<p>Are there hospitals that allow you to actually allow volunteers to do medical jobs? It seems that the only things that you can do are like gift shop, delivering packages, or secretorial work-- none of which are relevant.</p>
<p>I am both a clinician and a hospital manager. My son volunteered at my hospital for 3 summers during high school. He worked with the Occupational/Physical Therapy Departments fixing wheelchairs, distributing equipment to patients, basically doing whatever needed to be done under the direction of the occupational and physical therapists. He worked two summers in the distribution (deliveries and stockroom, delivered stock to different patient care areas, entered data in the computer system, etc) although he was offered to do computer work in the OR area (he isn't pre-med so he was not jumping at that). Because of strict JCAHO policies and liability issues, most high school students will not be allowed to have involvement in direct patient care. However, there are broader opportunities than what I have described, including some special programs for high school students in labs, as ambassadors, in child life, etc. For many medical personnel, having to instruct a new person or be responsible for a student, even students within a graduate program is very time consuming and a huge responsibility so there really aren't a lot of casual opportunities for hands on patient care. You might call the bigger medical centers for more formal high school volunteer opportunities. Still, I wouldn't discount the less exciting volunteer jobs. Although you don't get a lot of hands on patient contact, seeing the hospital environment from the inside can give you an idea of how medicine really works, a taste of the environment and exposure to the culture!</p>