Throughout my second year at OSU I volunteered weekly at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. I had a great experience volunteering in the hospital my first semester at OSU and wanted to continue. This has been a great opportunity to learn what it is like to work in different areas of the hospital. For the first half of my service project I volunteered at the new OSU Brain and Spine Hospital. I helped restock patient rooms, change sharps containers, and keep patients company. I was there during the transition from the old building to the new and I learned a lot about what features of the new hospital were improvements from the old and why. I specifically volunteered on the Stroke Care floor. I learned how important it is to wash hands before and after entering a patient’s room. Throughout this experience I was able to connect some of my microbiology and public health coursework to what I saw in the hospital.
For the second half of my service project I volunteered on the Mother and Infants Postpartum floor. I sat at the nurses’ station to answer the door, prepared new mother folders, clean cribs, and make baby charts. Throughout the past semester I was really able to get to know the nurses on the floor. I felt like I was able to build relationships with the nurses and further offer assistance. I learned the most on this floor because I got to assist with new tasks each week. This was a valuable experience for me because I someday hope to practice as an OBGYN and I was able to learn a lot about the daily life of an OBGYN in a hospital setting. Overall, I gained valuable experience in a couple areas of the hospital and I am excited to volunteer in more areas in the future.