This summer I have been interning at a WIC office (WIC is a federal nutrition and health program for moms below a certain income level with kids under the age of 5) in my area and am able to do a lot of hands-on things including giving patients nutrition info myself, check kids' weights and height, etc. The staff in the clinic are all nutritionists and nurses, not doctors. This summer I will also be shadowing a physician, but I don't think my experience in the physician's office will be as hands-on as my experience in the WIC clinic. I was wondering if my WIC experience counts as good clinical experience for med school.
Does This Count As Clinical Experience?
- Thread starter lgirl60
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The general rule of thumb is
"If you can smell patients its clinical experience"
assuming you stay close to the patient while you're weighing them, you can theoretically get a whiff of any body odor they produce, ergo what you're doing is probably clinical experience
"If you can smell patients its clinical experience"
assuming you stay close to the patient while you're weighing them, you can theoretically get a whiff of any body odor they produce, ergo what you're doing is probably clinical experience
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hope your not doing this great work and service just to "check off your clinical experience requirement on your list". If it is counted as clinical experience great, if it is not then who cares, experience is experience.... during your interviews they will care more about what you learned (which hopefully you will learn something) from the experience rather than if it truly was clinical experience. You also will be shadowing so there you go. Remember, adcoms like both nonclinical and clinical, now you potentially can double dip and get two checks off of that Pre-med list
I'm not doing this "to check off clinic experience requirement" at all! Nutrition has been a passion of mine since high school and I love working with small children, so I jumped at the opportunity to work here for the summer. I could talk about how much I love working at this place and what i've learned so far for hours.
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I'm assuming you're shadowing?
Most, save one, of my clinical experiences involves dealing with physicians in some manner--this is to increase my exposure to different physician roles.
If this is currently your only clinical experience, I'd perhaps add one which includes physician interaction (minor or major) and multiple shadowing experiences.
Most, save one, of my clinical experiences involves dealing with physicians in some manner--this is to increase my exposure to different physician roles.
If this is currently your only clinical experience, I'd perhaps add one which includes physician interaction (minor or major) and multiple shadowing experiences.
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I would say no. The children aren't pts, they are more clients. And the only medical thing to my understanding is height and weight. That being said, it is AMAZING communty service.
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Just as a note, I'd say it would also depend on how you describe that activity. When you go to write the description, if someone read it would they think its clinical experience? Stress the hands-on part and any patient interactions both those sound like clinical to me. Also I think part of the "clinical experience" is also having had interactions with other health professionals like the docs and nurses you mentioned work at the clinic.
Thank you for all of the feedback! I will try to get other clinical experiences in to get exposed to various aspects of medicine. I really do love working here though, and won't give it up even if it's not considered solid clinical experience by some. I'm learning a lot at the clinic about prenatal care and early childhood development and well-being.
I would list it as clinical experience, but I agree with others who say you have to gain more than this.
I would never advocate lying on an application about what someone did at an experience, but I think with almost everything there is something to be gained. Some of the things you can talk about with an interviewer if you are asked about this experience (just some ideas)
- relate this experience to how important you feel preventitive health teaching is to patients. By speaking with children and parents, you are helping them make the right food choices
- working at a WIC office, you are seeing for yourself how poverty/low income effects the health of your patients and by working with them to make healthier food choices on a limited income. As health care professionals we can tell patients until they are blue in the face to eat x, y, z but if they can't afford it, than they won't comply. By working with them you are more likely to get them to comply
- By weighing and measuring children (are you doing v/s as well?), you are learning what the normal and abnormal growth/vital signs are in children so you can recognize when a child is failing to thrive and grow normally. This is vitally important, I can't tell you how many people don't know what are normal/abnormal vital signs for children of different ages
- All over the news we are hearing about the childhood obesity epidemic. I would read up on it, and you can use this as a conversational piece during an interview and how this experienced gave you a real life picture of what is going on in this country
I would never advocate lying on an application about what someone did at an experience, but I think with almost everything there is something to be gained. Some of the things you can talk about with an interviewer if you are asked about this experience (just some ideas)
- relate this experience to how important you feel preventitive health teaching is to patients. By speaking with children and parents, you are helping them make the right food choices
- working at a WIC office, you are seeing for yourself how poverty/low income effects the health of your patients and by working with them to make healthier food choices on a limited income. As health care professionals we can tell patients until they are blue in the face to eat x, y, z but if they can't afford it, than they won't comply. By working with them you are more likely to get them to comply
- By weighing and measuring children (are you doing v/s as well?), you are learning what the normal and abnormal growth/vital signs are in children so you can recognize when a child is failing to thrive and grow normally. This is vitally important, I can't tell you how many people don't know what are normal/abnormal vital signs for children of different ages
- All over the news we are hearing about the childhood obesity epidemic. I would read up on it, and you can use this as a conversational piece during an interview and how this experienced gave you a real life picture of what is going on in this country
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This is a bit of a gray area in that the children are not there for medical care but just for screening (height/weight) and nutrition education (for mom). When I've visited WIC offices on field trips, I've never seen anyone who could write a prescription so it isn't really a health provider site.
That said, it is a great experience as long as you have other experiences where you are in the presence of patients and clinical providers of medical care.
That said, it is a great experience as long as you have other experiences where you are in the presence of patients and clinical providers of medical care.
