How to Volunteer w/o being "in the way"

purplemania, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2004

I have never seen a volunteer in LD or nursery. Maybe other facilities do this, but the liability would seem great to me. I cannot justify having an untrained person present to care for a patient in any way and do not think the staff would appreciate it either, especially if they perceive the volunteer is taking the place of a paid staff member. The volunteers in our facility mostly do deliveries, run the gift shop, act as greeters, do some clerical things like putting inserts into mailouts, decorate (seems like there is ALWAYS something to be celebrated) and manage the fundraisers. They give an invaluable service, but it does not include direct patient care.

Nur_1996 · Nov 5, 2004

I worked in a step-down NICU with the growers and feeders. We had volunteers that we called "cuddlers" they changed diapers and rocked babies that needed comfort. They were all pre-screened by the hospital and background checks etc. They were very helpful when the nurses were busy.

December716 · Nov 5, 2004

I volunteer in a postpartum nursing unit. The nurses really appreciate my help and they know I am in school taking my pre-requisites, so they go out of their way to really show me what it's like. My duties are answering patient calls, stocking rooms, making up the babies cribs, wheeling discharged patients to their cars (or carrying anything they need carried down to their car for them when they are discharged), answering phones, putting together packets of information for the new moms, paging the nurses for the patients, etc. While I do not have much contact with the babies, except when the patients are discharged and I have to escort them out, I do have a lot of patient and nurse contact. It's great, because I really feel like part of the team, and I'm getting valuable experience, and valuable relationships with the nurses. They really respond positively to me, and I've only run into one nurse who seemed to view me as a nuisance.

boulergirl, CNA · Nov 5, 2004

When I worked as a volunteer, I tended to enjoy areas such as the pharmacy, where I could check expiration dates, or Central Supply (my favorite) where I could put together kits for the OR or barcode and organize supplies. I volunteered for those areas because on the nursing floors there was nothing to do but fill ice pitchers. I don't remember feeling like I was in the way--I just tried to make sure I was making myself useful. I would have loved to organize the nursing charts and get them in order, but didn't think the nurses would like that.

BTW, I did work in the nursery--basically you scrub up, put on a gown, and do whatever the nurses need you to do. For me, this was holding babies or restocking carts (another thing I enjoyed). I did have one baby that was hungry and thought I was Mommy! ("No, no, no, don't do that sweetie, I'm not your mommy.)