My Reflection

I volunteered at the University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC) in the surgery lounge. It is a lounge where the families of patients having surgery wait. While there, I answered phones, took down records of patients and their families and operated the desk. I also took care of replacing coffee, replenishing the beverage rack with sugar, cream, hot cocoa and various other packets. I also distributed Kleenex and handled requests for blankets. I was responsible for leading families back to see patients in the recovery room once they were fit to be seen after surgery. I also frequently gave families updates after doctors would call out to inform me how a particular patient’s surgery was going. A lot of what I did was passing along information. I would hear something and then report it. I really liked it a lot, I always felt busy. I was either on the run or talking with families or resupplying things. I was glad that there was very little down time because I tend to get bored really easily and I like doing things while I’m working instead of just sitting around.

The doctors and nurses I interacted with there were caring for patients who were undergoing surgery that day. All the physicians I spoke with and did things for were surgeons. The nurses were pretty busy because the patients tended to be in a lot of pain after surgery. When I started, the person who trained me made me really apprehensive about my first day. She told me the doctors and nurses constantly screamed at her, and that I should expect the same. The first time I went into the recovery room where the nurses and doctors are caring for the recovering patients, I was very nervous. I don’t know what she was talking about though. Those people who work there are extremely nice and respectful. I never had a bad experience there.

I loved how much interaction I got with doctors and nurses. Many of the physicians and nurses know my name because of how often we have been around each other. That is so cool! I also really liked how fast paced it is. I don’t like boring jobs where I just sit around and am never expected to do much. In the surgery lounge, I was always busy so boredom was not an issue. Something not so great about it was that families were sometimes quite touchy because of their anxiety over the surgery. It hardly took anything to get them angry very fast. I didn’t enjoy being yelled at, but I was kind of the fall guy because I was the only one constantly there. A lady screamed at me for about five minutes straight once. I did not like that at all. I did enjoy talking with a lot of really nice people though. Families were very kind and friendly most of the time; it was just every so often that someone would yell at me.

I learned a lot about being a surgeon from this experience. It seems to take a lot to rattle them, because their demeanor is always calm and collected. They are very kind when speaking with patients. Surgeons are also very deliberate with their time. They never stay around and chat once they have finished what they need to say. It is a delicate balance to be very kind with people, but to move on almost immediately when they have conveyed what they need to. Somehow they manage to do it though, without losing their delicateness. From talking with families, I recognize they have so much admiration for surgeons. They have a ton of respect for them as well. Surgeons come in extremely early each morning too, sometimes around four or five in the morning. They constantly put patient’s needs before their own too. Surgeons drop what they are doing if there is an emergency and go there right away. One day a surgeon got paged and literally ran out of the lounge immediately. They also give out their personal cell numbers to the family of patients if the family has concerns, and I have heard the surgeons say many times “call me whenever.” Surgeons are the ultimate selfless type of people. They serve people all the time. I too, have developed a lot of respect for them through my volunteering.

It actually is very surprising to me how caring surgeons and nurses are. Not that I think they would be uncaring people at all. But I have observed just how busy they are. It’s amazing to me that they can be as caring as they are from a time standpoint, because as soon as they are finished speaking with people they are flying off to their next destination. Yet, they somehow don’t come off as rude or that it’s just a job for them, the opposite is true in fact. It is almost like an assembly line for them, they see a patient, treat them, move on and so on. It just seems like they are always preoccupied thinking about something else, yet they always are very compassionate and sincere when talking with people. They must all be jugglers or something because they certainly are masters at balancing their thoughts. Something else that surprised me was how soon people started remembering my name. I figured with so many volunteers, there was no way they’ll know my name. However, in about four weeks almost all of the nurses I speak with in the recovery room knew my name. By the eighth week most of the surgeons I speak with knew my name! That was really cool, and it was quite unexpected. One more thing that surprised me is how well connected things in the hospital are. Every desk seems to have the same list with tons of phone numbers for different places in the hospital. The intercom system keeps people anywhere in the hospital informed of important matters and doctors and nurses always have a phone and pager with them. It is really good that the hospital is connected so well, it runs very well when everyone is on the same page. I just didn’t expect it to be so well in tuned.

I have learned quite a bit about myself over this semester. The volunteer experience has helped to further the learning. It reinforced just how much I enjoy taking care of people. This enjoyment started, I think, after my father passed away. I was forced to take care of my little brother because my mom was always working. Instead of letting that annoy me, I embraced it. Today I can irritate my friends with how much advice I dole out to them. I think they view it as annoying, or that I’m trying to interfere when my intention is genuinely good natured. I’ve also realized a lot about why I behave as I do. I am not timid, but I have always avoided conflicts my whole life. I realized that the reason I do is because I don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings. The reason I don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings is because I don’t want my feelings to be hurt reciprocally.

One of my personal growth goals for the semester was to become more outgoing. I believe I have indeed become more gregarious. The volunteer experience helped me a lot. I would need to talk with random people a lot at the hospital. This forced me to strike up conversations. A lot of times when I was sitting there at the desk, families waiting close to me would ask questions about what I was doing there. This led to speaking with them about a number of things as well. I was there for four hours each week, so I talked with a lot of people. Initiating conversations really isn’t so bad I found out; it’s not so scary to me anymore. The worst that’s going to happen is that the conversation doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s not like you’re going to get hurt for beginning a chat with someone you don’t know. Another of my growth goals was smiling more. In the beginning of the semester I told myself in my head to smile when greeting someone new while they walked in. Now I just do it, it’s like a reflex, or habit. I don’t have to tell myself to do it anymore. I am very proud of that because that is something I have never done before. But I am now, and I am very glad! My last personal growth goal was not to back down from conflicts. I never have enjoyed them, I don’t think anyone does but others at least can appreciate that sometimes they are necessary. I can appreciate that now. There is no need to live in a bad situation if it can be dealt with, even if that situation requires a conflict to deal with. I can rationalize it now as being something necessary for the greater good. The conflict may be unpleasant while it’s going on but it will lead to something better, so in that respect it is progress. One of my roommates is a complete slob! He is incredibly lazy and has no regard for cleanliness. Three of us, including me, do value a clean apartment. We were forced to sit down with him one day and really hammer home that he can’t leave garbage everywhere, and that he needs to clean up his dishes. He has been better about his cleanliness as of late. This benefits us, because our apartment is much cleaner and more hospitable than it was at the beginning of the year.

The surgery lounge is a place I would recommend to volunteer in for certain people. It’s nice to feel as if you’re making a difference and it is a great place to interact with people. I really got the feeling that I was helping. It is better than some of the other jobs, where you rarely are around people. If feeling like you are making a difference and interacting with people is something you value I would certainly recommend the surgery lounge. It is a very busy place, and managing your time, emotions, and a lot of records is important. People who get overwhelmed easily I would not recommend it to, because there are so many things to keep straight. People who are overly sensitive also probably would be better off somewhere else as getting yelled at by upset family members is a very real possibility. I really have enjoyed volunteering in the lounge though; I think most people would find it enjoyable.

To get the most out of your volunteer experience I would suggest you come up with very meaningful goals beforehand that you would like to work towards. These goals should be things the experience will force you to actively work towards and improve upon. It also helps to make an effort while you’re there, not just do it to get by and be there just to be there. I have put in almost sixty hours this semester. It is very helpful to enjoy it, versus not to enjoy it, that would be bad if every week you had to spend hours doing something you really didn’t like. Starting with a positive attitude will make it much easier to enjoy it. I think going into something with a bad attitude right away is dooming yourself to not like whatever it is you’re starting. I also think making games of things is a good thing to do. For example, I try to talk with one more family each week than I did the previous week. I have been pretty successful at it, and I’m pretty competitive so even though the game isn’t against anyone it still gives me joy if I succeed.

I was very pleased with my volunteering experience this semester. I think volunteering is a great thing to do, and a great way to get to know yourself better.

UMMC

This is a picture of The University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC), where I volunteer. It is a very large building. There are eight floors, and each floor is very large in terms of area. It is important that the hospital is large because health care providers there care for a lot of patients. In 2008, 1,588 physicians were employed at UMMC. These physicians cared for a lot of patients during the year, as more than 488,000 outpatient visits were recorded. The hospital maintains 1,868 licensed beds inside the hospital. They certainly get used, as UMMC performed 21,942 surgeries in 2008. In addition to health care related services, there are many other things housed in the hospital. These are entities like a chapel, a cafeteria, a gift shop, and many lounges for waiting families and visitors. It is a very busy place, people are constantly coming and going. Doctors and nurses are constanly scrambling around as well. The hustle and bustle of so many people inside almost makes it seem like it's its own city.