clinical experience
Started by same21
You definitely shouldn't "fudge" it, OP. Schools take it very seriously if they find out that there are inconsistencies on your application. Your experience is very valuable and could be considered "clinical" experience in some ways, but if you really want to polish that area of your application, you might try some volunteer work at the hospital. You can even put it down as a "planned" experience (this is completely legitimate to do, provided you are actually going to do it). If you do hospital volunteering as the application cycle progresses it will both give you the extra experience and show that you are consistently working towards your goal. Just my ideas.
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As mentioned earlier, do not fudge aka lie on your application. Lying=not being ethical=no acceptance (and yes they will figure it out, if they can figure out the level of a Paramedic's true experience, they will determine that you really don't have clinical experience at this point). Period. Also, you have office experience in a medical setting, not clinical experience.
Clinical experience involves working with patients, providing care for them, and much, much more depending on your level of expertise. Volunteering or shadowing is probably you're easiest and fastest routes to getting "clinical" experience, but again don't fudge things and expect the adcom to listen to lies about your experience in any area.
I agree with MOSTLY what the above posters have said. I wouldn't worry too much about 1 extracurricular activity, during the interview, they're going to ask a lot of whatever stands out in your application (in my application it was being a taekwondo instructor).
Don't straight up lie, but to make it easier on yourself and still be truthful, don't write you ONLY did office work. Just list office work as one of the many things you've done in the clinical setting, which is actually VERY important. A lot of people who are premed don't understand the insurance/office portion of being a doctor and its really really important.
In the end its really your own decision.
Don't straight up lie, but to make it easier on yourself and still be truthful, don't write you ONLY did office work. Just list office work as one of the many things you've done in the clinical setting, which is actually VERY important. A lot of people who are premed don't understand the insurance/office portion of being a doctor and its really really important.
In the end its really your own decision.
D
deleted92121
Don't fudge or embellish.
I say this for two reasons.
1. They can/will figure it out. Don't risk your future.
2. It is an insult, a slap in the face if you will, to those applicants that have had real clinical experience such as EMS personnel, nurses, etc. I understand that med school is competitive but please show some respect.
Good luck and go get some shadowing/volunteering that you can throw on.
I say this for two reasons.
1. They can/will figure it out. Don't risk your future.
2. It is an insult, a slap in the face if you will, to those applicants that have had real clinical experience such as EMS personnel, nurses, etc. I understand that med school is competitive but please show some respect.
Good luck and go get some shadowing/volunteering that you can throw on.
I disagree. Clinical experience isn't just "1 extracurricular activity." It's extremely important, especially in DO applications.
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Not really. Shadowing is a plus for your application, but you watched surgeries. The patients, presumably, were asleep and you had no interaction with them at all. The point of clinical experience isn't to get you to watch patients. The point is to see, first-hand, what it's like dealing with patients. The reason is that in the past, some people would fly through first and second year and then realize during third year that patients smell or they're rude or they're cranky or that they really just don't like being around sick people all day long. Clinical experience is a way for med schools to make sure that you, as a pre-med, have cared for sick people and know what it's like.
That would be clinical, but it was only for a week. You need something more. Why can't you volunteer somewhere this year, starting now?
Some of them do. Do you want to be the one who does? Keep in mind that if you lie once and get caught, that's it. Med schools, in the future, aren't going to give you the time of day.
Either way you cut it. DO schools look for a commitment to your community and would rather have a large amount of basic volunteering service than clinical. Don't get me wrong clinical is extremely important, but if you don't have any, admit it and say that you are scheduled for an interview at "such and such organization" to start giving back. If you only have one experience, make it stand out, what did you learn, how did it change you? I know that some people have had the same position throughout their college careers.
Remember, even though diamonds are small, say compared to a new car, both can shine and sparkle, and both are worth a bunch. Polish what you have, be honest, and go for it.
Remember, even though diamonds are small, say compared to a new car, both can shine and sparkle, and both are worth a bunch. Polish what you have, be honest, and go for it.
Ehh... It takes aacomas a bit to verify your primary, this is just an idea, but perhaps you can polish it as much as possible atm, and then once you get a response from a volunteer position, update your AACOMAS before it's verified. You are taking a chance with this though.
It's either that or don't submit your primary. Until you have a position.
Even if you were to get a position right this very second, they would see that this is a new position, so they would see that you are still pretty light in this area. Meaning that getting a new position will be a good step in the right direction, but there is still no solid experience there. I would just make your other strengths shine.
Sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong. Call DO schools and ask them and they will tell you how important clinical experience is. They want both, but it'll be extremely difficult to get in without any clinical experience.
You can do what ever you want, but saying that won't help you at all. Can you hold off on applying for another year? If not, I would just apply and not say anything about it. Go out and volunteer somewhere and then send them an update letter. Honestly, all of this should have been settled before this point if you're set on applying this cycle.
Don't lie about your clinical experience, its really important for your application. If you look hard enough and are a little lucky some doctors are willing to let you work in their offices.
This summer i'm working as a medical assistant for a urologist. I get to numb patients for cystos, preform bladder scans, take patient historys, perfom urine analysis, and i even get to scrub in for surgery's. Thats the kind of thing that you can find if you look.
I recommend talking with your pre-med advisor, tell them that you don't care where in the country you end up, as long as your able to get real experience. My school had a really tight alumni base, which is how i managed my job. When i finally got to speak to the doctor i work with. I told him i wanted to learn from the ground up, which is great. It teaches you tons more then shadowing ever would. It also gives you the opportunity to see patients when they first come in, you get to schedule them for surgery, watch their surgery, and speak with them for their post op follow up. Its great.
This summer i'm working as a medical assistant for a urologist. I get to numb patients for cystos, preform bladder scans, take patient historys, perfom urine analysis, and i even get to scrub in for surgery's. Thats the kind of thing that you can find if you look.
I recommend talking with your pre-med advisor, tell them that you don't care where in the country you end up, as long as your able to get real experience. My school had a really tight alumni base, which is how i managed my job. When i finally got to speak to the doctor i work with. I told him i wanted to learn from the ground up, which is great. It teaches you tons more then shadowing ever would. It also gives you the opportunity to see patients when they first come in, you get to schedule them for surgery, watch their surgery, and speak with them for their post op follow up. Its great.
I agree with this entirely.
Unless you were a nurse, EMT, etc, the chances that you had much full-blown "clinical exposure" as a pre-med are fairly slim. For instance, I worked at a camp for disabled children as an undergrad and while I was able to be helpful and actually work with the camp's residents it doesn't feel like "clinical experience" compared to what I did while precepting as an OMS-1. Many of the people I've met in medical school seem to have had "clinical" experience that was far more watered-down and superficial than even this.
IMHO, I think it's somewhat ludicrous that medical schools expect applicants to have had this sort of experience before they hit medical school. Many doctors are fairly reluctant to allow pre-meds this sort of access to patients, which makes the process unnecessarily difficult.
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I disagree. Resourceful pre-meds find clinical opportunities all the time. I was able to take vitals, bandage, help stitch, and had a number of other clinical duties. Many of my classmates did the same. The point isn't to learn medicine. It's to learn to be around patients. Learn what they're like. Learn that caring for sick people can be daunting at times. The ones who can't find these opportunities are usually looking to volunteer at big academic hospitals instead of thinking outside the box and volunteering at free clinics, at urgent care centers, at hospice, at the VA, at a school infirmary/nurse's office, or a number of other places that need the help and don't have the money to pay for it.
They allow premed students to help do stitches?
I like this idea and hope it's true.
With regards to the first post, it's always a bad idea to fudge things, but I don't see anything wrong with emphasizing any experiences you have had in terms of interacting with patients.
But then again, I'm not an admissions person.
I slighly disagree. I don't think clinical experience has to do all with dealing with PATIENTS. Especially when you are not allowed to see patients in the first place (HIPPA Law, etc). Also, My DO I shadowed said I couldn't see patients due to privacy, I am not a med student, or to fellow. Even volunteering in a hospital is still limiting because, when I volunteered, I showed the patients to their rooms and that's it. According to what you're saying, that will not be considered clinical but it is regardless of being in the room with the patient as they talk to the doctor about their disease (in which you can't be in there anyways!).
Also, I worked at a clinical trials office, Pharmaceutical Company, and a Medical Laboratory and that is pretty clinical if you ask me. At the Clinical Trials/Cancer Center, I've worked with the doctors, but not too much with the patients. I was in a setting with a lot of patients, but I didn't deal with them as much but I still consider that clinical exposure. Also, I managed patient confidential records ( I had to be certified for that), submitted protocols for studies, and handled patient specimens for testing.
Also, I worked at a clinical trials office, Pharmaceutical Company, and a Medical Laboratory and that is pretty clinical if you ask me. At the Clinical Trials/Cancer Center, I've worked with the doctors, but not too much with the patients. I was in a setting with a lot of patients, but I didn't deal with them as much but I still consider that clinical exposure. Also, I managed patient confidential records ( I had to be certified for that), submitted protocols for studies, and handled patient specimens for testing.
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not trying to jump all over you, i think this thread is a non issue as it is old, but are you sitting on a medical school acceptance? the reason I ask is because based on what i have heard everywhere i would say that your comment is entirely wrong, but if you have an acceptance, than i will admit that i am wrong.
as far as i know, if you aren't directly dealing with the patients you aren't getting patient contact and are limiting your clinical experience. you shadowed a doctor that wouldn't let you see anything. bummer. try to find another doctor. or get with the hospital to arrange something. i shadowed a plastic surgeon. i asked him, he said yes, i started, that was it. i want to shadow someone with more of a hospital type practice and i have to jump through so many hoops at my hospital for them to allow it i have thought numerous times it isn't worth it. and i work as a patient transporter at the same hospital, so i have all their necessary crap.
it is a pain, but keep trying. you need patient contact.
This is old, but I have every right to respond it. If you can't respond to old topics, why not close them?
The reason why I said I disagree with what you are saying because I know a lot of people who did not have patient exposure and got in faster than those who did. I think it's a plus, but just because you didn't, doesn't mean you can't get in and there are a lot of situations that's considered clinical experience. I am not going to argue with you, I just think that telling people that you have to have patient contact is considered to be clinical experience only and that is wrong. You are still limited because of privacy laws and patient consent. I've had patient contact, but not as much. I've failed to mention that I had patient exposure mainly with the phebotomist and the nurse as she injects the patient with the needle and hands me the tube of blood and I process it. I watched how she interacts with the patient but I only did this once a week. It's not much, but it is patient exposure. I never read anywhere what degree of patient exposure you need. It can be something as little as that. Plus, I cared for my dying grandfather, took him to his appointments, had to listen to the doctor, etc. He was a patient and had a debilitating disease so that's REAL clinical because I saw him die. That's realistic too because you are going to have patients pass on.
My cousin was working in the cafeteria at a hospital, talking to patients. I didn't think that was clinical or patient exposure per se but it was and he got in so you don't know what these schools will consider clinical experience. I think he was told that they don't expect pre-med students to have a lot of patient exposure.
The reason why I said I disagree with what you are saying because I know a lot of people who did not have patient exposure and got in faster than those who did. I think it's a plus, but just because you didn't, doesn't mean you can't get in and there are a lot of situations that's considered clinical experience. I am not going to argue with you, I just think that telling people that you have to have patient contact is considered to be clinical experience only and that is wrong. You are still limited because of privacy laws and patient consent. I've had patient contact, but not as much. I've failed to mention that I had patient exposure mainly with the phebotomist and the nurse as she injects the patient with the needle and hands me the tube of blood and I process it. I watched how she interacts with the patient but I only did this once a week. It's not much, but it is patient exposure. I never read anywhere what degree of patient exposure you need. It can be something as little as that. Plus, I cared for my dying grandfather, took him to his appointments, had to listen to the doctor, etc. He was a patient and had a debilitating disease so that's REAL clinical because I saw him die. That's realistic too because you are going to have patients pass on.
My cousin was working in the cafeteria at a hospital, talking to patients. I didn't think that was clinical or patient exposure per se but it was and he got in so you don't know what these schools will consider clinical experience. I think he was told that they don't expect pre-med students to have a lot of patient exposure.
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