Volunteering at Children's hospital in the Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Department

Volunteering at Children's hospital in the Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Department 

Jen Frost jennifer.frost@seattlechildrens.org

12 hours 

I started volunteering at Children's hospital on May 12th and will continue to volunteer there until I have achieve 100 hours. Although I have not gained the experience I was hoping for in this volunteer position I am understanding that the "behind the scenes" task that I am doing is crucial to the success of the department. Each time I volunteer I go through a task list that includes cleaning multiple gyms, restocking supplies, basically all the tasks that the therapists do not have time to do in such a giant operation as Children's Hospital. The rehabilitation department is very spread out with three different gyms on three different floors of the hospital. In a 3 hour session I usually walk anywhere from 2-4 miles completing all of my tasks. I have had two occasions where a therapist has asked for my help in the treatment of patients which has been the highlight of this whole experience. I got to play yarn ball slingshot with a patient and also compete against a patient in an obstacle course. These patients suffered from a chronic pain disorder called central sensitization. The therapist said that the best treatment for this is exercise and finding ways for the patient to cope with the pain. 

It would be against HIPPA to post pictures of interaction with the patients, but I took a picture of the wipes we use to clean the treatment areas and all of the Bacteria, viruses and blood Bourne pathogens that it can kill to keep the patients safe from infections. 

I applied for this volunteer position to strengthen my application for physical therapy school. I have a lot of experience but I did not have any hours in a pediatric setting or in a hospital setting so I thought this was the perfect position, plus Seattle Children's is considered the best pediatric hospital in the Western region. It has been a great experience so far seeing how this hospital operates. It is a well oiled machine and they definitely value their volunteers because there are a lot of responsibilities to be taken care of in order to make things move smoothly. I think service to my community is important because everything comes full circle in life. For example, I think the reason that the one therapist that has allowed me to observe and participate in her treatment session is because she was a volunteer at Children's and she understands that it is not the most glamorous position, and she wants us to experience what we are really there to do, observe therapists in a pediatric hospital setting. I am thankful to this therapist for her graciousness. 

Ecology is the study of the interactions between different organisms. Ecology is interdisciplinary

because it involves biology, geography and earth science. Hospital acquired illnesses (HAI) occurs in patients in a hospital setting and is something that was not present when the patient was admitted. HAI's are a concern to the hospital because they make patients sicker and require the patients to take more medications, they increase the amount of time that the patient has to stay in the hospital, they increase stress and discomfort to the patient and their families, and they may cause death if not treated. 5-10% of hospitalized patients develop hospital acquired illnesses and they cause almost 100,000 deaths in US hospitals each year (Occupational & Physical Therapy Department Volunteer Orientation packet). One of my biggest responsibilities as a volunteer is to reduce this number by cleaning and following all health and safety precautions. Even if I am not gaining observation hours of physical therapists, the impact I have on reducing hospital acquired illnesses is important to me. In the beginning of this class we learned about bacteria that can harm the human body. The wipes we use to clean kill many of the major bacteria, drug-resistant bacteria,  viruses and blood-bourne pathogens (see photo above). 

Questions:

• How would hospital operations be different without volunteers? 
• What is the biggest contributor to Hospital Acquired Illnesses? 
• What is the .1% of bacteria that hand sanitizer does not kill? 
• Why is regular nail polish acceptable to be worn versus shellac nail polish as a hospital staff or volunteer?