Volunteering during Nursing School?

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Hello all!

As many of you know, I've been accepted into nursing school (yay!) and I have about a year's worth experience as a CNA at a hospital...

I recently went to a local general hospital to see about volunteering while I attend nursing school, and the volunteer manager was so excited to see a student, she almost cried LOL! I feel really lucky to be able to volunteer, but my question is, when school starts, how many hours should I allow myself to volunteer?

Background: I have many credits that are transferring into the program, so for the first 2 quarters, I will only have one class per quarter (a&p quarter 1, sociology quarter 2), so I won't even be doing NUR courses until January.

I would be helping in the gift shop at night (which would be good downtime for studying... the manager said it was a slow shop), and during the day for 4 hours I would be floating to different units (and as a bonus, getting orientated on each floor!) ALSO after each 100 hrs. of volunteering, I get a letter of recommendation from which ever floor I was volunteering on (100 hrs. on med/surg, get a med/surg L.O.R.; 100 hrs. on oncology, get an on oncology L.O.R.; etc.)

Thanks for the help!

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Volunteering is a good thing, you might want to see if your school has an Americorp program so you get a scholarship for your volunteering.

Everyone's situation in different, I am a wife, and mother to three teenagers, and will graduate in December. I work 15-18 hours a week just to have some extra spending money... as far as time for volunteering... I don't have it. I considered it a good day when I was able to squeeze in a shower. Between everything in my life, I have zero free time :(. Any down time I did have I studied.

Like I said, everyone is different. You should ask yourself will volunteering cause me to stress about having to compromise time for _____________. If you had a major test you were worried about, would the thought of lost study time cause you anxiety? If you can fit it in - I say go for it, because a little banked good Karma is an amazing thing, just don't stress yourself out over it!

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Since I'm in a situation where I don't have any kids (except for a fiance and a yorkie... LOL!), all I would have during school, is, well... school! And the volunteer manager called me today, even though it's the weekend, and told me that when I come in for orientation on Tuesday, I will also be meeting with the DON- she said that the DON was really impressed with my volunteering resume, and that she only meets with nurses she wants to hire, so I might be able to rub her the right way, and since I'll be volunteering there for the next 2 years (the length of the nursing program), I might be able to work there as a graduate nurse and then as an RN after I pass my boards!

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I'm currently volunteering as well!

I recently got into a nursing program, starting july 8th. I've been volunteering at Kaiser Permanente since Oct '12. I have done Tuesday / Thursday 4 hours each day since. I figure once I start the nursing program I'll be doing maybe a hour or 2 hours once or twice a week, just so that they'll still remember who I am :). I have strong relationships with majority of the nurses at the department and they would all write a recommendation letter for me.

I still can't get a read on the head of the department yet though.

Volunteering will not harm you whatsoever unless its cutting into your study time. I too hope to work at kaiser after I get my license.

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I plan to volunteer as well this is nice to know how you went about it! I also volunteer on and off with a healthcare organization ( non- profit) I think when I started school because I have kids I would want to do one day a week, I plan to get an aftercare job at my home so I can study a bit ( probably not had core studying) and make some extra money.

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