Volunteer at Hospital you work at

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I'm just curious what everyone's opinion is on this topic.

I currently work on an adult surgical unit, but my dream job is to one day work in peds or NICU. The hospital I work at doesn't have a peds unit, but it does have a NICU. I'd like to get my foot in the door by volunteering on the unit, but I'm not sure if it's considered taboo to volunteer at the same hospital I work at. (FYI, I'm also planning on making myself more competitive by joining associations r/t neonates, take classes, get PALS and NRP in the near future)

Thoughts?

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Reach out to the volunteer department. They may be able to tell you if there are any policies regarding employees who also wish to volunteer.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

It might be more useful to befriend the manager of the unit and get time to come in and shadow on your days off.

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Thank you so much for your responses! I plan to do this later in the future, maybe in a year after I've given birth and go back to work after my maternity leave.

I did join Shared Governance so that I can start networking with people in other departments, more specifically those in NICU. In fact, the manager of NICU is in one of my workgroups, so I'm hoping over time I can get acqauinted with her and ask if I could shadow a nurse there.

Thanks again!

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