Clinical Experience

[premedprepa]

Someone brought to my attention recently that med schools generally want clinical volunteering over paid clinical work -- does anyone know the accuracy to this? I have gotten a paid job as basically a CNA, so would this fulfill the unwritten clinical requirement (even though it is not volunteer)? Thanks for your help!

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[Doctor-S]

Someone brought to my attention recently that med schools generally want clinical volunteering over paid clinical work -- does anyone know the accuracy to this? I have gotten a paid job as basically a CNA, so would this fulfill the unwritten clinical requirement (even though it is not volunteer)? Thanks for your help!

It's fine. You're gaining/engaging in direct patient clinical experience as a CNA (whether you're paid or non-paid).

[Note: some schools might also want to see evidence of non-clinical community service. So, if you plan to apply to any of those schools, it's advisable to participate in about 90-100 hours of volunteer non-clinical community service activities, too.]

 

[Catalystik]

Someone brought to my attention recently that med schools generally want clinical volunteering over paid clinical work -- does anyone know the accuracy to this? I have gotten a paid job as basically a CNA, so would this fulfill the unwritten clinical requirement (even though it is not volunteer)?

Paid clinical work tends to provide higher quality patient interaction, but volunteer clinical activities can also be an adequate source of active clinical experience.

Regardless of which you engage in, plan to have some (volunteer) community service in addition, as the vast majority of schools will be wanting to see evidence of your altruism on your application. Best choice would be for a cause you care about that serves those in need.

Dedicated physician shadowing is an (usually) unspoken requirement as well, so plan on getting that in as well. About 50 hours is adequate.

 

[premedprepa]

Paid clinical work tends to provide higher quality patient interaction, but volunteer clinical activities can also be an adequate source of active clinical experience.

Regardless of which you engage in, plan to have some (volunteer) community service in addition, as the vast majority of schools will be wanting to see evidence of your altruism on your application. Best choice would be for a cause you care about that serves those in need.

Dedicated physician shadowing is an (usually) unspoken requirement as well, so plan on getting that in as well. About 50 hours is adequate.

Thank you and @Doctor-S so much! One other question about the unspoken requirements -- would staying in a job working at a pool (that seems like a high school job and is where I've worked since freshman year of high school) be better than finding a totally different job that I have less desire to do but looks like a more mature job for college students?

 

[LizzyM]

Working at a pool can be fine through college, but do try to climb the ladder to a supervisory position over other employees which can count as "leadership" (you can make that a separate entry for those hours broken out separately or just work the word leader/leadership/team leader into your description of your role).

 

[Goro]

Someone brought to my attention recently that med schools generally want clinical volunteering over paid clinical work -- does anyone know the accuracy to this? I have gotten a paid job as basically a CNA, so would this fulfill the unwritten clinical requirement (even though it is not volunteer)? Thanks for your help!

No they don't. Patient contact experience is what we want.

I think that employment is better. Too many med students will never earn a single paycheck until residency, This is making for bad work habits.

You still need to volunteer non-clinically.

 

[premedprepa]

Working at a pool can be fine through college, but do try to climb the ladder to a supervisory position over other employees which can count as "leadership" (you can make that a separate entry for those hours broken out separately or just work the word leader/leadership/team leader into your description of your role).

@LizzyM I've moved up to senior lifeguard and swim teacher but there's nowhere higher than that besides the pool manager who's been there for 20+ years. Since I can only move up so high, then would you recommend staying where I am or switching to another job? I already am the VP of a couple clubs on campus but don't think this to be enough leadership experience. Thank you

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM I've moved up to senior lifeguard and swim teacher but there's nowhere higher than that besides the pool manager who's been there for 20+ years. Since I can only move up so high, then would you recommend staying where I am or switching to another job? I already am the VP of a couple clubs on campus but don't think this to be enough leadership experience. Thank you

If the money is good and you enjoy the work and there isn't anything you'd rather do or that pays more, then stay. No penalty for having years with one employer and it shows that you were a valued employee and a dependable one.

 

[premedprepa]

If the money is good and you enjoy the work and there isn't anything you'd rather do or that pays more, then stay. No penalty for having years with one employer and it shows that you were a valued employee and a dependable one.

great thank you!

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Everyone already gave great answers, but I wanted to provide a real life example. Some of my classmates over the years have volunteered clinically, and their experiences have ranged from getting blankets, stocking shelves, taking vitals if they’re lucky, and the like. One got really lucky and was allowed to do slightly more clinical stuff.

Meanwhile, I have almost a decade of clinical employment where I was an OR tech and a surgical first assistant where I got to scrub in on cases every day for the better part of a decade, touching the patients, retracting, closing the occasional incision, directly experiencing operative care. I also worked in sick bay in the Navy and got to directly participate in the primary care of patients.

Which set of experiences do you think gives you a better look into what medicine is like while also giving you work experience?

So I think clinically employment is better too, but if you can’t swing it, volunteer clinically and get a job (I’m pretty sure I saw you have one already). But you should also volunteer non-clinically. That’s important too.

 

[orthomyxo]

No they don't. Patient contact experience is what we want.

I think that employment is better. Too many med students will never earn a single paycheck until residency, This is making for bad work habits.

You still need to volunteer non-clinically.

While we're on the subject I have a question.

Suppose I have a few thousand hours of paid clinical experience. Is it necessary for me to do clinical volunteering as well?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

While we're on the subject I have a question.

Suppose I have a few thousand hours of paid clinical experience. Is it necessary for me to do clinical volunteering as well?

I'm not goro, but I asked this question too. All the adcoms/faculty here said no. You need clinical experience and volunteering. If you have paid clinical experience, then do non-clinical volunteering.

 

[WedgeDawg]

The point of active clinical experience in terms of why its so highly valued on your med school application to to demonstrate that you have had the experience of working around patients in a healthcare setting ... and that you're okay with doing that for the rest of your professional life. It's not about seeing what a doctor does, it's not about learning clinical skills or anything medically related, it's not about learning how to talk to patients as a healthcare professional, and it's not about demonstrating altruism.

Hospitals and healthcare environments are comparatively high stress environments with a lot of unique exposures you won't see elsewhere. You'll have people (patients OR healthcare workers) yelling at you or at others, you'll have all sorts of bodily fluids going every which way (and smelling every which way), you'll be put into (or more likely near) situations that you don't feel entirely or at all comfortable in yet, you'll be seeing people of all shapes sizes and ages in various states of sickness, undress, distress, and cognitive presence, and at the end of the day, by doing this and including it on your application you're convincingly saying "yep I've seen how the chicken nuggets are made and I still want to eat them every day for 50 years".

How you go about doing that is up to you

 

[Goro]

While we're on the subject I have a question.

Suppose I have a few thousand hours of paid clinical experience. Is it necessary for me to do clinical volunteering as well?

No, not at all.