Clinical experience question

[binky23]

for my clinical experience I plan on completely three separate internships at my University for credit. One internship is outpatient clinic based, other is emergency room based, and the last is surgery based.

Would it be okay for me to just have these experiences for my clinical experience which would put me at about 500 hours, also does it matter that I am doing it for school credit

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[Catalystik]

for my clinical experience I plan on completely three separate internships at my University for credit. One internship is outpatient clinic based, other is emergency room based, and the last is surgery based.

Would it be okay for me to just have these experiences for my clinical experience which would put me at about 500 hours, also does it matter that I am doing it for school credit

It depends on whether these experiences allow you to have frequent interactions with current patients (as opposed to, say, administrative tasks).

It's fine to list a curricular requirement as an activity on your med school application.

 

[binky23]

It depends on whether these experiences allow you to have frequent interactions with current patients (as opposed to, say, administrative tasks).

It's fine to list a curricular requirement as an activity on your med school application.

If these internships do provide the frequent interaction with patients, would I be good when it comes to clinical experience or would I also need clinical volunteering?

 

[califlipboy92]

I think you should find an actual clinical volunteer experience, particularly one that you find meaningful and can stick with for a while. From the way you talk about these internships, you sound like a pre-med just checking off things from the pre-med check list. I have been told in the past that unpaid volunteer experience is more valuable than paid (which isn't exactly the same as for credit) clinical experience. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Catalystik]

If these internships do provide the frequent interaction with patients, would I be good when it comes to clinical experience or would I also need clinical volunteering?

Internships usually include multiple components. I expect that not all these hours will be patient-centered. Those that are would be eligible to "count" toward your clinical experience, but the problem would be that it doesn't qualify for either Employment-Medical/Clinical or Volunteer-Medical/Clinical designations, since it's a curricular requirement. Internships are usually listed under Other, if they aren't paid, with a suitable name given to the space to call attention to it.

But some schools will score your application based on certain critical elements being present, so doing some sort of volunteer clinical activity so you can use that tag is a good idea (perhaps about 100 hours). Either that, or call the internships "Volunteer" anyway (one could argue that it was your choice to take on the experience, and some adcomms will agree that is fine to do), even though your participation isn't based on an altruistic act.

 

[LizzyM]

You've got "clinical" covered whether volunteer or something else. What you need is something that shows that you are willing to help others who are unable to help themselves. This can be non-clinical. The help can be to those who are hungry, illiterate, homeless, lonely, homebound, etc. Even coaching or tutoring kids can count. See if you can devote 8 hours a month for at least a year.

 

[binky23]

You've got "clinical" covered whether volunteer or something else. What you need is something that shows that you are willing to help others who are unable to help themselves. This can be non-clinical. The help can be to those who are hungry, illiterate, homeless, lonely, homebound, etc. Even coaching or tutoring kids can count. See if you can devote 8 hours a month for at least a year.

I have been volunteering at a food bank for about a month and plan on staying there for 2-3 years. Also, would it be okay for me just to have this 1 non clinical volunteer opportunity but have 600+ hours as I very much enjoy my time there. I was curious if the clinical volunteering was needed because I was reading older threads and saw that many people said it was preferred

 

[binky23]

Internships usually include multiple components. I expect that not all these hours will be patient-centered. Those that are would be eligible to "count" toward your clinical experience, but the problem would be that it doesn't qualify for either Employment-Medical/Clinical or Volunteer-Medical/Clinical designations, since it's a curricular requirement. Internships are usually listed under Other, if they aren't paid, with a suitable name given to the space to call attention to it.

But some schools will score your application based on certain critical elements being present, so doing some sort of volunteer clinical activity so you can use that tag is a good idea (perhaps about 100 hours). Either that, or call the internships "Volunteer" anyway (one could argue that it was your choice to take on the experience, and some adcomms will agree that is fine to do), even though your participation isn't based on an altruistic act.

The description of the internships does sound like it is all clinical. For example, the emergency room based internship makes you complete a 12 hour shift in the ER once a week.

 

[LizzyM]

I have been volunteering at a food bank for about a month and plan on staying there for 2-3 years. Also, would it be okay for me just to have this 1 non clinical volunteer opportunity but have 600+ hours as I very much enjoy my time there. I was curious if the clinical volunteering was needed because I was reading older threads and saw that many people said it was preferred

You don't need your volunteering to be clinical and you don't need for clinical experience to be a volunteer experience. But you need to volunteer. Some schools actually prefer seeing non-clinical volunteering because it doesnt' kill two birds with one stone. Your food bank work sounds like a good fit and being there for years would show that you didn't just do it long enough to check a box and then walk away from the needy.

 

[binky23]

You don't need your volunteering to be clinical and you don't need for clinical experience to be a volunteer experience. But you need to volunteer. Some schools actually prefer seeing non-clinical volunteering because it doesnt' kill two birds with one stone. Your food bank work sounds like a good fit and being there for years would show that you didn't just do it long enough to check a box and then walk away from the needy.

Thank you very much for the feedback!