I finally got my volunteer uniform jacket, paperwork, immunizations, training, and all the little details checked off and finished, so yesterday was my first "shadowing" shift at the hospital as part of the volunteer auxiliary. The lady who usually works Saturdays is out of town for a couple of weeks, so she has a couple different subs lined up to train me over the next two weeks.
Note to self--- this gig requires a lot of walking, so bring a water bottle. At the volunteer desk I'll be working at, we have coffee available (for ourselves and waiting families), and I ended up drinking more coffee than I should have because I was thirsty and it was there. Didn't get much sleep last night.
2nd note to self --- Keep tissues nearby. Nosebleeds on white scrubs in a healthcare setting don't look great (this actually didn't happen, but it was near miss in the morning on the way out the door).
Some of my duties included:
(1) Various units around the hospital would call the volunteer desk and ask us to transport a urine/blood/whatever sample to the lab, sometimes on a STAT basis. I'd go pick it up, take it to the lab, time-stamp it, put it in their inbox, and let whoever was handy know if it was a stat.
(2) Deliver newspapers to patients and nurse stations. We had a cart full of newspapers and walked around the entire building offering newspapers to patients one at a time and leaving copies on nursing units that I suppose had requested them. The hospital was unusually full yesterday, so we ran out of papers before we ran out of patients, and there weren't any left for the front lobby. My hands were black by the end.
(3) Deliver gifts from the gift shop to patients. This was probably my favorite part, because the patients were so happy to see the balloons and things coming in the door. Plus, I got to deliver things to the labor and delivery section, where brand new infants were being gazed adoringly at by their proud mamas and papas.
(4) Handle questions and comments of all types at the front desk. Most commonly, can you tell me which room my family member or friend is in. Some patients are inmates or have chosen not to make their room number public to maintain privacy. Some people who come in are upset because they have an issue that is urgent to them that the hospital can't deal with on the weekend (I'm thinking of a lady that needed a check stamped before she could cash it and none of the departments that could help her were there on the weekend).
(5) Try to be a helpful, comforting presence to anyone who needs it. When I went to the cardiovascular ICU, there was a woman in the waiting room who was looking out the window and sobbing. I think her dad was in with a heart attack or something. I asked her if I could bring her anything, and she said some water would be great, and wanted to know when she could go inside and find out what was going on. I got her a glass of water, and checked with the nurses station for an update. That's a rough spot to be in and I could really empathize with what she was going through.
I think it's going to be a really good experience, overall. Six hour shifts on a Saturday might be a little brutal, but I probably won't have to do every Saturday...and it will all work out.
More updates in a few days.
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