esmeralda
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 52
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It can be related to patients, though. I have seen a couple of patients (psychiatric rating scales: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Young Mania, anxiety scales too) even though overall I must say they used me as a secretary, and my secretarial skills improved but at the beginning I sucked, mainly because I did not know a great deal about computers and my boss didn't either. But the experience made me learn many things. Now I have done a much better database for the studies we are going to use for our next paper.
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| esmeralda
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 52
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But also be very careful with what they promise and what they deliver. When you volunteer you don't make any money. You are in a very vulnerable position. In my case I must say my first boss did NOT deliver what she promised. I worked like from 20 to 35 hours a week (depending on my availability) and at the same time I had another live-in part time job to support myself. I tried to do my best. She had promised to help me get into residency there and to give me the paid job as her assistant. (Which would have been very relieving for me because I could have had a J-1 research visa and dedicate myself just to what I want to do in life, study) But as my other job at one moment was depriving me of sleep I was not always with all my energy. Besides I needed to take the USMLE Step 2 CS in Los Angeles, in October, and needed time off for studying. She gave me as little time off as possible, I had to cancel more than once my practices with my study partner. Then the letter of recommendation she gave me was late (end of October) and I don't think it was helpful in any way. She just said all the tasks I performed, but not a word about me, how I am. I think it was very unfair. I went out of my way to work there. Then when when I came back from my Step 2 CS in los Angeles, she treated me like shit day after day, with ironic remarks, etc, making me feel like hell. She then hired somebody else for the job she had promised tome, without explanations. (good for her, she will drive this other person carazy, too). When the interview season began, they did not give me an interview. I have higher scores than most, there (99 and 95). How I coped with this? I volunteered to help out with somebody else, in a very exciting project. I like it. I like that hospital, too. I do not want confrontation with that person. After all, what she did to me she will do to somebody else. It is going to come back to her like a boomerang. You know what else she did? Suspect me of theft etc. In December she e-mailed me to ask where the tape recorder was. (I had borrowed it to practice for the test but I had returned it and was pretty sure of it) I e-mailed back telling where in her office I had put it. I had to go back, open the drawer and show it to her. According to someone else from there, she got pretty mad about that. And last week in the research meeting she talked about someone breaking into her office and doing something with her computer, and turned to me, angry and suspicious. As a matter of fact, I have given the keys back to her a long time ago (does she keep track of anything at all?) Right now I use the hospital library to work, or a common office with several other people. What a bad luck.
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| rekha
Forum Newbie
Topics: 7
Posts: 17
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Dear esmeralda
thanks for sharing yur experience ... iam sure that is just a bad patch u will get all that u want god is very fair
well i did apply for volunteering long time back and they told me the job was to take care of patients attendents so when i told them i was also looking for clinical exposure they said u can talk to the doc who attend th ER and when u are free u can see what they are doing ...at that time i was new in US and was starting to take my exams so i told them i would come some time later
only when i saw about volunteerin on the forum i wanted to confirm what it wa s
good luck to u
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| Yulia
Forum Elite
Topics: 19
Posts: 240
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Rekha,
the term 'volunteering' just means that you are not an employee and don't get paid for the work you do. Any kind of work can be done on the voluntary basis. I work in a research lab and in the beginning they didn't pay me for a few months, and that means I volunteered.
But in a sense you are correct, when you go to the hospital volunteer's department and tell them you want to volunteer, what you usually get to do is greeting or transporting or entertaining patients. You could however offer to translate for patients if you speak another language, and that is an opportunity to meet physicians who could potentially help you. Doesn't count as US clinical experience though.
Hope this helps.
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