<p>hey guys, i am currently volunteering at the local hospital (Cooper in Camden, NJ) and am curious what i should seek to do when they have nothing for me to do. i work in the ER and on the Patient floors sometimes. i seem to do very simple things and i can’t even begin to think of how my current experience is adding to me in any way. i feel i am missing something. any advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Be watchful for opps. Be helpful without being a pest. Stay late. Arrive early. Be professional. Listen. Opps will come, and if not opportunities to serve, certainly opportunities to observe. Both can be great fodder for PS/secondaries.</p>
<p>I agree, patience is necessary. Spend free time chatting with nurses and doctors if they aren´t busy. Someone will warm up to you given time.</p>
<p>Sometimes you may never know what might happen when you volunteer at a hospital. When my child volunteered at a local hospital two years ago, a high school student happened to visit his mom who is a nurse there. The volunteering session became a Chemistry TA session – My child was there to help solve chemistry problems for her child.</p>
<p>If my child was assigned some job, that nurse/mom tried to take over and finish the job for my child as quickly as possible. This is because she preferred that my child could spend more time with her on some topics SHE is interested in discussing like college applications. The problem is not that the nurse did not want to chat with him. She chatted with him too much about topic that she is interested in. If I remember correctly, he said that the nurse is all over him (not in a romantic way, but in a helicopter mom way.) He stopped going to that hospital pretty soon as he thought he had learned very little.</p>
<p>Right now, he is volunteering at another hospital near his college (I heard it might be oncology – his first experience dealing with patients with a terminal disease.) Hopefully, his experience there will be better.</p>