I know that volunteering in hospital/clinics require background check.
However, if one is a foreign student, should s/he get background checks from his/her native country? I once tried to volunteer at hospital during high school and I was told by my mom’s friends(a nurse) that background check takes around 6 months, and it may take even more since I am a foreigner. What should I do? This is just another annoying burden…
You don’t need to volunteer at a hospital. You can try nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, blood donation centers, group homes for the mentally or physically disabled, therapeutic summer camps for handicapped children, stand alone public clinics (like Planned Parenthood or your county’s public health clinics).
Any of these place may have shorter waiting lists for volunteers and less rigorous BG checks.
And as for the background check–those are SOP for all accepted med school students. You might want to run a background check on yourself (AMCAS uses Certiphi) to see what turns up and how long it takes. Better not to have any surprises later.
It doesn’t take 6 months for background check. Son is volunteering at a hospital during school year. And the whole process including orientation, vaccinations, background check, and orientation took less then a month. He also works summers at a different hospital near home and it took less then a month for the process also. So not sure where your mom’s friends got this info.