Volunteering at Fairview - Week 2

Having been volunteering at my site for 5 months now, my impressions are not changing as much as they would have been over the first few weeks of my service at Fairview. My role as a pharmacy messenger is clearly defined, and my job week after week is to deliver medications to various units in the hospital as well as help with basic organization tasks. However, I recently attended my pre-service training, and I have new ways to reflect about my service work. In training, we classified experiences as "shallow" or "deep," and I started wondering how I would classify my experience at Fairview. On the surface, my experience seems shallow. I am not bettering patient's lives through any sort of direct involvement, but I have discovered this does not mean my service is meaningless. The depth of my service, I believe, lies in the fact that my position helps important aspects of patient care run more smoothly. My basic work alleviates stress on both the pharmacists and nurses because they know that the medications are getting delivered on time for patients to be discharged. Furthermore, I am developing a deep connection with a hospital/pharmacy setting, which may be similar to my future place of employment. In a big organization like Fairview, it seems hard to create lasting change, but if the little things did not fall into place, the bigger operation would crumble. I will keep this in mind if I am ever doubting the importance of my work, which will help me become a more effective volunteer.