Medical Mission

[alainab]

I am interested in a medical mission; however, I am a soon to be new grad and was wondering if this is something I should wait to do until I have more experience as a RN or something I could benefit from right away. Pros/cons? Thanks for any insight you can give me.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Most are management roles that need experienced nurses. The hands on roles in OR, primary care, obstetrics need experienced nurses not new grads

[BonnieSc]

I think she means short-term medical missions, which often even accept nursing students. Sure, you could benefit from it right away in that it might be fun and interesting, but what are you looking for?

[alainab]

Yes, BonnieSc, I am talking about a short-term assignment; however, I am not really sure exactly what I am looking for. I graduate in a few weeks, have done my precepting in OB, and am hopeful to land a job in that dept. My heart has always been for those in need, who don't have access to medical care. I'm just not sure where to begin looking or even if I should until I have a few years of experience under my belt.

[JBudd, MSN]

Been there, done that. Definitely need some experience first. If the short term stuff takes grads and students then they should have things in place to help guide you, but otherwise I found myself in situations that even though I had some experience it wasn't enough.

[BonnieSc]

In your first post you mention what you could benefit from but in the second you mention helping others, so, two different goals. If you're mostly interested in what benefits you could take away--which is totally fine, most medical missions are more beneficial to the volunteers anyway--you could find a place to go now. If you want to make more of an impact on a community, wait at least two years. Or do both. You can also try to find a job here in the US where you can help people who are underserved, such as an American Indian hospital or a safety-net hospital, and do that for a living--something to think about.

The Volunteer Nursing forum isn't very active, under Nursing Specialties, but if you go back through the posts you can get some ideas of organizations to go through. Keep in mind that short-term medical missions usually cost a lot and many new grads won't have that money to spend yet.

[alainab]

Great info...thanks so much.