<p>Is there really a possibility to do something meaningful or is it just a waste of time?</p>
<p>Volunteering at the hospital is like voluntarily putting yourself at the bottom of the food chain. As a hospital teen volunteer, you become a Nurse's Assistant's assistant. You do all the work no one else wants to. And it's menial, tiresome work.</p>
<p>I use to volunteer at a hospital, and we were overworked.</p>
<p>Hisss. :mad:</p>
<p>What's the point anymore? Everyone else does it, too.</p>
<p>I disagree AeroEngineer, I volunteered at a hospital this summer and had an amazing time.</p>
<p>I think a hospital is a great place to volunteer because you get to interact with all sorts of people. One of the things I did at my local hospital was help prepare meals for patients and there were times when I was able to bring food up to a patient(s). I also worked with amazing people who I have created great friendships and memoirs with. If you are interested in working in the medical field, then a hospital is a perfect place for you. Even if you aren't (I'm actually not), it's still a great place to just work with people, in general. I think what drew me to working in a hospital is because I wanted to see all the components that go into operating one, not just doctors and nurses only.</p>
<p>haha i worked at a volunteer. It does involve slave work most of the time. But i do know couple of people who got to work in ER and got to see some very interesting surgery. I say, do your research before joining a program. If you don't know what "Pulmonary" is, then don't go for it. </p>
<p>Go to the hospital, and talk to department heads for places like ER and ORAL MAX surgery to find out whether they let teen volunteers see the good stuff. Then when joining the program, request to be placed in that department, or you'll end up filing for 8 hours straight.</p>
<p>BUT even with the slave work, you do get to know the environment and you can ask people questions. I asked Doctors and Pharmacists tons of questions :]</p>
<p>The post below this is supposed to be above this.</p>
<p>i volunteered at a children's hospital...you play video games and toys with kids...</p>
<p>I've volunteered for a hospital a good bit.</p>
<p>It really depends upon what department they put you in. Some are very exciting, others dull.</p>
<p>I worked as, like, the receptionist/slave for a nursing ward. I basically catered to the whims and desires of ~30 or so patients -- they would call my number up, tell me that they want, say, a warm glass of milk, some pain meds, a pack of gum, and yesterday's newspaper, and I would proceed to run around and do that stuff for them.</p>
<p>It got boring at times, but I usually had something to keep me busy. :]</p>
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I worked as, like, the receptionist/slave for a nursing ward.
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<p>That's exactly what I did, except I had some "nursing" activities to do. One time, I had to assist a few male nurses in lifting this super heavy dude and wheeling him to another ward. I can't believe how fat people can get :(. </p>
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I disagree AeroEngineer, I volunteered at a hospital this summer and had an amazing time.
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<p>You are so lucky. </p>
<p>Lifting a morbidly obese person, I ask you...</p>
<p>Yah, I regularly had to wheel the outpatients to the front of the hospital where they would be picked up by family or friends or something.</p>
<p>I also was in charge of distributing the meals for all the patients. There was this really cute model-esque nurse that was the one whose job it was to do it, but I helped her anyway. :)</p>
<p>I sit at a desk in the middle of the ER where security usually sits and basically take people back into see patients/answer questions. </p>
<p>It's alright, because there is a pc I can use at the desk and on a good day only 2 people will be in the lobby so i can finish a lot of homework.</p>
<p>The only negative views I have is the staff is condescending, visitors walk past me and talk to the nurse when they're supposed to talk to me ( i have to go hunt em down..), and occasionally I am forced to tell people to chill the **** out or I'm getting the deputy in the back to escort them off the building. </p>
<p>For those of you who actually had a good time and did meaningful tasks; I ENVY YOU!</p>
<p>Personally I volunteer at my hospital, because all my EC's are medically related, and you can see a lot of really strange stuff....like a guy who had an erection for 48 hours or a man with an apple up his butt with a BITE taken out of it.</p>
<p>I'm sure if I lived in a bigger city i'd have more opportunities, but I live in a town in texas and I take what I can get.</p>
<p>AeroEngineer, I actually never did that, thank you.</p>
<p>Point is: volunteering at a hospital is a great experience. There is so much you can do and you learn so much at the same time. You do sometimes see strange things though.</p>
<p>So I'm having an interview on Sept 16. If I want as interesting experience as possible, is there something I should ask? I don't want to sound demanding or rude. I'm currently a sophomore that's very interested in biology and chemistry. I have good academic stats, but I doubt that will really be relevant when it comes to assisting a surgeon...I'm working at NY Hospital- Queens.</p>
<p>Ask if you could be placed in ER.</p>
<p>I volunteered at a hospital this summer; this place has a summer program for high school volunteers. You get to volunteer in lots of different areas... Some are more enjoyable than others. I really enjoyed it, though.</p>
<p>apparently only students 18+ can volunteer at the ER department. Younger students work can work clerical, gift shop, or patient care. I think I'm going with patient care in hopes of being promoted to ER senior year...</p>
<p>Most of the volunteer jobs at the local hospital are the menial kind - filing papers, making packets, that kind of work. </p>
<p>I rather enjoy my job though - dismissing patients out (I get to talk to them and hear their life story - a bit awkward sometimes, but fun). There are the overweight people, the smokers (I had to take one outside once for an hour), and the plain annoying. But in the end, it's pretty fun.</p>
<p>I asked the hospital where they needed volunteers the most, and said I would work there.</p>
<p>Filing papers is boring.</p>
<p>I would suggest going through a health science program at your school...usually you get to do a lot more than a basic volunteer at a hospital.</p>
<p>Well I volunteered at my local hospital, doing just regular, boring labor for about 80 hours. Then, I started to volunteer at another hospital which had a music therapy program that I was REALLY interested in, and basically I go there every month to do work; I do a lot of technology/website stuff for this hospital at my own house in addition to advertising and everything. It's awesome.</p>