My Second Official Experiential Learning Activity

During Fall Quarter, I applied and did my second experiential learning application at Swedish Hospital which is where I have been volunteering since last Spring. I really love volunteering at this hospital and look forward to doing it for the time to come. 

Here is my Honors Experiential Learning Initial Application

Volunteer in SPAU at Swedish Medical Center Cherry Hill
Student Name

Natalie Stagnone

Experiential Learning Category

Service

Summarize your proposed experiential learning activity, including the primary focus of your activity, your intended actions, and the expectations of your supervisor and/or organization/partners.

I am a volunteer at Swedish Medical Center, Cherry Hill Campus in the Secondary Post Anesthesia Unit (SPAU) which serves patient before and after surgery. At SPAU, I assist with bring patients in prior to surgery, cleaning rooms after patient use, discharging patients after surgery, keeping the space stocked with necessary items and assisting the nurses with anything else they need. Each week, I am expected to be on time and work independently supporting the nurses in the unit. This quarter I will spend four hours per week volunteering in SPAU.

Explain how your activity demonstrates the values of the Honors Program Experiential Learning area you selected. Rather than reiterating our definition, outline how your activity embodies this definition.

Volunteering at Swedish Medical Center is an amazing opportunity for me to experience the hospital environment as well as engage with other nurses, volunteers, staff members and patients. Being a pre-medicine student with the intention of becoming a doctor, I am engaging with those who currently work in this field as well as patients, both of which I have never done before. The team of nurses, staff and doctors work together to ensure that the patient has the best experience possible and that they provide the highest quality of care. Being in the hospital I am engaging with the organization and helping them supporting the hospital in giving the patients the highest quality care, which is the goal of the Service component of Honors.

How and why did you select this engagement? What skills or experiences do you hope to gain from it?

Before starting to volunteer at Swedish, I had only read about what I wanted to do as a career, become a doctor. I had never fully engaged with doctors in a hospital setting or seen the work of the team for the patients. I think that it is important to see these things as early as possible if you are considering a career in medicine because it really solidifies if this is what you would like to do as a career. This is really what I am continuing to gain from this experience: learning that this is exactly what I would like to do as a future career. Beyond this, I am learning valuable skills such as teamwork, independence, organization, etc. I chose Swedish specifically because it was available and has departments I am interested in.

How does this activity connect to your concurrent or past coursework? How does it speak to your broader education goals and experiences?

Volunteering at Swedish connects to what I learned from my Pre-Medicine Seminar last Fall: that it is important to see if you would actually like to pursue a career in medicine as well as gain volunteer hours in a hospital setting. More than that though it connects in that seeing what I would like to do motivates me in the classroom to work harder to achieve my goal of going to medical school. Continually, I learn about real world experiences that people have in a hospital setting from the system itself to patient advocacy. An example of this is patients having a translator come and making sure that you speak to the patient, this is something that I learned from a Speech and Hearing Science Class and this information has proved invaluable.

How will your activity contribute to the larger goals of the organization/your partners?

By volunteering, I am able to do the simplest jobs, yet also critically important. I keep the rooms clean and germ free as well as supplying the unit with ready stretchers, intake bags, pillows, etc. Having these tasks completed allows the nurses to focus on the patients more and helps the unit flow more smoothly. Since everyone is working in a team with the nurses running more smoothly, the doctors are able to do their job and all of this ultimately contributes to the main goal of the organization which is to provide high quality care to the patients. I believe that I am able to support the nurses and I absolutely love working with them to serve our patients.

           Volunteering at a dynamic and diverse hospital has really contributed to my understanding of what working as a team player means. Many of my other extracurricular activities emphasize their core tenant of being a team, but in the SPAU Department at Swedish Hospital the team is a necessary part of each patient's experience. I have been continually amazed at the level of integrity and work ethic that is present at each level of this team. The help desk volunteers welcome in patients and their families, the staff check in these patients, the nurses and volunteers bring the patients back and calm their nerves, the surgery-transports talk with the patients about their lives and nerves, the anesthesiologists patiently explain the procedure with the patients, and the doctors and surgeons orchestrate each moving part to make this procedure go smoothly. Then the kitchen staff prepares meals for the patients, staff and volunteers and the nurses and volunteers clean the rooms. Everything is working in harmony to give the patients the best experience possible at the hospital and they are working to continually be the best possible team through regular conversations, evaluations and progress.

            When I think about this quarter, I think about why I would like to go into medicine and become a physician, ideally at a hospital like Swedish. I would like to be a part of this team and make sure that I take time to show appreciation for each level of this team because without any one part, the team wouldn't function smoothly. It is truly amazing to see a team function the way ours does at Swedish and to make the connections to these people. I have gotten to know many nurses in the unit that brighten my day as we work together in the Surgery Unit. I have also met other volunteers and health scholars that create an even better work environment. Over the course of this quarter, I have loved to be a part of this team and I am excited to continue to be a part of this team for years to come.