Volunteer nursing jobs in the bay area

U.S.A. California

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are there any hospitals that accept volunteers for nursing jobs preferably in the acute care setting? i am currently reviewing for my nclex-rn exam, and i am wondering if there are any hospitals here in the bay area that accepts volunteer nurses. i volunteered at a local hospital, but the problem is, it is very much clerical and it isn't connected to patient care, like lobby desk, etc. i didn't have any interim permit since i already took the nclex before and failed. i feel that i am very much "dry" with my content since it's been almost 2 years since i had nursing practice. thanks

Unfortunately, no. If you do not have a license to practice as a nurse in Ca, then there are no volunteer nursing job that you would be offered. You may be able to get a job as a CNA, but that is if you have the legal documentation to work in the US.

Best of luck to you.

Unfortunately, no. If you do not have a license to practice as a nurse in Ca, then there are no volunteer nursing job that you would be offered. You may be able to get a job as a CNA, but that is if you have the legal documentation to work in the US.

Best of luck to you.

thanks for your reply. are there documents that I need to present to work as a CNA? yup, i'm legal to work in the US. Do I need to have a license as a CNA? what are those documents that I need to present? thank u so much

Suzanne4 -- I am still looking out for volunteering nursing jobs in CA but no luck. I live in the Bay area and passed the NCLEX. I really would appreciate if you could share me some list where can I apply as a volunteer nurse in SF. Thanks and God bless you.:yeah:

Why would anybody want to volunteer as a nurse? If you have a license to practice nursing, you might as well work. If you don't have a license as a nurse, I don't see how you can volunteer.

Why would anybody want to volunteer as a nurse? If you have a license to practice nursing, you might as well work. If you don't have a license as a nurse, I don't see how you can volunteer.

Because volunteering shows that you are active and compassionate about your community. Plus, it looks beautiful on your resume, which will help with the lack of job openings for new grads :)

So... are there any volunteer openings if you do have your license in the bay?

Hi,

I am also interested to know about volunteer nursing jobs in bay area...so if any body have any input that will be great.

jjg

If you have your RN licenses in the Bay Area then you wont need to volunteer, you can get a job as a nurse. If you've taken the NCLEX and passed but don't have a license, then I'm assuming you don't have a SS# and you don't have your visa to work. What kind of visa do you have?

The volunteers that they accept are ones that do non-nursing procedures. They read to the patients, take pets for pet therapy, they transport them outside after discharge in a wheelchair, they bring in magazines and newspapers. You're NOT going to get hands on experience regarding charting or direct patient care. It's not going to happen, sorry. When you're a volunteer you're treated like an employee which means you'll have to fill out tons of paperwork, go through orientation, get fingerprinted, background check, etc etc.....

LatinaVNStudentRN2B,

I appreciate your feed back. I have my RN license, SSN and green card. Only problem is getting that first job.

Do you have any suggestions on this?

JJG

LatinaVNStudentRN2B,

I appreciate your feed back. I have my RN license, SSN and green card. Only problem is getting that first job.

Do you have any suggestions on this?

JJG

Right now most hospitals have a hiring freeze...I would try the LTC facilities, prison system, but I would keep checking the hospital website to see if you can find something...you just never know...Good Luck

No hospital can have someone working there in the role of a volunteer when it is normally a paying job. The unions will not permit it, and this is not routinely done in the US. We see nurses volunteering like this in the Philippines, but it is not seen in the US.

Getting a job in the Bay Area is going to be quite tough, new grad programs are limited and jobs will usually go first to graduates that they are familiar with.

I know this is an old post, but the question is perennial in light of the situation for new grads and returners to nursing who left and came back.

As I understand, there are several legal barriers at play that prevent the new grad or any other RN from "volunteering" their services. I'm not a lawyer so I can't properly porifice out the exact reasons. But basically I think that in order to "practice" nursing it means you are getting paid something for your labor (contractual "consideration" or "quid pro pro, Clarice"!) . If you aren't getting paid something for your responsible practice, then it can be easily argued that you can't be held accountable once something goes wrong, because after all, you weren't operating under a legally binding contract (consideration is one element of a contract) and therefore without a contract you can't really accept the job "acceptance".

The labor unions are another issue- they wouldn't be happy if schemes are set up so that in order to get your first job, you would have to volunteer your work for 1000 hours before anyone would talk to you. So any attempt to make special arrangements to get around the basic legal problems there would probably be challenged immediately and they'd have very sound legal arguments that would appeal to both sides, not just their own side.

Finally who would be blamed if something went wrong, when you aren't "really" employed there? The hospital, right? So hospitals are not going to let non-employees touch patients or do any real nursing work.

CNAs also have a scope of practice and skills based on their training. So the same ideas might apply to that. They also have a union, I believe. However, having a CNA qual may gain you more trust as a volunteer- you might be entrusted with patient transport or helping a very stable patient go for a walk unassisted "just in case" they fall or need a little supervision. This would be up to the organization and the manager on that unit. But you wouldn't be able to chart, give meds, perform serious transfers,etc. and officially you are not actually working as a CNA.

Basically no matter what qualifications you have, you are technically no different than any high school kid who volunteers (though you can in reality be the nurse's extra eyes and ears and glean lots of knowledge by watching things happen- you just won't DO those things, and if you are asked to, be very careful since you and the organization could get in alot of trouble if anything goes wrong). Volunteering is a good idea of there is no other game in town- obviously there are areas like the Bay Area or New York where opportunities are sporifice and any exposure to the nursing environment is better than none at all.

I know the OP posted this in 2008 but hopefully this helps people understand the terrain better.

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