Clinical Experience?

[ravin]

Hello. I am wondering what types of things qualify for clinical experience? How much of it do you need, timewise? I tried searching for this in other forums but was unable to find anything. Last question: does shadowing a doctor count?
Ravi N

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[canada]

i've asked a couple admissions offices and they said that volunteering at a hospital would count. they ddin't give specifics or details though

 

[Trekkie963]

I would say that shadowing a doctor counts as clinical experience. Generally, when med schools talk about clinical experience, they are interested in making sure that you know what healthcare is all about--that you know what you are getting yourself into.

 

[W222]

Shadowing a doctor does count. I would say that you need to do as much clinical experience that shows you know what medicine entails as a career without just doing it to put on an application. I have done a bunch of different things(volunteered in a hospital, shadowed doctors, observed procedures/surgery, worked in a clinic) and I have had interviewers say, "you really dont have that much clinical experience." Frankly I think these people are complete *****s, but compared to my research experience they are somewhat correct. I would do as much as possible. You can find a doc to shadow or call a local hospital to volunteer. I would also look for free clinc work or something like that, you can get alot of experience and really see what medicine is like. Whatever you do, have fun. I thought this stuff was a blast.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Volunteering in a hopsital is probably the easiest way to get clinical experience, but make sure that you aren't filing things/answering the phone/making copies all day. Try to get a volunteering job where you can interact with patients and maybe even shadow a doctor. It will make your experience much richer.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Whoa, three of us posted all at once.

 

[Trekkie963]

Whoa, three of us posted all at once.

We're all just so selfless and eager to help. Good Karma to all!

 

[mattorama]

I just shadowed my FP mabye 8 times....interviewers thought it was enough. I'm in...

I had another friend who had ZERO clinical experience and she still got in. They didn't even make an issue of it at her one "top five" interview (though she didnt end up getting in for whatever reason...).

moral of the story....do as much or as little as you need to do to know you want to do medicine. When I shadowed, I didn't even know that shadowing and stuff was something to put on the application...I just did it to see if I wanted to change direction midway through my undergrad (which of course, I did).

good luck.

 

[doc3341]

I havent had the opportunity to volunteer, or shall I say, haven't made the time to. My reason is that I've been fortunate enough to actually work in the hospital as a Critical Care Technician. If any of you have the opportunity to work in the hospital even if its only for a summer, lie on you application and tell them youll work longer, but do it if you can. You get to see and interact with patients on a whole new level.

 

[curlycity]

I agree, I think of all my clinical experiences, actually working in the field was the best experience because you get an idea of what the practice of medicine in that area is really like, and you have a lot of exposure to different physicians and situations you can learn from. I think adcoms like to know that you're aware of the stressful, thankless, and frustrating aspects of practicing medicine and are still up for it. One of my friends was an ER tech, and I worked as a CA (the person who rooms ya and takes your BP, CC, history, etc.), and that gave us plenty to talk about in the 'clinical experience' portion of the interview. And it was good to be PAID. Shadowing is a good way to get a brief glimpse of many different things; I never did do any volunteering because I didn't find many medical opportunities, mostly paperwork and go-fer-ing.

 

[jlee9531]

my main thing was volunteering in the children's hospital. amazing experiences and you get to meet all these different kids that are unfortunately afflicted many different ailments.
never did any paperwork or go-fer-ing like other people that volunteered in other places that did not offer good experiences.

 

[MD2B_81]

I have been working at a pharmacy technician for 2 years now, got certified a year ago. It isn't the greatest for patient interaction, but I have absorbed SOOO much good stuff from that place (and no, I'm not talking about the morphine SO4 IR )

I have appointments with some different specialists for shadowing and I am considering getting a CNA or phelbotomy tech cert. this summer. The hosptial by me ( in the middle of NOWHERE!) offers really stupid volunteer opportunities (filing, short order cook (?!), etc...)

The advisor at UW Madison said, "sounds good" but that is all she said...

What do you all think??

 

[TheRussian]

I think that EMT also counts as clinical experience. If you do anything, I would suggest EMT. It's a lot of fun

 

[doc05]

my main thing was volunteering in the children's hospital. amazing experiences and you get to meet all these different kids that are unfortunately afflicted many different ailments.
never did any paperwork or go-fer-ing like other people that volunteered in other places that did not offer good experiences.

the reality is that paperwork is about 50% of what doctors do.

 

[docmemi]

you could even get paid experience. you really should shadow a dr for yourself, rather than apps, if anything...just to make sure you have a realistic view on being a dr.

 

[vtucci]

I am an EMT and would definitely recommend that to everyone. You also could become a phlebotomist and work in a blood bank or an EKG/EEG/X-ray tech and work in a hospital. You could teach CPR/First Aid classes- I consider that clinical experience as well.

Good luck!

 

[gujuDoc]

Clinical hours can be one or more of many different things:

It can be any of the following:

Shadowing
Volunteering in a hospital or healthcare setting such as a clinic
Working in fields related to medicine:
i.e. cna
lpn
RN
Medical Assistant
EMT/paramedics
Patient care tech

Etc. etc. in terms of the job types.

The point is, it is whatever you do in a clinical or patient care setting.

Do it because you feel it is beneficial to you but don't do it just to add fluff to your resume. You have to be able to prove one way or another that you have seen what healthcare is beyond NBC's ER or CBS's Chicago Hope or ABC's General Hospital.

However, that doesn't mean there is a time limit on how many years you have done.

From seeing everyone here, I think the process is quite random and they aren't going say oh you this many hours and that wasn't enough etc. etc

Whatever you do: Be able to talk about it in an interview.