I am already an EMT and have the option of either taking a part time EMS job or volunteering in a free health clinic (I would be taking vitals, patient histories..). Which would be most valuable in terms of experience if I will be going into my junior year of college in the fall and applying that summer?
EMT or Free Health Clinic?
- Thread starter frodo25
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I would go for the clinic, although I'd hope they have some training for you to learn how to take a patient history. I've never been an EMT, but my experience with free clinics is that it's a very good learning experience.
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Free Health Clinic.
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How often would you volunteer? Junior year is tough! Volunteering at a free clinic sounds more flexible than EMT work. Your number one concern is grades and MCAT. The flexibilty offered by the free clinic will be best for achieving the highest stats. The long shifts of EMT work can negatively impact your stats.
As everyone else said, volunteer at the free clinic. It will look good and give you the opportunity to focus on what's most important. Good luck!
As everyone else said, volunteer at the free clinic. It will look good and give you the opportunity to focus on what's most important. Good luck!
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I am currently volunteering at a free clinic and I love it. I would highly recommend it!
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I love my job as an EMT, but I think that volunteering at a free health clinic would be an awesome experience as well!
I also think you might get to talk with the doctors more so than you do while working EMS. And as @Planes2Doc said, the long shifts can take a toll on the GPA
I also think you might get to talk with the doctors more so than you do while working EMS. And as @Planes2Doc said, the long shifts can take a toll on the GPA
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deleted407021
I've got over 350 hours over about a year. You get exposure to a huge population group; that's the underserved, mostly minorities. These clinics are generally quite small, so if you are in it for the long run you have great opportunity for advancement. I was recently made the new lab coordinator for the whole clinic, and I am also a scribe. You will probably work with an electronic health record (EHR, EMR, etc) which is something most people won't get exposure to until medical school. I've mastered our EHR and that gives me the skills to eventually branch out into other areas such as payed scribing. You get to work with patients in regards to not just their medical health, but also their social and psychological well-being. You really do get to see how disadvantaged people live and you gain insight on how help them that will benefit you in your future healthcare work.
If you work there long enough and you make a good impression, the director might be a great LOR source.
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I agree with everyone else. Go with the free health clinic. EMT will give you prehospital clinical experience, but at a clinic you will get to know your patients more in depth and work along a doctor.
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something my premed advisor told me when i asked if i should do EMT for my university was that med schools know that if you do EMS for your school, majority of the people you will help are overly drunk students and they aren't impressed by it.
but if its for your community it might be better!
just something i was told
but if its for your community it might be better!
just something i was told
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Highly recommend volunteering at the clinic. Currently, that's what I'm doing. I'm a full-time student, and it's a very flexible/not time consuming position (4 hours per week). I can't really comment on the EMT position because I have no experience with it, so my answer is obviously biased.
My duties consist of: bringing patients to rooms, taking vitals, assisting with little procedures (they taught me how to "hand stuff" to the doc.. very challenging), and running around answering the "where's Dr. blank? What patient is in that room? Where did she go? etc". I also do some filing.
Overall, I LOVE working there. It's a very small clinic and everyone is kind to each other (seriously, the atmosphere is great). They've made me feel like I'm part of the team even though I'm just a pre-med student volunteer.
I get experience with "shadowing" and one-on-one patient experience. It's great.
the cons:
it's not a hospital. I feel that this somehow makes the experience less valuable; maybe I'm completely wrong.
It's not direct shadowing. Although I can talk to doctors there whenever, and get to come into the room with them often, that is not my "job" definition.
It gets boring. The small number of doctors means that there isn't a huge amount of patients coming in. I often find myself waiting around for a chart to appear so I can have work.
I don't get paid and I need money.. Me a poor one.
My duties consist of: bringing patients to rooms, taking vitals, assisting with little procedures (they taught me how to "hand stuff" to the doc.. very challenging), and running around answering the "where's Dr. blank? What patient is in that room? Where did she go? etc". I also do some filing.
Overall, I LOVE working there. It's a very small clinic and everyone is kind to each other (seriously, the atmosphere is great). They've made me feel like I'm part of the team even though I'm just a pre-med student volunteer.
I get experience with "shadowing" and one-on-one patient experience. It's great.
the cons:
it's not a hospital. I feel that this somehow makes the experience less valuable; maybe I'm completely wrong.
It's not direct shadowing. Although I can talk to doctors there whenever, and get to come into the room with them often, that is not my "job" definition.
It gets boring. The small number of doctors means that there isn't a huge amount of patients coming in. I often find myself waiting around for a chart to appear so I can have work.
I don't get paid and I need money.. Me a poor one.
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Depends; I think EMS gets a not-as-impressive rep on SDN and in medical admissions as a whole because many people take the class without actually practicing as EMTs. If you have sustained work over time in prehospital settings, you'll have a solid grasp of many of the intangibles in patient care, and it's GREAT conversation fodder at interviews.something my premed advisor told me when i asked if i should do EMT for my university was that med schools know that if you do EMS for your school, majority of the people you will help are overly drunk students and they aren't impressed by it.
but if its for your community it might be better!
just something i was told
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Those really aren't cons. Primary care/clinic volunteering is no less valuable than hospital volunteering. It's a very important aspect of medicine.
It also doesn't matter what your job description is, it's what you do. Shadowing is shadowing, it doesn't matter if you do it formally or just get to shadow doctors during your time as a volunteer.
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I've not read all the responses but @frodo25 I would say that you should decide based on what you like: Do you lean more toward short term encounters with patients with medical emergencies (emergency medicine, trauma surgery, high risk OB) or more of the primary care/chronic care office-based clinical care? Do you like the excitement of something urgent or the development of longer term relationships with a pool of patients? Both are good experiences but many people would prefer one over the other which is why you are hearing both endorsed as a good choice.
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It's definitely not inferior. In fact, based on the spirit of volunteering, it's probably superior. You're part of an organization that's actually providing free care to patients in need. You can't say the same thing about a typical non-profit hospital. They are required by law to provide care to ED patients without insurance or identification. I felt like I was working to line the pockets of the board of directors while I was volunteering in the hospital. Since most pre-meds are concerned with getting into medical school, they also view free clinic volunteering as superior because they get to do more than at a hospital. But ADCOMs only want you to get accustomed to the clinical environment, not necessarily learn any specific skill sets. Thus, in terms of your medical school application, neither is going to be much different than the other. Both are perfectly capable of getting you a medical school acceptance. The only thing that matters is what you want to get out of the experience, if anything.
How you get your shadowing doesn't matter. Just get those hours done, and move onto more important things. It's a check-box item, plain and simple. ADCOMs won't care how and when you get it as long as you have it.
Yeah any experience can have its boring moments. Well instead of just sitting around, go ahead and do work for school. This will make the volunteer experience that much more valuable!
Welcome to the pre-med process! One of the few processes where you're required to do free labor... As long as it's only a few hours a week, it isn't a big deal. Also, your grades and MCAT are far more important than any money you'd make during this time. The money you'd make now is pocket change compared to future earnings as a physician. Unless you absolutely have to, don't get a job! They are big commitments and can negatively impact your stats. If you can live on your parents' money or loans, then that would be best for you. In absolute terms, volunteering is the best way to get into medical schools over paid jobs like EMT work because they have far smaller commitments and thus allow you to get the best stats possible. Those are what really count when you're applying to medical school.
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I'm considering getting a scribing position next summer. It's so far away (seemingly), but I'm just a sophomore now.
Was it difficult getting the shadowing gig? How'd you get it?
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It seems that most people are saying free clinic, but I'll just offer my 2 cents. I was an EMT for four years with my undergrad (we had a full ALS/bls ambulance service), and it was one of the most important and meaningful experiences I had as a pre-med. Far from just puke patrol, i dealt with mugging victims, accidental injuries, epilepsy, and many other conditions. Maybe this is atypical, but for my interviews my interviewers were always really impressed and interested in my experience in EMS. By contrast when I volunteered at a free clinic, I did the same tasks over and over and I didn't feel like I gained any leadership or even any interesting experiences for interviews.
Obviously do what you think you'll enjoy but I think working say once a week or every other week overnight shifts was very manageable.
Obviously do what you think you'll enjoy but I think working say once a week or every other week overnight shifts was very manageable.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I feel like I would enjoy both opportunities, but if I was in my Freshmen year instead of my junior year, I would choose EMT without question. But I guess now my question is would a part time job in EMS be too much to handle along with MCAT studying? Is it too late to start EMT work? Part of it is that I have my license and want to use it, but I wouldn't want my MCAT or GPA to suffer because of the EMS. The clinic, on the other hand, would only be volunteer so it would be a less time commitment.
