Volunteering before going/applying for nursing school

[2ndchance85]

Hi all

I've been going back and forth for the past year or so about going back to nursing school and have finally gotten myself together and am volunteering and taking some science courses (I'm going to try for the accelerated BSN, crossing my fingers).

Currently I am volunteering in two ways, I was fortunate enough to be allowed to be a "cuddler"(holding babies in NICU), and I'm volunteering in hospice. I did this because I'm trying to see both ends of the spectrum (if that makes sense). I guess in reality it can be just the one side of seeing the end of life(I was told once that some babies don't make it). Anyway, holding babies is going well, if there is a low census I can always help the nurses out with something (and I learn a little bit about the equipment/ process as well).

On the other side hospice is a little slow. I haven't seen many patients, a few times I've gone to see patients and they passed away before I came or they weren't interested in having a volunteer or no one spoke English. That bothers me but that's not the real issue. I believe that hospice is important to provide to patients but am not sure how much I'm learning or contributing. The border between interfering in someone's privacy and offering support seems vague to me, I always feel like I'm interfering. What should hospice volunteers really do? I have some books, I have a deck of cards, but what really improves someone's quality of life that someone who isn't close can provide? Any advice is welcome.

I'm thinking about other ways to volunteer, I live in the NYC area so I contacted NY Blood Bank and NY Center for the aging, they have a few opportunities that I feel could get a slightly different taste of health care. I'm planning on applying to school's the fall (to start in the Spring), and I'd like to get a feel of as much as possible. They have a few volunteer opportunities at New York Cares (one time commitments), mostly for giving protection to high risk populations for HIV. Depending on how brave I feel I might try to do that.

Thanks!

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Being a volunteer will rarely if ever provide interaction with patients. If you want to experience healthcare, become a tech.

[2ndchance85]

I'd love to get the phlebotomy certification and try to get a job doing that. I actually already took a course in EKG but never took the exam. If I was in less of a time crunch I'd probably take that route.