Volunteer my way into acute

[Nurseeverywhere, CNA, LVN]

Good evening everyone,

For those of you who are working as a CNA in an acute setting how did you do it? I have done some caregiving but I do not feel that I have gotten much medical experience. Mainly cooking and cleaning. I am thinking of volunteering at a hospital like a few people have brought to my attention. I think it sounds rather fun to get to see what hospital atmosphere is like. My only ideas of what it would be like really comes from television. I do know a couple of people working in a hospital and they said it is very different from home health and facility work. So is volunteering a good way to get into a hospital?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Most hospital volunteer jobs are non-clinical especially new volunteers. Working in the gift shop, information desk, delivering flowers are common volunteer opportunities for new hospital volunteers. Check if your preferred hospital has volunteer information online, if so it may indicate specific opportunities

[JMCP]

you need to network! also apply to small hospitals! or the county hospitals cause they have a criteria which objective and with little to no bias.

[Nurseeverywhere, CNA, LVN]

I have heard that a couple of local (magnet hospitals) have volunteer positions but they check your GPA and interview. I have no problem with either but does that mean that I would have some patient interaction or that I would be volunteering on a floor vs gift shop? I am completely willing to give a fewer hours a week if that meant I could potentially get in as an employee. Plus it would be a great experience. I honestly hadn't even thought of county hospitals so I will look into that. San Diego is so impacted I want to have a better chance of making it.

[hookyarnandblanket]

I work in a small, critical access hospital where we have everything from long term care to acute. I applied for my position but honestly, part of it was that I knew the director of nursing quite well. Sometime it isn't what you know or are willing to do, but who you know.

I can tell you that this job is much, much different than my LTC job, even though we have long term care patients daily. Sometimes it's easier and sometimes it's harder and that can be from hour to hour. We might start out with just our 7 long term care patients but by the end of shift, we might have 15 or more. I know it sounds easy but we only run 3 nurses on the floor and three CNAs on the floor on first shift. Nurses have to answer ER cases, too.