Clinical experience or not?

[Eris1357]

I have been volunteering at a hospital where I both participate in receptionist work (signing in patient family, directing patients) and transport (patients and family between buildings by driving, occasional wheelchair transport). I was wondering if both components would qualify as clinical volunteering, since the response on receptionist being clinical has quite a bit of variation.

Also, would interactions with patient family be good to write about? For example, there was one discussion I had with a father while transporting him to pediatrics where he talked about how stressful it was having his daughter in the pediatrics emergency ward. He went into a lot of detail about the struggle between wanting to protect his 14 month daughter (crying in distress because of needles) and following doctor recommendations. Without going into too much detail, I did my best to reassure him that what he was feeling was valid, and that I think of him as a responsible and admirable father. Would this interaction be good for potential discussions on clinical volunteering?

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[LizzyM]

How much of your time is spent with patients and how much time is spent with patients' families when the patient is not present?


You are in a hospital environment in a position that has you interacting with people seeking care and their family members. That does count in my book. Some people would like to see you have more interaction with patients in a setting where they are actually obtaining care rather than in cars and elevators, so you could try to pay your dues and then get a transfer to a volunteer position that places you in the emergency department or on a patient care floor.

 

[Eris1357]

How much of your time is spent with patients and how much time is spent with patients' families when the patient is not present?


You are in a hospital environment in a position that has you interacting with people seeking care and their family members. That does count in my book. Some people would like to see you have more interaction with patients in a setting where they are actually obtaining care rather than in cars and elevators, so you could try to pay your dues and then get a transfer to a volunteer position that places you in the emergency department or on a patient care floor.

I'd say it's a 30-70 split (patients and family). I have a total of around 80 hours in this position and 78 hours in the ICU+OR, do you think this would be a balanced combination on my application? Thank you very much

 

[ClashRoyaleKing]

Ideally, you should find a position where you can get more patient centered experience. I work in behavioral health, which has given me access to seeing patients receiving treatment for many psychological and physical conditions. More commonly, EMT or ED scribing are good clinical jobs too. Your current position, although it could be considered clinical, does not give you a ton of patient exposure.

 

[Muq]

You seem to interact with patients enough to label it as clinical, but I'd suggest getting something with more meaningful clinical experience. Look for some position such as being a medical assistant, where you have a variety of clinical tasks you perform.

If you have nothing else, this could still count as clinical experience but don't know how favorably it would be looked at by an admissions committee.

 

[Eris1357]

You seem to interact with patients enough to label it as clinical, but I'd suggest getting something with more meaningful clinical experience. Look for some position such as being a medical assistant, where you have a variety of clinical tasks you perform.

If you have nothing else, this could still count as clinical experience but don't know how favorably it would be looked at by an admissions committee.

On that same note, do you believe volunteering in the OR and ICU be sufficient? I have around half in those departments and the 80 hours were done during this break to both up my hours and have more to write/talk about during applications. I really came at it with the mindset of wanting to have as meaningful interactions as possible.

 

[LizzyM]

OR and ICU are unusual, in my experinece as a long-time application reader. What roles have you had in those settings? Do you speak or otherwise communicate with patients? Do you work as a member of a team of hospital employees although not communicating with patients?

 

[Eris1357]

OR and ICU are unusual, in my experinece as a long-time application reader. What roles have you had in those settings? Do you speak or otherwise communicate with patients? Do you work as a member of a team of hospital employees although not communicating with patients?

In the OR I mainly worked on stocking supplies, delivering samples from surgeons to the lab, and had the occasional honor of being allowed to observe surgeries up close (as well as converse or ask doctors and medical school students questions about their experiences). Medical students were able to tell me a lot about how medical school functions and the associated stress (some tried to dissuade me from medical school) while doctors talked about their specialty and always assured me they had the best one.

In the ICU I answered patient calls for assistance, helped when I could (giving cups of water, extra blankets) and otherwise assisted nurses (relaying requests from different departments and delivering medicine to nurses). I got a close view of how nurses function as the backbone of our medical system and observed (from a distance) rounds by doctors in the mornings. There was plenty of patient contact but the majority were just clarifying their demands, reassuring them when nurses were busy that I care and will make sure they are helped, and signing in+leading family members to their room. This whole experience definitely made me further gain a tremendous amount of respect for our nursing staff.

 

[LizzyM]

That all sounds very clinical and comparable to what many pre-meds do in the Emergency Department.