What could I do as a volunteer RN?

Published Jun 15, 2014

91 Posts

Hi everyone! I just graduated from my RN-BSN program and I will be taking my boards soon. Obviously I've been thinking a lot about getting my first job. My goal is to become an ER nurse, but that takes experience. My current situation doesn't allow me to move to find a job until next year, and though some new grads in my area have found hospital jobs right away, I am expecting that my first position will be at a LTC facility or in home health. I am just fine with that, but I am trying to think of what else I could do other than work to make myself more marketable in the future for ER positions (or even other hospital positions like tele / step down jobs). Plus, I like staying busy. I was thinking about volunteering as an RN. Since I live in a large metro area (Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota) I feel like there'd be a lot I could do, but I am not sure what to consider or where to start looking. I looked a bit at the RedCross's website, and though I'm not very interested in some of the teaching opportunities they listed, I would enjoy volunteering in a disaster action team. Or maybe I could do something at clinics? Does anyone have any other ideas? (Open to options, but trying to find something related to disaster response / acute services/ fast paced).