Volunteering: Taking a Role in Patient Experience

This quarter, I applied and was accepted to be a volunteer at the UW Medical Center Montlake hospital. I'd been wanting to volunteer for a bit now, since I know clinical volunteer experience is super important on medical school applications, and I knew it'd be a great opportunity to get a feel for a really clinical environment. I was accepted as a Patient Escort, the most patient-forward volunteer position at UWMC. In this role, I deliver and transport specimens around the hospital, deliver mail and flowers, and most importantly, I transport and discharge patients. In this position, I get to take an active role in patients' experience at the hospital. So far, this experience has been really amazing. I get to work with a great team of other volunteers and dispatch nurses, and I'm learning my way around the entire hospital. Additionally, I get the amazing opportunity to interact with patients. Even if it is just me wheeling them to the parking garage, being involved in the many step process of their experience at UWMC is an honor. In this role, I feel important, like I'm making an actual difference and caring for others. This has definitely gotten me more excited about a career in healthcare. The other day while I was volunteering, I spent 10 minutes mapping out a man's bus route so he could get back to his home in Lakeview safely. Even though this had nothing to do with his medical treatment, I was able to improve his experience at the hospital and help him make his way home. This experience as a volunteer has and will provide me with these opportunities to take care of others, which are incredibly valuable to me. I look forward to continue volunteering and potentially getting some experience in other clinics too (like perhaps Labor and Delivery or Maternal Fetal Medicine).