Clinical Experience vs Biotechnology

[ChymeofPassion]

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With 200 clinical volunteering hours already done and >50 hours of shadowing, would you recommend a 6 month full time clinical experience job or a 6 month full time Biotechnology/pharmaceutical job.

Best EC considering my past experience.

Tx

 

[Catalystik]

With 200 clinical volunteering hours already done and >50 hours of shadowing, would you recommend a 6 month full time clinical experience job or a 6 month full time Biotechnology/pharmaceutical job.

Best EC considering my past experience.

Tx

Unless the clinical volunteering was long ago, it doesn't matter, for application purposes. Which one pays better?

 

[ChymeofPassion]

Unless the clinical volunteering was long ago, it doesn't matter, for application purposes. Which one pays better?

Clinical volunteering was all done over the last 2 years. Clinical job most likely minimum wage, Biotechnology >20.

 

[Catalystik]

Clinical volunteering was all done over the last 2 years. Clinical job most likely minimum wage, Biotechnology >20.

Go for the better paying job.

 

[Catalystik]

Sorry to ask a question of my own on this thread, but would it be bad for me to apply to schools with 400 hours of clinical volunteering that was done 4 years prior?

Do you have any other clinical relevant experiences that are recent?

 

[Catalystik]

I am assuming I will not be applying until the cycle after next (2019). By that time, the hospital volunteering will be 4 years old. Actually, that volunteering would have started 7 years before. The position was from 2012 to 2015, and I will be applying in 2019 maybe. I also have a different hospital volunteering position that was also in 2015 (about 100 hours). It's just that I'm taking gap years. I have been working (non clinical), and I will be starting some other non-clinical volunteering soon. Is it bad to have such a long period of time since my clinical experience?

Personally, I think it will raise eyebrows. Perhaps closer to the time of application you could add more, perhaps in a different venue (ie, not a hospital) to broaden your experience of medicine.

 

[Catalystik]

Ah okay thanks. What about it raises eyebrows? Would it make someone doubt my reasons for going into medicine?

It seems to me that folks eager to go into medicine would want to continue increasing their experiential base of knowledge about patients, medical issues, and clinical environments. Why would one not want to "keep their hand in," so to speak?

 

[Catalystik]

Oh. Well I stopped the hospital volunteering because I felt like I wasn't getting true clinical experience. I mostly replaced bed sheets, stocked rooms, ran random errands for nurses, and talked with the occasional patient who was open to speaking with me. I also had the rare chance to watch doctors interact with patients. In the other hospital volunteering position I had, I also restocked. I never interacted with patients in this position because they were usually in severe distress. This other position allowed me to observe surgeries.

Is this okay for 'clinical experience'? I worry because it seems like most positions where people actually interact with and treat patients involve actual training for a paid job. The only patient interaction I have from these experiences is the occasional casual conversation about how their day is going. What else am I supposed to get from these experiences?

From what you described, I don't blame you for discontinuing clinical volunteering in that hospital setting. You've gotten what you could from it. Did you consider adding additional volunteer experience in a skilled-level nursing home environment (not a retirement home), hospice, inpatient dementia unit, physical therapy office or surgi-center, VA clinic, family planning clinic, or even a private office?

 

[Insert Member Name Here]

@acetylmandarin This is something I would like to build upon with respect to volunteering in a hospital. For me personally, I see hospital volunteering as getting a foot in the door. It shouldn't be seen as something that is seen as a conclusion, but a beginning. When the staff knows you positively, then you can inquire about open positions or at least be a familiar face to the working staff at a site. By volunteering at a hospital that generates revenue, you are off setting the cost of their operations. After volunteering the next movement should be trying to see what openings are available and how to meet your own needs and the hospitals. Volunteering can reflect more than just an interest in medicine. Too many people are trying to check boxes and use items like volunteering at x as an all-for-one requirement for not needing to volunteer anywhere else. Imo being a minimalist reveals nothing about who you are and what you are willing to do. Millennials have a strong affinity with activism and their actions represent who they are more so than what they write on social media. Volunteering in a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter opens you up for what you are willing to give your time towards and what causes resonate with you as a person.

 

[Insert Member Name Here]

@ChymeofPassion What happens at the end of six months? Do you have an acceptance? Do both jobs have timed contracts?

 

[ChymeofPassion]

@ChymeofPassion What happens at the end of six months? Do you have an acceptance? Do both jobs have timed contracts?

Times contracts