Will volunteering as Crisis Hotline be considered patient contact?

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Hello,

I have volunteered many hours as a phone counselor at the local crisis hotline. I have handled calls including suicide intervention, depression, drug/alcohol addiction, self-mutilation, depression, nursing home patients, and many others. I received 3-4 months of training and several screenings before they even let me get on the lines.

While some of the calls are non-crisis, and sometimes you sit around waiting for calls, but many calls are intense and emotionally draining. It seems to me that handling 4 hour suicide intervention calls should, at the very least, be considered equivalent to working with patients at a local clinic or hospital.

Does this count as "patient contact" or will medical schools prefer face-to-face contact in a doctor's office or hospital? Should I try to volunteer at a hospital or clinic in addition to this?

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not any more than phone sex is considered actual sex.
 
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Yes, but I suggest getting exposure to other kinds of clinical settings, especially ones in whiich you see doctors at work.
 
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Yes, it's a valuable experience. But no, it doesn't replace physical exposure to clinical settings, as lord_jeebus posted above.

Adcoms want to see that you have some idea what it's like to work as a physician.

My $0.02.
 
Thank you for the advice, I will seek clinical volunteer work then!
 
I worked on a suicide hotline as a volunteer and supervisor before applying to med school and that was most of what I talked about in my essay and interviews, but I also did a 300 hr shadowing program at a local hospital, which I think helped. Overall I would agree with what Blade28 said above (as always!).
 
I did the same. I think I talked about it in every interview I had. One of the essays I wrote was about the experience explicitly; my interviewer screened by file for interview and granted me an interview based (she says) almost entirely on the essay/experience. Thankfully they let me in and I matriculated.

I say stick with it, but you need face-to-face stuff. A couple dozen hours should do it since they clearly know that you're compassionate and can work under pressure.

Good to know other people did this in undergrad. It's a much needed service (though one of my psych professors heartily disagreed, haha)
 
I did the same. I think I talked about it in every interview I had. One of the essays I wrote was about the experience explicitly; my interviewer screened by file for interview and granted me an interview based (she says) almost entirely on the essay/experience. Thankfully they let me in and I matriculated.

I say stick with it, but you need face-to-face stuff. A couple dozen hours should do it since they clearly know that you're compassionate and can work under pressure.

Good to know other people did this in undergrad. It's a much needed service (though one of my psych professors heartily disagreed, haha)


Wow congrats :) I wish I could see your essay! I would love for people to single me out like that, lol.
 
Like the above posters said, that is an awesome experience, but it is good to do at least SOME actual, real life, clinical experience. Whatever you do, just make sure you enjoy it. See if you can shadow a doc. in a field you are interested in...
 
Okay so everyone is saying that we need more experience than just a crisis hotline, but where on earth can I find that? Whenever I call a hospital to shadow someone, they look at me like I just asked a ridiculous question. I would LOVE to shadow a psychologist but it isn't possible. So, please tell me what other can I clinical experience I can acquire because I'm starting to get frustrated since I'll be building my CV soon.
 
Okay so everyone is saying that we need more experience than just a crisis hotline, but where on earth can I find that? Whenever I call a hospital to shadow someone, they look at me like I just asked a ridiculous question. I would LOVE to shadow a psychologist but it isn't possible. So, please tell me what other can I clinical experience I can acquire because I'm starting to get frustrated since I'll be building my CV soon.
The pre-allopathic medical forum is probably not going to contain a wealth of information on pre-psychology. This would be a better bet: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=8
 
*reviving this thread*
So is the consensus that crisis hotline volunteering is considered clinical experience? You're not interacting with healthcare professionals when you're doing this so I thought it was in a grey area


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*reviving this thread*
So is the consensus that crisis hotline volunteering is considered clinical experience? You're not interacting with healthcare professionals when you're doing this so I thought it was in a grey area


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
I would label it as clinical experience on the application, but you still need additional experience with the sights, sounds, and smells of injured and/or sick folks with whom you interact.

Shadowing physicians during their interactions with patients while you passively observe is a separate common expectation.
 
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Doesn't pass the smell test.

List it as volunteer, non-clinical and get brownie points if someone who reviews your application thinks you are too modest and considers it "clinical".
 
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