EC's for Med School

[hubristicphantasm]

Hello everyone!

As I'm a bit of a non-traditional medical school applicant (as in I just graduated and have only decided upon med school relatively recently), I've had a bit of concern about my extracurricular activities for my med school applications. I was a good student and worked part-to-full time throughout most of my school career (as in 35+ hours), but didn't do a whole lot in the way of "outside" activities.

This is what I've done, thinking back:
- Completed for and won an internship in a genetics lab with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for a summer
- Tutored
- Taught Sunday School every week
- Helped found an entomology club at my university

This summer I'm running a science camp for preschoolers and kindergarteners and hope to shadow or volunteer in addition to prepping for my MCAT, but my main concern is that nothing I've done is clinical in nature. I want to apply next summer, so do you guys think that getting a bunch of clinical volunteering and shadowing in, in addition to what I did do as an undergrad, will make for a strong application?

I know it won't show much history in the way of clinical work, but I hope that I'd be able to explain that medical school was a LATE decision if I landed an interview. It's just getting in that door, right?

If you would be willing to lend any feedback, I'd be so, so appreciative.

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[jm192]

Yeah.

Go shadow ~100 hours.
Volunteer at the local free clinic or hospital.

 

[mrh125]

Hello everyone!

As I'm a bit of a non-traditional medical school applicant (as in I just graduated and have only decided upon med school relatively recently), I've had a bit of concern about my extracurricular activities for my med school applications. I was a good student and worked part-to-full time throughout most of my school career (as in 35+ hours), but didn't do a whole lot in the way of "outside" activities.

This is what I've done, thinking back:
- Completed for and won an internship in a genetics lab with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for a summer
- Tutored
- Taught Sunday School every week
- Helped found an entomology club at my university

This summer I'm running a science camp for preschoolers and kindergarteners and hope to shadow or volunteer in addition to prepping for my MCAT, but my main concern is that nothing I've done is clinical in nature. I want to apply next summer, so do you guys think that getting a bunch of clinical volunteering and shadowing in, in addition to what I did do as an undergrad, will make for a strong application?

I know it won't show much history in the way of clinical work, but I hope that I'd be able to explain that medical school was a LATE decision if I landed an interview. It's just getting in that door, right?

If you would be willing to lend any feedback, I'd be so, so appreciative.

You need medical volunteering. See if your school has a hospital or clinic affiliated with it, nearby, or consult their career center even if you're alumni it's helpful. talk to doctors you know and ask if they'll let you scribe. it's way easier if you do volunteering and shadowing together so you dont have to do even more. it's a lot of pressure to get all the ecs.

 

[hubristicphantasm]

You need medical volunteering. See if your school has a hospital or clinic affiliated with it, nearby, or consult their career center even if you're alumni it's helpful. talk to doctors you know and ask if they'll let you scribe. it's way easier if you do volunteering and shadowing together so you dont have to do even more. it's a lot of pressure to get all the ecs.

Is there any training that needs to be done to be a medical scribe and what exactly does it entail? I'm rather curious- I've heard the term before but most of the info I find is rather vague or they suggest education programs to be able to do it.

I'm hopeful that I have two leads that could potentially result in shadowing opportunities. One's an ICU physician and the other is an immunologist at the Mayo Clinic here in my city. So...fingers super, super crossed!

 

[mrh125]

Is there any training that needs to be done to be a medical scribe and what exactly does it entail? I'm rather curious- I've heard the term before but most of the info I find is rather vague or they suggest education programs to be able to do it.

I'm hopeful that I have two leads that could potentially result in shadowing opportunities. One's an ICU physician and the other is an immunologist at the Mayo Clinic here in my city. So...fingers super, super crossed!

Training - you go to the nearby affiliated hospital or you will be given a quiz by the doc if he's in an independent practice on HIPAA (privacy stuff) it's openbook. Being a scribe means you take notes during consultations. there's also a scribes of america association that you can use to become a scribe but this is way easier.

 

[hubristicphantasm]

Training - you go to the nearby affiliated hospital or you will be given a quiz by the doc if he's in an independent practice on HIPAA (privacy stuff) it's openbook. Being a scribe means you take notes during consultations. there's also a scribes of america association that you can use to become a scribe but this is way easier.

Hmm, thankfully I'm fairly familiar with HIPAA. My parents both worked in health insurance for a while- specifically, my mother processed medical referring from the home, which meant we ALL had that fun HIPAA talk. Fairly similar to the Privacy Act tenants I've worked under before as well, so that's good!

Thank you so much for all the help, by the way! I probably wouldn't have thought of that otherwise!

 

[mehc012]

Training - you go to the nearby affiliated hospital or you will be given a quiz by the doc if he's in an independent practice on HIPAA (privacy stuff) it's openbook. Being a scribe means you take notes during consultations. there's also a scribes of america association that you can use to become a scribe but this is way easier.

No, there's not "a scribes of america association that you can use to become a scribe". Scribe America is an employer. They take care of the paperwork, HIPAA, training, etc. There are a bunch of other employers as well, and the easiest way to become a scribe is to get hired by one. Trust me, finding a random doc, convincing them that they should let you, an untrained nobody, into their office to write their charts for them, doing the paperwork, and training yourself is FAR harder than submitting a few applications, getting hired, getting told what you need to know, and working right away.
Scribing is not something that is well-defined or universal. There is no certification, no qualifying exam, etc...which means that there is no standard setup or expectation for it, which makes setting it up independently far harder.

Plus, it's more than just taking notes on consultations.

 

[mrh125]

edited

 

[mehc012]

When I scribed I did notes during consultations mostly but also, patient histories, medication lists, followup information, checked for contradictions, scanned documents and some other stuff. there is more to it than that, but the scribe america is only available in certain areas. I would have done that, but it wasn't available in any nearby area for me. Getting certified by a doctor after talking to them, if he's willing to let you really isn't that big of a deal. you just take an open book test, get a badge, and go from there.

Right...there are a ton of companies in different areas. I never said ScribeAmerica was the only one.
Anyway, the point is that you were grossly oversimplifying. Your description of scribing was really, really incomplete - honestly it sounds like you were able to get away with doing half the job. If you were able to freelance it good for you, but that's honestly the hard way to do it and I definitely wouldn't stick it out there as the "oh, go do it this way".

 

[mrh125]

Right...there are a ton of companies in different areas. I never said ScribeAmerica was the only one.
Anyway, the point is that you were grossly oversimplifying. Your description of scribing was really, really incomplete - honestly it sounds like you were able to get away with doing half the job. If you were able to freelance it good for you, but that's honestly the hard way to do it and I definitely wouldn't stick it out there as the "oh, go do it this way".

When I explained it more, it's not. Different docs have different ideas of what exactly scribing entails as well too, so some may only want you doing simplified consultation notes because of the way he/she prefers to handle medical notes (one doc had me significantly downscale from meticulous notes that covered everything). I also really enjoyed scribing and got the hang of it quickly so that's another reason I may have simplified it a little bit.

 

[mehc012]

Interested in a scribe position? Check out: http://www.indeed.com/job/full-time-medical-scribe-wanted-hup-0d0109a6b34c0ba0

I mean, this is totally sketchy given your username and advertising on a forum, but...dang, if it's real that's a good deal!

 

[Planes2Doc]

Since you only decided on medical school recently, are you doing a post-bacc, or did you already take the required classes? If you are in the process of doing a post-bacc, then you should stick to volunteering in a hospital and shadowing only. The hospital volunteering is a minimal commitment and will give you everything you need. It's great that you were so involved in activities previously as an undergrad. You'll get a pass as a non-traditional student for not having any, but these activities only make you a far stronger applicant.

You should solely focus on getting the highest grades and MCAT possible. This will be achieved through continuous hospital volunteering and maybe up to 50 hours of shadowing. Definitely skip any clinical jobs since they are not needed, and will not set you apart since they are so common among pre-meds. I also doubt you'd need further activities beyond hospital volunteering and shadowing since you were so involved before becoming pre-med. Just check the right boxes and get the highest grades and MCAT possible. Good luck!

 

[mehc012]

Why have a job AND spend time getting clinical experience when you can do both at the same time?
Hospital volunteering is a terrible, terrible, thing, imo...if it's important enough that it needs to get done, the hospital will be paying someone to do it. Why spend any time at all doing something the hospital doesn't even think is worth paying anyone for, especially since, as clinical experience goes, it's a joke.
Hospital volunteering is good for checking boxes and little more (and I hate the 'just check boxes' premed mentality, it's why it took me so long to become one even though I want to go for med).

 

[Planes2Doc]

Why have a job AND spend time getting clinical experience when you can do both at the same time?
Hospital volunteering is a terrible, terrible, thing, imo...if it's important enough that it needs to get done, the hospital will be paying someone to do it. Why spend any time at all doing something the hospital doesn't even think is worth paying anyone for, especially since, as clinical experience goes, it's a joke.
Hospital volunteering is good for checking boxes and little more (and I hate the 'just check boxes' premed mentality, it's why it took me so long to become one even though I want to go for med).

I agree with you on this one assuming that the OP is going to work a job during this time. If the OP is solely concentrating on post-bacc classes and the MCAT, then the activities that will allow for the most study time and free time are the ones that will make the OP a stronger applicant.

Yeah, the box-checking mentality sucks, but you know what? It gets people in medical school. Going pre-med is a huge risk, and it's better to focus on getting into medical school, than doing a bunch of activities that will mean absolutely nothing if you fail to get into medical school. Pre-med isn't a fun happy journey where you do great things, it's a tedious risky path which can be extremely unforgiving if done incorrectly and you don't become a medical student.

 

[mehc012]

I agree with you on this one assuming that the OP is going to work a job during this time. If the OP is solely concentrating on post-bacc classes and the MCAT, then the activities that will allow for the most study time and free time are the ones that will make the OP a stronger applicant.

Yeah, the box-checking mentality sucks, but you know what? It gets people in medical school. Going pre-med is a huge risk, and it's better to focus on getting into medical school, than doing a bunch of activities that will mean absolutely nothing if you fail to get into medical school. Pre-med isn't a fun happy journey where you do great things, it's a tedious risky path which can be extremely unforgiving if done incorrectly and you don't become a medical student.

I guess I didn't anticipate that OP could not have a job...classes, gas money, and MCAT books are expensive, even if you get free rent and food from family! But I suppose everyone's situation is different; OP could have savings, or generous family, or loans, or a sugar mama, as one of my friends terms his setup.

As for the rest - I'm cheating and trying to make it both! I was starting at a disadvantage though (poor GPA in uGrad from before I was premed), so maybe that helped take the hedging-my-bets mentality off a bit. I figured I had to take the riskier, potentially higher-reward path - and I refused to do anything mind-numbingly boring, as I perform poorly both when bored and when I have too much free time on my hands. I'll let you know if it works out for me!

 

[Planes2Doc]

I guess I didn't anticipate that OP could not have a job...classes, gas money, and MCAT books are expensive, even if you get free rent and food from family! But I suppose everyone's situation is different; OP could have savings, or generous family, or loans, or a sugar mama, as one of my friends terms his setup.

As for the rest - I'm cheating and trying to make it both! I was starting at a disadvantage though (poor GPA in uGrad from before I was premed), so maybe that helped take the hedging-my-bets mentality off a bit. I figured I had to take the riskier, potentially higher-reward path - and I refused to do anything mind-numbingly boring, as I perform poorly both when bored and when I have too much free time on my hands. I'll let you know if it works out for me!

Good luck! It sounds like things are going well for you now.

Of course some people still prefer the path of least resistance. Both are fine, as long as you achieve your ultimate goal.