Volunteering!!!

[LaceyA.]

I am a pre-nursing major and started volunteering earier this year in my local hospital. I volunteer in OB/GYN unit...I have fallen in LOVE! The atmosphere, the medicine, the people...it's great! The problem is I want to learn too and observe. How do I comfront the nurses or ask them questions with out feeling like I am a nag? I know they are busy people and I don't want to get in their way, but I want to experience as much as I can! Any suggestions would be great....

Thank you for your time!

LaceyA.

[Agnus]

As a volunteer you are very limited in what you can do. It is unlikely that you will be allowed to observe much of anything. There are privacy issues at stake, as well as liability. Start by talking to the director of volunteer services. Ask if this person can or will help or connect you with the right people. Your hospital may have a shadow program where you could follow a nurse or other professional in thier work. Ask about education programs offerd at you hospital. Perhaps a paying job at the hospital may offer you more of what you are looking for. OB is a happy place. Perhaps you should see some more of the less attractive side of nursing that you will face as a student nurses and after graduation. Ask questions keep reminding your volunteer supervisor of your intrest. During a quiet time ask a nurse if she would mind talking with you.

Good luck. :)