any transplant unit nurses?

[spmimi]

hi everyone, happy friday!

i'm currently working for an international NGO but i'm interested in nursing. in a few weeks i start as a volunteer at my local university teaching hospital. i just got my assigned unit, which will be their large liver/kidney transplant unit. i'm not sure if i'll be able to help in the ICU area, or only on the floor but i'm super excited to be helping such specialized doctors and nurses and can't wait for my learning curve to begin! yes, my volunteer duties are pretty much relegated to non-medical support, but i'm hoping to be good enough so that a kind nurse or two might let me informally "shadow" them a couple of times.

with that said, i've volunteered at hospitals before, but never in a transplant unit and i have no idea what to expect. of course, every hospital is different, but i'd love to hear from other transplant unit nurses so i can try to get a mental picture of what it is like. feel free to share your stories and advice, any of them!

some of my questions are really basic -- is it a fast paced environment, or more slow (or up and down and completely dependent on what is going on any particular day)? is it stressful for you? how is the transplant scheduled, does it get chaotic when an organ arrives? how is working with the families? and if you had a volunteer on your unit what would be the one thing (non-medical) you'd hope they'd help you out with? or maybe even better, the one thing a volunteer should not do/say on your unit!

thanks,

shana