Clinic Volunteer opportunity abruptly ended

[Hiddendeterrence]

Good morning,

I received the most terrifying news this morning, that I was being terminated as a volunteer lab technician (who draws blood) at my local clinic. The reasons they gave were dubious. They included-
1) Not changing gloves between patients
2) Failing to adequately learn the skills of drawing blood
3) *most importantly* they claim that I solicited medical advice by telling a patient they had a malignancy.

1 & 2 were clearly false. Under the watchful eye of my supervisors, I've never been admonished for failing to change gloves or poor hygenic practices. 2 is a dubious claim because failing to draw blood occasionally is part of the job. I've had good days and bad days, but nothing out of the ordinary. The concerning thing is 3. What happened was that at my last shift, I saw a lump on the patients arm and just said that it was unusual and that his doctor should check it during the next appointment. I even clarified that I wasn't a doctor so I can't say if it's good or bad. During the shift my lab tech shift leader was there, and he didn't say anything. There was never a warning of, "Don't even imply that they could have a malignancy" but a malignancy wasn't even what I was thinking of when I saw it. There was no discussion. No admonishment. No warning given. So I went about my day as usual.

Now, this is a clinic I've worked at for years, and have had close relations with the supervisors. I took 2 months off to focus on my January MCAT. The new supervisor has only been here for 2 months and has never met me. However she sent an email last night saying I was being terminated for the aforementioned reasons, things that the old supervisors would have obviously known about.

Is this going to invalidate the years of effort/volunteering I put into the clinic? Right now, I'm desperately trying to plea with them why I have been a good volunteer, and that I never gave medical advice as they accuse me of. I poured 100 hours here, and I don't want to lose it all because of this. Worse, even if they aren't willing to wipe the hours (they already deleted my account) I don't want medical schools to find out that I was terminated for what can legally get me prosecuted. This situation seems incredibly unfair to me. What can I do?

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[LizzyM]

I'm sorry that this happened to you and it does seem very unjust.

You do not need a LOR from anyone at this site. If you want to list this in the work& activities section of AMCAS,, you do need to list someone who can confirm that you worked those hours -- maybe you can reach out to an old supervisor and ask to list them on the AMCAS application if anyone should call/email to confirm that you did work there. (This can happen but is not common.) Generally, people who handle these calls are trained only to confirm the dates and not offer any commentary.

The alternative is that you are not obligated to list every volunteer position you've ever held (or every job for that matter, if you'd rather no one knew you were a barback at the Kitty Kat Klub). It would be terrible to lose 100 hours of clinical volunteering but if you have other clinical experience and just want to bury this whole thing, you can do that without repercussions.

 

[Hiddendeterrence]

I'm sorry that this happened to you and it does seem very unjust.

You do not need a LOR from anyone at this site. If you want to list this in the work& activities section of AMCAS,, you do need to list someone who can confirm that you worked those hours -- maybe you can reach out to an old supervisor and ask to list them on the AMCAS application if anyone should call/email to confirm that you did work there. (This can happen but is not common.) Generally, people who handle these calls are trained only to confirm the dates and not offer any commentary.

The alternative is that you are not obligated to list every volunteer position you've ever held (or every job for that matter, if you'd rather no one knew you were a barback at the Kitty Kat Klub). It would be terrible to lose 100 hours of clinical volunteering but if you have other clinical experience and just want to bury this whole thing, you can do that without repercussions.

Thank you for responding to my thread so quickly, and I appreciate the advice. What I plan to do now is give them the contacts of my original volunteer supervisors who can vouch for me. But this would mean that they wouldn't be able to certify the additional hours I did since they left the clinic.

In addition, this was one of the primary sources of my clinical experience. I'm a super senior at university, started in 2019. In that time I've had limited access to clinical opportunities because of the covid-19 pandemic. That's why this clinical role was so amazing to me, I literally got to vaccinate people and play my role in helping to end it. With only 4 months left before applications start, it will be difficult to find another clinic on such short notice. Other clinical roles include doing human subjects research at another hospital, and volunteering at hospitals where I've had contact with patients. But overall, this single opportunity constituted 40% of my clinical work.

One more question - You mentioned how people trained for verification calls aren't asked for commentary, but what if the clinic still lets them know that I was terminated for "poor hygiene, lack of skill, and soliciting medical advice". This would be a huge thorn in my side. Seriously, if I'm guilty of that, they should rightfully prosecute me for operating without a medical license.

 

[KaiBuzz]

You’re going to have set backs in your life and you’ve got to learn from each experience and move on. You are going to need hundreds of clinical hours so find another position and continue growing. Most med schools don’t have the time to verify all the experiences and hours listed on every application.

 

[Hiddendeterrence]

You’re going to have set backs in your life and you’ve got to learn from each experience and move on. You are going to need hundreds of clinical hours so find another position and continue growing. Most med schools don’t have the time to verify all the experiences and hours listed on every application.

While I agree that people have set backs in life, I disagree with the idea that there's something to learn from this. What is there to learn from this? At no point was I confronted about this. At no point was a warning given. An email sent. A meeting held. Probation installed. Disciplinary action taken. In the blink of an eye I went from "active volunteer" to "terminated for good reason". A part of me wonders if this is because I had cancelled too many shifts recently. Because of my MCAT I had scheduled shifts then decided to cancel last minute because I felt like the day would be better spent studying. But then it would have been listed as a reason for my termination. In any case, going from 0 to 100... what can be learned from this? Only that life is unfair. But I already knew that.

 

[anon2]

While I agree that people have set backs in life, I disagree with the idea that there's something to learn from this. What is there to learn from this? At no point was I confronted about this. At no point was a warning given. An email sent. A meeting held. Probation installed. Disciplinary action taken. In the blink of an eye I went from "active volunteer" to "terminated for good reason". A part of me wonders if this is because I had cancelled too many shifts recently. Because of my MCAT I had scheduled shifts then decided to cancel last minute because I felt like the day would be better spent studying. But then it would have been listed as a reason for my termination. In any case, going from 0 to 100... what can be learned from this? Only that life is unfair. But I already knew that.

1. There are asshats in the world wherever you go, learn to detect them
2. A good boss isn't forever; they move on and so should you
3. If they want you out, they can always make absurd excuses
4. It's not always about what you did or could have controlled
5. Don't fall into the trap of exhaustively analyzing all the possible ways you could have not triggered exploitative/abusive behavior
6. Protip: you'll always lose (see #3)

I'm sorry this happened to you.

 

[Hiddendeterrence]

1. There are asshats in the world wherever you go, learn to detect them
2. A good boss isn't forever; they move on and so should you
3. If they want you out, they can always make absurd excuses
4. It's not always about what you did or could have controlled
5. Don't fall into the trap of exhaustively analyzing all the possible ways you could have not triggered exploitative/abusive behavior
6. Protip: you'll always lose (see #3)

I'm sorry this happened to you.

I guess I wasn't meant to be a doctor if I'm so unlikeable that this can happen. I'm so depressed over this I can't even go to lab. I've just been in bed all day. I hate this. I hate being a pre-med. I hate torturing myself for the perfect grade, giving up parties, social activities, wasting one hundred hours, just so it could slip through my fingers. Who's to say I won't lose another opportunity like this in the future?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Don't ever take a termination personally. Management changes, and the new supervisor decided to find a way to throw you off the boat. That has nothing to do with you (if everything you state is true about the accusations). Life isn't fair, and you won't always get the justice you think you should get.

 

[LizzyM]

@Hiddendeterrence get out and talk to someone in-person about this. Your school may have resources you can tap or lean on a friend or trusted family member who can be a listening ear.

In terms of listing someone as a reference, a former supervisor is fine. These hours are rarely checked but if they were the likely conversation would be "I am calling from Mans Best Medical School. Hiddendeterrence listed you as a reference with regard to volunteer work done as the Greater Community Clinic. Can you confirm that Hiddendeterrence was a volunteer there for 100 hours from 2020 through 2024?"
The reference says, "yes, that sounds about right. I left in 2023 abut Hiddendeterrence stayed on. "
The school employee says, "Thank you for your time, have a nice rest of your day. Good bye."

Again, not every school does this and some will do it only if an offer is made and accepted and I think some don't even bother when there are as many as 1,500 of these work & activities to confirm for an average (or even small) class.