Hospital Volunteering While in Nursing School

[CCC_nursing, BSN]

Hi All! I'm in my first year semester at nursing school and currently do not work. Most of my time is dedicated to school work and family, but wish a could find a job in the healthcare field to get some experience. Unfortunately, right about now it is impossible to find something with no experience. How do you feel about volunteering at a hospital until finding a job or finishing nursing school? Does volunteering make a difference on the resume when you have no experience otherwise? It is worth my time and are there any suggestions on what I could do other than volunteering? Thank you!

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I was an ER volunteer during nursing school. Unfortunately, it didn't help me with the job hunt after graduation.

[LClark0823]

I don't know about future job prospects but I currently volunteer in the NICU and I love it. Because I'm working on getting into the nursing field, the nurses and nurse practitioners let me view procedures and answer any and all of my questions. Its been a great learning experience if nothing else.

[NeoNatMom]

I Wld say go for it. Even if it doesn't help in getting a job it's the best you can do and it will give you the insights and build confidence. A friend I just spoke to yesterday was just saying how he loves it cause the exposure he is getting is so invaluable. Go for it. I will once I get into my program if I can.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Volunteers are very limited in the tasks they can perform. For the most part, patient contact is limited to 'escorting' people. However, you can become more familiar with the 'inner workings' of health care, various roles & responsibilities, etc. It probably won't be very beneficial in terms of landing a job.

[NurseKateC]

I also volunteer in a NICU and am allowed to hold certain babies. The nurses teach me about their patients and how their unit works. I also am becoming comfortable navigating around a hospital. The lessons I'm learning have been very valuable to me, and I feel it is preparing me to become a nurse no matter what field of nursing I choose to work in one day.

[Herrington]

Volunteers are very limited in the tasks they can perform. For the most part, patient contact is limited to 'escorting' people. However, you can become more familiar with the 'inner workings' of health care, various roles & responsibilities, etc. It probably won't be very beneficial in terms of landing a job.

I'll second the first part of this. When I started volunteering, they gave me a paper stating my duties:

• Answer phones.
  
  
• File alphabetically/numerically.
  
  
• Keep patients area clean and neat.
  
  
• Assist nurses with patient transporting.
  
  
• Transport empty beds/wheelchairs/equipment around.
  
  
• Create or edit charts (not nurse "charting").
  
  
• Help patients with menus and fluid intake (i.e. pass out water if they need it).
  
  
• Pick up/stock supplies.
  
  
• Escort patients/families to destinations.
  

Those are the key responsibilities for where I'm at. I find myself, however, doing more clerical work than patient interaction, which is understandable, considering I'm not a nurse. The other day I went up to the hospital's TICU and one of the nurses there asked if I was able to put one of those ID bands on a patient. I said I probably wasn't able to, especially in an ICU, but there's an an example of limitations in patient-interaction.

As for the second part of what HouTx said, I suppose that if you meet the right people, you can potentially get a job. I've met the director of cardiology and will be meeting the director of the hospital's transplant center tomorrow to discuss employment (I've met just about everyone else in that department except the director). Even the volunteer coordinators have given me pointers on my resume, things that the hospital is looking for, letters of recommendation, etc., so volunteering can be helpful if you work things right.