Am I doing "clinical experience" right?

[jcshen97]

I started volunteering for a local hospital around my house this September to fulfill the clinical experience requirement, and I have gotten 16 hours in so far. I do 6 hours every Saturday. I take some patients down to be discharged, answer patient calls in both the front desk and in their rooms, and pretty much be a liaison between the patients and nurses, and some clerical stuff. But all of these things are on demand, and I feel like I'm somewhat strapped for "proactive volunteering," if you know what I mean. And my answering patient calls are usually for food, water, some amenities, but no medicine (I understand I need a license for that) or anything of that sort. My question is, am I doing my "clinical experience" right? In addition, I am shadowing a doctor regularly throughout this semester so far.

I ask this because I heard that clinics, and not hospitals, will get me more experience and contact with patients. Do medical schools expect more out of clinical/hospital volunteering? If so, am I wasting my time with all this?

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[jcshen97]

I mean, most of the time my thumbs are twiddling. I volunteer in the afternoons where typically there isn't much going on, save for lunchtime. I think 6 hours a day is manageable; I'm trying to get my volunteering in this year and apply next cycle.

I heard that when you volunteer for clinics, sometimes you get to take vital signs and "prime" the patient for a doctor's visit. Is that true? Would that be strongly preferable to what I'm doing now as to compel me to switch volunteering positions?

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Just make sure you have something meaningful to talk about if this ends up being one of your three meaningful experiences. I want to say make sure the meaningful experience involves a certain patient, but I would like LizzyM or Goro to provide insight on that.

Also, I don't think proactive means what you think it means. Proactive, in this case, would mean someone who create their own opportunities rather than wait for one to appear. Within a month of volunteering at a hospital, I was already shadowing physicians. The volunteering did not come with shadowing and I did not wait for a shadowing opportunity to present itself, I created one by contacting physicians.

The following is my personal so opinion, but I want others' take on it: even if the hospital has a shadowing program, don't do it. Chances are you're competition with a lot of applicants and also, you stand out more by contacting the physicians directly rather than have a third party pair you with that physician. It will show you think outside the box and will (hopefully set the grounds) for a strong letter of rec.

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Ditto to the thumb twiddling part. I have no idea about volunteers taking vital signs. Both of the hospitals I was at were pretty much against volunteers doing that sort of thing.

The ER I volunteer at is pretty boring. I change linen bags, see if patient families need anything (there's usually no families), and see if the unit assistants need any errands to be ran. This all usually takes 10 minutes, and I'm there for 3 hours. So, in my free time, I make friends with the doctors, and I follow them around, observing procedures. The hospital I volunteer at is in a place rigged with socioeconomic issues, so I get to see some really cool, out of the ordinary stuff.

I heard volunteering in ER is typically boring. Shadowing however, different story. I have shadowed in the ER so I can say shadowing is never boring because of the things you see.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

You're an untrained and unlicensed volunteer. You will not be doing much more than you already are. Sometimes doctors are more lenient in their offices, but probably not. You're fine. Most people don't have much more than run of the mill volunteer experience like that when it comes to clinical experience.

 

[jcshen97]

I forgot to mention, I'm volunteering in a surgical unit where doctors come up very rarely. It's mostly nurses and unit techs caring for patients. These are post and pre surgery units with patient beds that are do pretty much around-the-clock care, but is not an ICU. Specifically, I volunteer at a medical/surgical unit and orthopedic unit. I'm not sure if it'll look good for me if once I see a doctor, I be like "hey I'm a volunteer here interested in medicine; I was wondering would you be willing to let me shadow you?" Besides, I can only go to the hospital on Saturday.

I will say that what this has given me so far is a glimpse into semi-intensive car, not ICU care. I'm getting to see a whole different side of medicine (or is this going into nursing) with what I'm doing now. When I'm bored, I go around the unit asking patients what they need; most of the time they're fine.

 

[Catalystik]

I started volunteering for a local hospital around my house this September to fulfill the clinical experience requirement, and I have gotten 16 hours in so far. I do 6 hours every Saturday. I take some patients down to be discharged, answer patient calls in both the front desk and in their rooms, and pretty much be a liaison between the patients and nurses, and some clerical stuff. But all of these things are on demand, and I feel like I'm somewhat strapped for "proactive volunteering," if you know what I mean. And my answering patient calls are usually for food, water, some amenities, but no medicine (I understand I need a license for that) or anything of that sort. My question is, am I doing my "clinical experience" right? In addition, I am shadowing a doctor regularly throughout this semester so far.

I ask this because I heard that clinics, and not hospitals, will get me more experience and contact with patients. Do medical schools expect more out of clinical/hospital volunteering? If so, am I wasting my time with all this?

What you're doing is quite satisfactory for a med school application activity.

When I'm bored, I go around the unit asking patients what they need; most of the time they're fine.

Perfect. That's being "proactive!"

 

[jcshen97]

Thank you, catalystik, for your perspective. Do you guys think the ICU or NICU would be more exciting? What units are the most exciting in general?

 

[Doctor-S]

Do you guys think the ICU or NICU would be more exciting? What units are the most exciting in general?

If you're passionate, fascinated, revved-up and excited about medicine as your future career, every unit will probably be new and exciting.

Medicine is not always filled with flashing lights ... screeching sirens ... heart-stopping code blues ... and life-saving surgeries. At times, it features "unexciting" drudgery (e.g., admin documentation and telephone calls) and frustration (e.g., discussions with non-compliant patients) and lots of professional reading (e.g., medical journals). These things are also included in the typical life of a practicing physician.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If you're passionate, fascinated, revved-up and excited about medicine as your future career, every unit will probably be new and exciting.

Medicine is not always filled with flashing lights ... screeching sirens ... heart-stopping code blues ... and life-saving surgeries. At times, it features "unexciting" drudgery (e.g., admin documentation and telephone calls) and frustration (e.g., discussions with non-compliant patients) and lots of professional reading (e.g., medical journals). These things are also included in the typical life of a practicing physician.

+1. Figuring out something that's been bothering a patient for a while and getting them appropriate treatment may not seem overtly exciting, but that patient will be excited. And that makes it exciting.

 

[Planes2Doc]

You're fine. As a pre-med with no clinical skills, you're doing a great job. You're already doing a better job than plenty of pre-meds that either sit around on their phones or study, or that don't even show up in the first place! All you need to do as a pre-med is see the clinical environment. There's no need to learn and master any skills. Medical school will start you at step zero for that, and you'll be fine. Keep up the good work!

 

[jcshen97]

Thank you @Doctor-S, Matthew, and @Planes2Doc! I like to deal with patients as I think it allows me to improve interpersonal skills in the clinical environment. I haven't discussed patient's health conditions with any patients I've come in contact yet, since I'm aware of HIPAA. Most of my time is just small talk; I should probably "expand: this talk...

 

[Deleted member 737595]

I am having this exact problem this very moment.

Just started volunteering a month ago at the ED and so far I love walking around and helping with minor things, especially when it has to do with patients themselves. But it seems most of the time there is nothing to do, just "Proactive" work as the OP says.

I am actually volunteering right now, and stepped out to the volunteer office since there is absolutely nothing to do. I've checked in with all the patients that were awake and actually talked to a few which was great, fetched some supplies, adjusted someone's bed et cetera.

This is what med schools are hoping for, or much more than this?

Whelp, back to ED! Hopefully I will be of use.

 

[Scottpilot]

I am having this exact problem this very moment.

Just started volunteering a month ago at the ED and so far I love walking around and helping with minor things, especially when it has to do with patients themselves. But it seems most of the time there is nothing to do, just "Proactive" work as the OP says.

I am actually volunteering right now, and stepped out to the volunteer office since there is absolutely nothing to do. I've checked in with all the patients that were awake and actually talked to a few which was great, fetched some supplies, adjusted someone's bed et cetera.

This is what med schools are hoping for, or much more than this?

Whelp, back to ED! Hopefully I will be of use.

These are the best things you can do as a volunteer. Its not important for you to learn "medicine" at this point. The stuff I highlighted are things I still do as a medical student and are in many ways just as important as the medical stuff in terms of building trust with patients. The only difference is now I'm required to have a much more focused, time-limited conversation while at the same time building rapport with the patient. But without the basic skills highlighted, my job would be that much more difficult, IMO.

The highest yield stuff for you right now is learning how to communicate with patients and learning how the medical system works. This is a great time, since you have the time, to see how admissions and other "behind-the-scene" procedural stuff works, to see what barriers to access exist in our current healthcare system, and to get an idea of what structural issues frustrate health care professionals. In other words, you need to really see if this field is truly where you want to sacrifice the "golden years" of your life in training. Too often I have seen fellow medical students who were very naive coming into the field have huge regrets, but unfortunately couldn't leave because they were too far invested, both in time spent on their education and financially.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

The medical system is really difficult to accept, but the joys of working with patients will alway outweigh that. Let me give you an example of a day at the ER which I think was very fulfilling. I write an entry every week about my experience

What I did: Pretty quiet today as well, but I found more things to do. I decided to go around asking patients themselves if they needed anything else. One patient in a psych room was very rebellious and kept getting up to find something to drink, only to be constrained by the cops. Another patient was very amused by my hairstyle and how '50's' it was. I spoke to a vietnamese patient who wanted to go home but couldn't because he had to stay the night due to risk of stroke.

I saw a dead patient, who died of a fall at work at 64 years old suddenly, and saw how they transported her to the morgue. This was kind of difficult to witness. I also saw some techs who were crying about this and commiserating somewhat, or at least it seemed like this.

What I learned: Death is just a matter of fact, and just another event in the hospital, with procedure and everything. Talking to patients is the most fulfilling part of this whole thing and even helpful.

 

[jcshen97]

I agree with @Scottpilot and @premstudent. I aim to finish about 200 hours of volunteering by the end of next month. I keep a list and pseudo-diary of what I did and witnessed every volunteering shift. So far it has given me a behind-the-scenes look at medicine, especially continued patient care by nurses and CNA.