I have a question for those of you who have spent time volunteering in a hospital setting: what did you find to be the best area in which to spend your time? I know you can never expect to do too much as a volunteer, but I started this week working at the Information Desk and I’m really not liking it. The volunteer director didn’t even so much as give me a brief tour of the hospital. She also spent less than fifteen minutes training me so I am pretty rotten at performing my basic function of providing information to people. I’ve been doing OK by educating myself and winging it so as to at least be able to refer people to those who can help them, but basically I just feel useless and like I am doing nothing but answering the phone and saying “Um, let me go ahead and transfer you to the operator, she can probably better assist you.” Also, the front desk appears to be a hub for creepy men to hang out and hit on me. It’s making me really uncomfortable as I can’t exactly walk away from the desk.
OK, venting over. Sorry! On to the advice request: I’m pretty sure I can request a transfer to another volunteer department, but I want to make sure I pick something that has slightly more potential. Any suggestions? I know teaching hospitals are always the preferred conduit of volunteering, but the one in my town doesn’t appear to have a volunteer program. If anyone has any suggestions about departments you’ve had success in I would be so grateful. Thank you!
Hi, Mam4993,
This place you describe does not sound very appealing. But, perhaps you can bootstrap your way into being a valuable resource to them by making it your business to know where everything is. It’s important, though, that there be a good, honest person who will write you a letter of recommendation when you need one.
Just to put it in perspective, the hospital where I volunteer has a huge premed volunteer program with hundreds of participants. When you start there, they give you a brochure about the hospital and have you do a “self-tour”; no one shows you around. You watch a video, sign a HIPAA document, read some guidelines about emergency procedures, do a self-quiz, and they then throw you onto the front desk to help visitors, or else they stick you in Central Transport pushing wheelchairs. You learn on the job.
I was in Central Transport and one time the day manager asked me to go collect all the IV rods that belong with the wheelchairs and were supposedly lying around on the floors. After spending about 3 hours going to every single floor in the tower (a 16 story building) I didn’t find a single damn rod. I went back to Central Transport with my feet about to fall off, and was told by the night manager that there were no such rods. Ridiculous though it was, I have to admit that I really knew the hospital much better after that exercise.
Yeah, I thought I made it pretty clear that I was doing my best to teach myself. The work itself doesn’t bother me all that much, it’s just really getting uncomfortable working at the Front Desk and I am going to request a transfer. I am going to trust my instincts on this one.
That really does sound quite bad! It will vary from institution to institution, though.
For example, where I volunteer all the volunteer department does is get you signed up and go over HIPAA stuff (they asked me if I wanted to expand on things since I do that for my day job. lol), etc. You are then signed up for an orientation session (4 hours) with one of the most senior volunteers in the area you will work in. Plus, if you don’t think you know enough the 1st time you can do another orientation session before you go to the area on your own.
Having said that, I like the ER so far. I mostly just take patients to their rooms and make sure nothing runs out, etc., but it’s still fun. I still find it funny that I can have a really obvious volunteer overcoat on and a big ID which says volunteer and I still have patients act like I must know everything.
Hang in there and keep trying! 
I feel fortunate to have landed in a pre-med volunteer program through the local hospital. We are all “Clinical Care Extenders” and it is treated much more like an internship than a volunteer program. We are interviewed and given an examination after training as well expected to pass on the job skills assessments.
There is a three day training (8-5), with huge training manual, lectures, demonstrations and films. I found it quite comprehensive and it did a fantastic job preparing me to hit the hospital cooridors as a genuine asset to patients. I was assigned to the cardiac unit and work with patients essentially as a nurse’s aid. The experience so far has been invaluable. I love learning and living the day-to-day on the unit floor. I’m doing it not just for my admissions application, but it is also helping me better understand the current culture of patient care in U.S. hospitals, as well as medical terminology and protocol.
Just yesterday in my shift, I fed and shot the breeze with a 101 year old patient. As you can imagine, she had many interesting stories to tell. Also yesterday, I helped a nurse restrain a solid 300 pound man that was not happy about lying in a hospital bed. He was in very critical condition, but felt his condition would improve by throwing off all IVs, monitors and gown(!) and walk straight out the hospital door. I learned that apparently a hospital is in their right to hold an ill patient against will. Still don’t know the details on that one . . .
Planetron, two words:
ICU psychosis
One of the great things about being in that setting is that hopefully you’ll have the opportunity to imagine yourself in these folks’ shoes… or beds, as the case may be. The hospital is a very strange and foreign place. People use odd words and acronyms. They say they’ll be back “in a minute” and seem unhappy if you (the patient) then ask where they are an hour later. You have to ask permission for things that are your natural right to do anywhere else… in my admitting orders, I’ll write “bedrest w/ bathroom privileges” - why is it a PRIVILEGE to go to the bathroom? or “OOB to BR only with assistance” - out of bed to bathroom. Say that I write this order after seeing someone who’d recently been given a tranquilizer or pain killer, well SURE they’re going to need help. Suppose, though that they are feeling a lot better several hours later and they just want to get up to pee? Nope, gotta wait for the nurse to assist you. So when someone isn’t acting rational, consider that the hospital isn’t really a rational place. 
Your program sounds fantastic, I am sure you’ll get a lot out of it and I hope you share lots of it here!
Mary
- mam4993 Said:
OK, venting over. Sorry! On to the advice request: I'm pretty sure I can request a transfer to another volunteer department, but I want to make sure I pick something that has slightly more potential. Any suggestions? I know teaching hospitals are always the preferred conduit of volunteering, but the one in my town doesn't appear to have a volunteer program. If anyone has any suggestions about departments you've had success in I would be so grateful. Thank you!
- mam4993 Said:
OK, venting over. Sorry! On to the advice request: I'm pretty sure I can request a transfer to another volunteer department, but I want to make sure I pick something that has slightly more potential. Any suggestions? I know teaching hospitals are always the preferred conduit of volunteering, but the one in my town doesn't appear to have a volunteer program. If anyone has any suggestions about departments you've had success in I would be so grateful. Thank you!
Hi there,
As someone above mentioned, volunteering in the ED is usually a pretty good experience as is volunteering in radiology (puts you in contact with the masses).
Another good area is pediatrics. When you reach a child, just by playing with them or reading to them, it is awesome. The same thing goes for geriatrics too. Sometimes the geriatric patients need a bit of help doing things like filling out their menus or just feeding themselves.
Stay on your current post until you get the hang of what you are doing. It is good practice because once you are a physician, you are going to find that patients don't come with many instructions either. Sometimes you have to figure things out as your go and roll with the punches.
A friendly face with a helpful demeanor can mean droves to a patient or a patient's family who is under stress. Don't sell your current positon short.
Natalie
It does sound like they just handle stuff at the front desk (unless I’m missing something in what they said), though…
I’ve only volunteered twice so far at the ED I volunteer in (a level I trauma one, too). But, all I really do is put sheets on beds and check on rooms sometimes to make sure people are comfy. It is nice the times you can even do something as simple as give a patient a warm blanket when they are cold.
Your volunteering experiences are not supposed to suffice for a real healthcare exposure or to enable you to articulate medical knowledge. The purpose is to assure that you have been at least exposed to the reality of healthcare in hopes that your desire to become a doctor is not quite so naive. And, it also provides you the opportunity to demonstrate you dedication to service & to the betterment of your fellow man.
So, that said, it matters not where you volunteer. It does not need to be in a hospital, it can be in a hospice or in home care. It could also include time in other eagalitarian roles: Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, any senior center/nursing home or other notable cuases.
Thanks, Dave. I didn’t mean to sound like I was being too down on it. I still enjoy myself and I know the people who sit there alone like the company.
I’m also personally thinking of taking my dog to nursing homes or something similar. She absolutely adores people and I’m sure it’d be good for them, too.
Did not mean to imply I thought you were “down on it”. I was merely trying to clarify the rationale behind the volunteer experience. Many folks get all wrapped up & fret over the quality of their healthcare exposure…and that is just not the impetus behind the requirement.
Thanks again, Dave.