

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[75969]

I'm going to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX. I was just wondering what department would be the richest in terms of clinical experience, patient interaction, and physician interaction. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

I can tell you NOT Employee Health/MRI/Chemo/nutritional services....
I got the most patient interaction in a service desk and kitchen....
Most physician interaction....Elevators (lol)

Just physically tell the vol. coordinator that you DO NOT want to be a paper pusher or behind a desk somewhere....that you want to work with PEOPLE....and if they put u somewhere u hate, switch....

 

[ChocolateKiss]

I didn't have much fun volunteering in the ER. Basicially I brought patients towels and magazines and fetched meds from the pharmacy. I wasn't even allowed to bring patients water without bugging the nurses, who were always extremely busy.

 

[riceman04]

I'm going to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX. I was just wondering what department would be the richest in terms of clinical experience, patient interaction, and physician interaction. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

The ER, especially if it is a Level 1 trauma hospital

 

[baylormed]

I didn't have much fun volunteering in the ER. Basicially I brought patients towels and magazines and fetched meds from the pharmacy. I wasn't even allowed to bring patients water without bugging the nurses, who were always extremely busy.

Same here. This is the reason I gave up hospital volunteering a long time ago. I think you can prove that you enjoy people by working at other volunteering activities, be it tutoring, or raising funds for cancer research, etc.
But if your hospital is nice to volunteers (unlike mine..ugh), try pediatrics if you like children, or maybe you could find a smaller clinic that actually needs someone to interact/work with patients...instead of someone to fetch towels and water (as I did).

 

[tacrum43]

I'm going to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX. I was just wondering what department would be the richest in terms of clinical experience, patient interaction, and physician interaction. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

I would opt for shadowing a physician instead of volunteering in a department. That way, you're with a doctor most of the time and get to interact with the patients (how much interaction depends on the doctor and the patient of course). If you're volunteering in the department, you're probably just going to be doing scut work and not get to see very much.

 

[CADreaming06]

i volunteered in pediatrics and the er .. . both had positives/negatives. in neither was i able to interact with doctors, usually interacting with patients, nurses, and support staff. in general i think this is okay- you will be interacting with drs the rest of your career, and if you understand medicine from the perspective of the other staff, especially nurses, it will help in the long run. i didn't get a sense of what the daily life of a doc is though (i know that from friends who are doing their residencies, now anyway) i do think that having at least some experience in the hospital is important though . . (rather than volunteering somewhere else). i had a friend who can't stand the smell of hospitals and doesn't like interacting with elderly or sick people. only figured that out by volunteering.

 

[Gavanshir]

I've been volunteering in the dialysis unit for some time now. I get pure patient interaction but there are some downsides to it. I see the same group of patients every week and sometimes you can develop too close of a relationship with a patient, specially since the older ones are very lonely. These two videos may give you a better idea:

http://www.thatvideosite.com/view/517.html

http://thatvideosite.com/view/515.html

 

[remo]

See if they will let you in the recovery room. This is where people come right after surgery. Basically I was just handing blankets to nurses and helping them wheel people back to their rooms. But over time I got to know all the surgeons and was able to go and watch all kinds of operations.

 

[ladyVA]

I'm going to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX. I was just wondering what department would be the richest in terms of clinical experience, patient interaction, and physician interaction. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

ER - unless you aren't authorized to do even basic stuff (you will find that out by the first or second time and then i suggest you switch).

You get to see regular, poor , rich, white, black, young old patients. And you will have plenty of stories to talk about in essays and interviews. I know I did.

Hope that helps

 

[ekl817]

I am volunteering in the outpatient surgery and recovery dept. I get to interact with patients before and after their surgeries. I've met a lot of the surgeons this way and I got to shadow one of them. Out of all the depts that I have volunteered in (pediatrics, er, service desk, medical records....) this has been the best for patient interaction.

 

[UCDavisdude]

I didn't have much fun volunteering in the ER. Basicially I brought patients towels and magazines and fetched meds from the pharmacy. I wasn't even allowed to bring patients water without bugging the nurses, who were always extremely busy.

wow, i volunteer in the er and get to do lots. help load patients in and out of paramedics, help with procedures, like holding up a leg or something, i also take patients to mri, ct scan, etc. along with all the scut work as well. the other day, someone was brought in with the helicopter, so i got to go up there with the tech and get the patient. it was like something out of a movie. insane

 

[DocteurMarion]

I didn't have much fun volunteering in the ER. Basicially I brought patients towels and magazines and fetched meds from the pharmacy. I wasn't even allowed to bring patients water without bugging the nurses, who were always extremely busy.

I have a similar experience and bored to death in the ER I volunteer + the nurses are rude 😡

 

[swim2006]

I have a similar experience and bored to death in the ER I volunteer + the nurses are rude 😡

I volunteered in a trauma I ER and spent most of my time connecting patients and family members. Occasionaly I was able to see a trauma that came in but never got to know any of the Drs. Now I volunteer in the Neonatal ICU, which I love. I get to hold babies and feed them and give them the attention they need to devlop properly, espically babies born addicted to drugs. I have also been able in interact with all of the nurses, nurse practioners, and dr.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I've always heard the ER is best, but I volunteer on a general medicine floor and like it. I get to eavesdrop on the doctors, including residents, talk to each other about patients, which is cool, but mainly I interact with the nursing staff. I agree with the above poster that it's good to see things from that perspective, too, and the nurses I volunteer with are pretty neat. Mainly, it is a lot of scut stuff, but I do get to talk to the patients and be in the hospital. I especially dig talking to the demented old people -- I guess they're fun for everybody but their families. 🙂

 

[riceman04]

I'm going to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX. I was just wondering what department would be the richest in terms of clinical experience, patient interaction, and physician interaction. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Hey is there a Shriners Hospital in Austin?

I had the best volunteering experience at the one in Los Angeles

 

[BerkeleyMD]

I had the most fun in Radiology. I actually proccessed x-ray's (cartridge into machine and then x-ray onto screen). It was great because I talked with the radiologists a lot and got a little patient interaction too.

My ER experience sucked. I had to fill binders and stock rooms. The only patient interaction was helping elderly people in and out of the beds.

 

[Mandek]

Anyone else volunteered in Outpatient Surgery? What were your experiences like? Did you get alot of patient contact/clinical exposure?

 

[Cegar]

It really depends on the hospital and the doctor you end up shadowing.

Logic would dictate that the least critical departments would get you the most attention from a physician. Since, you know, the physician wont have to go around saving lives and calling times.

It wouldn't hurt to do a few shadows at different departments.

All in all, it wont matter to much to medical schools. If it is for personal reasons, then the best policy may be to simply pick whichever department you think you would be most interested in.

 

[LizzyM]

i had a friend who can't stand the smell of hospitals and doesn't like interacting with elderly or sick people. only figured that out by volunteering.

And you know what Lizzy says...


Furthermore, while shadowing is good to know what docs do all day, it is also helpful to do something altruisitic (in a way that fundraising is not) that shows that you have the heart of a servant. Keep in mind that medicine is a service profession and you need to have that attitude to thrive.

 

[patrickd223]

I got to put on sterile gloves and help the PA clean up and stitch a mans degloved hand. AKA got to hold up slab of meat/skin so PA could pull gravel out of hand. Got to wash out hand with saline. Got to hold open pockets within hand so PA could washout with saline. Cut stitches when needed.

 

[TheRealMD]

I'm going to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX. I was just wondering what department would be the richest in terms of clinical experience, patient interaction, and physician interaction. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Volunteer at the Brackenridge ER on 15th Street. It's the county hospital, so you are going to see more of how the public health care system works, especially cases with people who don't have any insurance.

 

[crazy4clana]

I am volunteering in the outpatient surgery and recovery dept. I get to interact with patients before and after their surgeries. I've met a lot of the surgeons this way and I got to shadow one of them. Out of all the depts that I have volunteered in (pediatrics, er, service desk, medical records....) this has been the best for patient interaction.

I also did this but all I did was help transport patients, I switched PRONTO. I heard the ER is mindnumbingly dull, try to get ICU or Cardiac. Even surgery if they allow it so you can observe surgeries!

 

[mopmay1]

Depends on where you volunteer. I actually loved volunteering in the ER. I basically observed everything..name it, I saw it. A patient with half his skull out, a patient shot in the forehead; a mother that fell from sixth floor of her apartment, a young man with a GSW (gun shot wound) to his lower chest; a patient that was opened chest down , to help bring him back to life after his heart stopped beating; a pretty big woman that had her left femur dislocated big time!, a very CUTE young lady with half her arm off due to an accident ( mennnn she was so fine, I felt really bad for her).......... I mean I observed all this cases firsthand while volunteering in the ER. Definitely one my best experiences.

I didn't have much fun volunteering in the ER. Basicially I brought patients towels and magazines and fetched meds from the pharmacy. I wasn't even allowed to bring patients water without bugging the nurses, who were always extremely busy.

 

[futuredrcrawfor]

at the children's hospital- i have had 2 placements (I did both where I spent a whole day at the hospital and did one morning and one afternoon)

Child Life- I got to hold babies, play games, read books, do art, etc as well as help feed toddlers and babies, and got tons of patient, nurse contact! I love that one!!! And some doctors were good about letting me stay in and showing me stuff (others not so much)

School Program- I get to go and see lots of patients and families, introduce services, escort patients through halls, even give private bedside tutoring. I also work with students in the school room (especially with high school math/science-go figure)- and the school teachers are amazing!!!

But in a non-children's hospital everyone says ER or OR

 

[URHere]

I would actually suggest splitting time between two departments if possible. I spent some time in the ER and some time at a local wound clinic (mostly wound care for diabetic patients), and it was an excellent chance to see the differences between hectic "oh my god, it's the ER" medicine and small clinic "visits by appointment" medicine. My interviewers seemed to like this as well 😉

Either way, you will end up with some things that are less than enjoyable, but if you manage to find a hospital hurting for volunteers (normally one NOT associated with or very close to an undergraduate university) you will get much more patient interaction.

 

[mfrizzo3]

I'm going to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, TX. I was just wondering what department would be the richest in terms of clinical experience, patient interaction, and physician interaction. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

psych ward

 

[ilcielo]

I did some stuff at the Neuro ICU for a summer at a hospital in my hometown which was a lot of fun. You get to see all kinds of seriously ill patients and the care that the nurses and doctors put into them. There weren't any walls in the rooms, so I got to see all kinds of procedures/ serious injuries and the nurses and surgeons were always nice about explaining things to me. Also there was a lot of interacting with the patients families.

Level one trauma center is always a lot of fun at the hospitals that I volunteer at, however I have heard of it really being dull at some hospitals as well if nobody involves you in things. Just try it out and if it isn't cool and doesn't involve you enough just try something different.

 

[premed2013]

Do any physicians at St. Davids allow students to shadow them?

 

[V5RED]

I didn't have much fun volunteering in the ER. Basicially I brought patients towels and magazines and fetched meds from the pharmacy. I wasn't even allowed to bring patients water without bugging the nurses, who were always extremely busy.

My experience in the ER has been similar except that all the drugs come through tubes, so the fetching involves about 3 steps and they don't have anything for patients to read while they wait. It it really a non position at this hospital in that they have nothing very useful that I am allowed to do. It almost feels like a lie since on paper it will say I volunteered, but they don't let me do anything that is helpful.

I will wait to ask to switch until after a few more shifts simply because I am prideful and don't want to come off as a person who quits things easily.

My sister told me I should switch to geriatrics. She has a lot of volunteer experience and she said when she volunteered there it was mostly talking to the elderly and keeping them entertained. That sounds like fun to me especially since the elderly usually have good stories.

 

[sector9]

My experience in the ER has been similar except that all the drugs come through tubes, so the fetching involves about 3 steps and they don't have anything for patients to read while they wait. It it really a non position at this hospital in that they have nothing very useful that I am allowed to do. It almost feels like a lie since on paper it will say I volunteered, but they don't let me do anything that is helpful.

I will wait to ask to switch until after a few more shifts simply because I am prideful and don't want to come off as a person who quits things easily.

My sister told me I should switch to geriatrics. She has a lot of volunteer experience and she said when she volunteered there it was mostly talking to the elderly and keeping them entertained. That sounds like fun to me especially since the elderly usually have good stories.

Man, we really need to do something about all these necro-thread bumps. Maybe we can automatically lock threads after they've been inactive for a year or something. People jump in and don't notice the dates and they think they're right in the middle of the conversation

 

[LizzyM]

My experience in the ER has been similar except that all the drugs come through tubes, so the fetching involves about 3 steps and they don't have anything for patients to read while they wait. It it really a non position at this hospital in that they have nothing very useful that I am allowed to do. It almost feels like a lie since on paper it will say I volunteered, but they don't let me do anything that is helpful.

I will wait to ask to switch until after a few more shifts simply because I am prideful and don't want to come off as a person who quits things easily.

My sister told me I should switch to geriatrics. She has a lot of volunteer experience and she said when she volunteered there it was mostly talking to the elderly and keeping them entertained. That sounds like fun to me especially since the elderly usually have good stories.

Here's your opportunity for leadership and innovation! Could you organize a mechanism for people with magazines they've finished reading to "recycle" them to the ER? Get permission to set up collection bins in places people gather (workplaces, gyms, houses of worship) and then distribute the magazines to the hospital. The ER can use them but some of the other areas (waiting rooms, chemo infusion, ect) will also be glad to have them. Check with the director of volunteers to see if there is some rule that would preclude this project.

(If there are certain magazines that you think might be inappropriate, check with Urology - you might be surprised -- or not.)

 

[gettheleadout]

Dates people. Read them.

(If there are certain magazines that you think might be inappropriate, check with Urology - you might be surprised -- or not.)

 

[pkwraith]

Yuck, so many references to Emergency Departments as "ER"s.

 

[235788]

I didn't have much fun volunteering in the ER. Basicially I brought patients towels and magazines and fetched meds from the pharmacy. I wasn't even allowed to bring patients water without bugging the nurses, who were always extremely busy.

agree 👍👍👍👍

 

[235788]

Yuck, so many references to Emergency Departments as "ER"s.

😕😕 what? So do you also call the ICU the intensive care unit department?

 

[TheMightySmiter]

At the hospital where I work, we refer to the Emergency Department as the "ED". That said, I don't give a hoot if someone calls it the "ER", and I think it's pretty dumb to judge people for saying one or the other.

Hospital lingo is weird. The nurses and most of the attendings call the ICU "the ICU" and refer to individual floors by location name, like "5-West" or "3B". Interns and residents call the ICU "the unit" and the rest of the hospital "the floor". I don't know if this is different at other hospitals.

 

[NKChemEng]

I volunteer in the ER, and I love it there. When I first started, my tasks were basically scut, and I thought that I would absolutely be miserable doing nothing interesting. But then I just toughed it out, and put in a lot of effort my first day and stayed overtime. My supervisor said that I put in a lot of effort and I have a good attitude, and thus they are going to give me more and more difficult and interesting tasks.

So whichever department you work in, you can always show that you want to do more. Even if you are stuck doing something REALLY boring, smile, and show that you truly appreciate the opportunity (in all honesty, this is what you should do anyways: you're getting at least SOME experience in ANY department, so there's no reason not to be happy with it). Trust me, someone will notice.

 

[gettheleadout]

Yuck, so many references to Emergency Departments as "ER"s.

No need to be uppity about it.

Anecdotally, the attending I just shadowed in the ER referred to it as the ER.

Chill, not everyone uses the same terminology.

 

[kansaskid]

I've always heard the ER is best, but I volunteer on a general medicine floor and like it. I get to eavesdrop on the doctors, including residents, talk to each other about patients, which is cool, but mainly I interact with the nursing staff. I agree with the above poster that it's good to see things from that perspective, too, and the nurses I volunteer with are pretty neat. Mainly, it is a lot of scut stuff, but I do get to talk to the patients and be in the hospital. I especially dig talking to the demented old people -- I guess they're fun for everybody but their families. 🙂

This was basically my experience, too, except I worked on labor and delivery. If all else fails, it was soooo fun to just look at all the cute babies in the nursery!

 

[tman5890]

Old thread, but I was thinking of the nursing department since it was recommended to me =o

 

[music2doc]

Old thread, but I was thinking of the nursing department since it was recommended to me =o

What the heck is a "nursing department"? Nursing IS the clinical care environment. Nursing units include basically every unit in the hospital. If you mean the nursing administration.... Yeah, that'd be the worst place for a pre-med.


For volunteering, I'd suggest an indigent care clinic. Except when I'm working, I keep out of the hospital!

 

[sexycani]

isn't better to be a Medical Assistant somewhere and do something real than sit around "volunteering" in the ER?

i mean, as an MA you def. have patient interaction AND get to do real shiet...so idk why the 1st ppl do as pre-meds is seek out a hospital to volunteer at....

 

[LizzyM]

isn't better to be a Medical Assistant somewhere and do something real than sit around "volunteering" in the ER?

i mean, as an MA you def. have patient interaction AND get to do real shiet...so idk why the 1st ppl do as pre-meds is seek out a hospital to volunteer at....

Adcoms do like to see selfless service to others in the form of volunteerism (indicative of altruism). They also like to see clinical exposure. Some applicants kill 2 birds with one stone by doing volunteer work in a clinical setting. YMMV; you can get paid as a Medical Assistant and give your time to help the needy in a non-clinical setting and cover the same bases.

 

[gettheleadout]

isn't better to be a Medical Assistant somewhere and do something real than sit around "volunteering" in the ER?

i mean, as an MA you def. have patient interaction AND get to do real shiet...so idk why the 1st ppl do as pre-meds is seek out a hospital to volunteer at....

Because a lot of places require CNA/EMT-B certs to work, programs for which are costly/lengthy, and/or because job schedules don't work out with classes, and/or because places don't want to hire a tech for a summer. The list goes on. Doing "real shiet" doesn't necessarily translate to the best experience.

 

[sexycani]

Adcoms do like to see selfless service to others in the form of volunteerism (indicative of altruism). They also like to see clinical exposure. Some applicants kill 2 birds with one stone by doing volunteer work in a clinical setting. YMMV; you can get paid as a Medical Assistant and give your time to help the needy in a non-clinical setting and cover the same bases.

i meant volunteer as an MA...not get paid for it...thus "altruism"
isn't this much better than sitting around in an ER...i mean lets be real...i've done that in high school and you honestly do nothing...

 

[LizzyM]

Yuck, so many references to Emergency Departments as "ER"s.

Lay people call it the ER. It's been that way for 50+ years. About 20 years ago, people working in the field of emergency medicine started calling it the E.D. because "it isn't a room it is a department. "

Don't expect the lay public (and that includes most people on these boards) to use the term E.D., particularly when in lay parlance that is often used as a term referring to impotence (erectile disfunction) thanks to the pharmaceutical firms that needed a new term to make advertisements for their little blue pills more socially acceptable.

 

[gettheleadout]

i meant volunteer as an MA...not get paid for it...thus "altruism"
isn't this much better than sitting around in an ER...i mean lets be real...i've done that in high school and you honestly do nothing...

A lot of places don't have the liability insurance set up to allow volunteers of any qualification (other than maybe physicians, who would likely not be giving their time through a standard volunteer program) to perform procedures or anything of the like. The volunteer coordinator at a hospital in my area mentioned that no matter what your training, if you are on duty as a volunteer, you cannot directly give medical care. This applied even to medical students that volunteer, as this hospital is connected to a medical school.

 

[LizzyM]

i meant volunteer as an MA...not get paid for it...thus "altruism"
isn't this much better than sitting around in an ER...i mean lets be real...i've done that in high school and you honestly do nothing...

If you are doing nothing, you aren't doing it correctly.

It isn't doing procedures that is important. It may be just sitting with a delirious patient, or one who is awaiting word on the status of a partner who was traveling in the same vehicle.

Earlier today someone noted that his/her hospital didn't have reading material to distribute to patients who were waiting with nothing to do. I made a suggestion about how a volunteer might meet that need.... see what is being done and what could be done better. Then work to make things better.

Being a volunteer who takes vital signs or draws samples for the lab is not necessarily the ultimate in clinical volunteerism.

 

[gettheleadout]

If you are doing nothing, you aren't doing it correctly.

It isn't doing procedures that is important. It may be just sitting with a delirious patient, or one who is awaiting word on the status of a partner who was traveling in the same vehicle.

Earlier today someone noted that his/her hospital didn't have reading material to distribute to patients who were waiting with nothing to do. I made a suggestion about how a volunteer might meet that need.... see what is being done and what could be done better. Then work to make things better.

Being a volunteer who takes vital signs or draws samples for the lab is not necessarily the ultimate in clinical volunteerism.

👍

Am I correct is assuming the goal with clinical experience is simply to become acclimated and comfortable in and gain an understanding of the clinical setting?