Volunteering as a nurse's aid if undecisive of a nursing career

[Lola89, LPN, LVN]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here and let me just say how glad I am that I found this site. My story is that I'm contemplating becoming a nurse due to the fact that I'm unhappy at my job and back when I did my undergrad I was interested in health care....life events sort of distracted me from that thought.

So, I have thought of nursing but I'm not sure. I thought of volunteering at my local hospital assisting the nurses. Did anyone do this before becoming a nurse? Does volunteering give you a clear picture of what it's like to be a nurse? How good does volunteering looking when applying to nursing programs...is it something that everyone does and therefore doesn't hold much weight?

Thank you

[luvmy3kids]

I have volunteered for over 2 years at our local hospital. I am not a nurse yet, but it did give me a great understanding of what they do during their shifts. I learned a great deal, experienced a lot of things I never would have otherwise (death of a baby, codes, frustrated nurses, doctors, etc)... However, and this is at least at my hospital, I was not allowed any patient contact other than offering water to them or asking if they needed anything that I was able to get (towels, juice, crackers, etc), and if not, I needed to get a nurse for them. I was allowed to walk them out after they were discharged and I could hold the babies in the NICU, but otherwise, I don't get to do anything actually nursing related.

HTH's. Good luck. It is a great experience and I really enjoyed it. I only stopped because I was taking a hiatus from school, but I might have to go back. I really miss it!!

[Atheos]

Yeah, I don't believe you can volunteer as an aide anywhere. Some facilities and facets of nursing are allowed to use unlicensed personnel. Here in Va you can be unlicensed in Assisted Living and can also work as a Companion.

To do CNA work in a nursing home though requires the states Nursing Assistant certification.

[scientist]

I volunteered at a hospital as a nurse's unit aid. In terms of patient care I did very little. I'd restock rooms and transport recently released patients to their cars. I'd also answer calls and direct family members to the appropriate places.

What made the experience valuable wasn't that I was exposed to patient care. What made it valuable is I got to see what RN's do up close. They spent a lot of time talking to me and I "shadowed" them to really get a look at what their job was like.

I eventually became a CNA and worked at a long-term care facility as well, but the hospital volunteer position provided a different perspective and a look at what RN's do and how they interact. I was surprised when I first volunteered because I thought doctors treat and do everything. I rarely ever saw the doctors in our unit. They'd rush in for maybe ten minutes and leave. The RN's did everything. It was quite eye-opening and I think actually volunteering gave me an opportunity to see up close some of what they do daily in their shifts in a way that working as a CNA in a nursing home didn't provide.

Anyway, I recommend volunteering if given the chance. I had great interactions with the RN's during my volunteer work and really got to observe them in action. Being a CNA gave me great experience with patient care, but being a volunteer let me actually observe a unit of RN's hard at work.

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

CNA jobs require education and certificate usually.....You can't usually volunteer. At my hospital, sitters are paid min wage. You sit with patients to keep them safe, oriented, get them what you can, or hit the light for the CNA or nurse. I would look into that route, and too see if you're interested in nursing, you can ask if you can watch as they do something...but ASK. GL

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

My facility does not use volunteers as nursing assistants. We do have some volunteers that do a little stocking, deliver flowers, take patients out to their cars at discharge, that sort of thing.

[RNperdiem, RN]

It depends on your facility.

Volunteers do not lay a finger on patients where I work, so if you wanted to get an idea of what nursing is like, there would not be the opportunity. My hospital uses volunteers to answer phones in the waiting rooms and run the ICU waiting room.

If you get a CNA certification and work with patients, then you would get the behind the scenes view into nursing.

[OC_An Khe]

Do be aware that what you see in volunteering to be CNA or the hospital in general, you are seeing only a small portion of the potential of a nursing career. Hospital nursing, particularly at the bedside represent about 50-60% of nursing employment.

[Lola89, LPN, LVN]

Thank you everyone for your input. Although volunteering won't give the full scope of what being a nurse is like I would still like to do so just to get some sort of exposure.

Again, thank you all..this is a great site.