Volunteering before Nursing School Starts

[Cartman1532]

Hello,

I am starting a second degree program this May 07. I am not currently working because I was taking all my pre-reqs for the Nursing Program. I was wondering if that any of you in here think that becoming a Volunteer at a hospital would be beneficial during the interim. My past work experiance has been in Auto Manufacturing Managment, in Organizational Development and Human Resources. Since I have never worked in a hospital environment, I was thinking of getting some exposure in that environment as a volunteer.

Any Comments or Suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[AMR21, BSN, RN]

i am in the same boat. i am currently finishing my anthropology degree and taking prerequs. the hospital here in my college town has a volenteer program just for students. most are pre med, but the nurses i work with seem to be even more excited that i have chosen nursing. i am in the ER and i get to observe a lot to stuff, transport pts to other floors or testing, and i help clean/reset the rooms. Volenteering has reinforced my choice to go into nursing. I LOVE IT. and definately think you should try too!

[Rocky#3B]

I am currently in Nursing school and in my second semester. I think you should volunteer just to get the experience and get used to having that patient contact. When I first started my clinicals I was really nervous about taking care of patients but once I got used to the hospital setting and became more comfortable I was fine. So try volunteering and get a head start, you will be glad that you did.

[S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN]

Why not? If you've got the time, give it a go! If you end up doing clinicals at the same hospital, then you'll already know where things are, and have a few friendly faces to say hi to in the hallways.

[Ready2BRN]

Volunteering is a great idea!! I volunteered at a hospital outpatient center, and that was my first exposure to patient contact. It just reinforced to me that I wanted to become a nurse. Alot of my responsibilites were crappy like stocking shelves and cleaning/making beds, but the experience was invaluable. I was also able to view alot of the procedures the doctors were performing and the nurses I worked with gave me great advice on nursing school. It was a great experience for me, and I would recommend it for everyone!:)

[allysh223]

I think it's a great idea. I volunteered in Peds in one hospital, then the ER in another. I got my CNA license before starting, too, which I'm SO glad I did even though I didn't work as a CNA- going into first semester of clinicals, I already know how to do bed baths, vital signs, turning patients, etc., have been tested in front of an instructor performing skills, have worked with patients on my own and know I'm not embarrassed seeing/working on naked bodies. etc. There are 6 week courses, which I did, that are usually over breaks- most of us in my class were people in RN-BSN 4-year programs that wanted some early clinical experience, but they are expensive.