Clinical Research Coordinator vs. Scribe

[kiwifriend]

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Which do you think is a better opportunity for the next year?
I have been a research coordinator for 1+ year already.

 

[LizzyM]

Stick with the job you have and perhaps have the opportunity to grow. Everyone and his brother seems to be a scribe these days, it is the new EMT.

 

[kiwifriend]

Stick with the job you have and perhaps have the opportunity to grow. Everyone and his brother seems to be a scribe these days, it is the new EMT.

Thanks for the feedback! I should have said that my current position will be ending soon so I would be moving to a different department.

 

[LizzyM]

Thanks for the feedback! I should have said that my current position will be ending soon so I would be moving to a different department.

Look for a promotion from I to II or something given your year of experience. Try to get additional experience with patient/subjects or on the regulatory side (whichever you've done less of in the past). Clinical research is pretty important at academic medical centers and knowing what's involved and seeing how MDs who are PIs do things is an important experience.

 

[ortnakas]

Look for a promotion from I to II or something given your year of experience. Try to get additional experience with patient/subjects or on the regulatory side (whichever you've done less of in the past). Clinical research is pretty important at academic medical centers and knowing what's involved and seeing how MDs who are PIs do things is an important experience.

As a former research coordinator, I agree.

 

[kiwifriend]

Look for a promotion from I to II or something given your year of experience. Try to get additional experience with patient/subjects or on the regulatory side (whichever you've done less of in the past). Clinical research is pretty important at academic medical centers and knowing what's involved and seeing how MDs who are PIs do things is an important experience.

That makes sense! I am still waiting on more details for both positions, so I don't know how different the new CRC position will be yet. I have been directly involved in both the regulatory and patient sides pretty equally so far though. The new position is in a completely different specialty which could be interesting too!

I suppose I thought scribing might be good because I only have ~50 hours of shadowing and pretty much all of my patient contact experience is through my current CRC position.

 

[LizzyM]

See if you can get some shadowing experience with a PI. Can you come in early or stay late or "shadow" on your lunch hour? Not just the patient care part of a physician-investigator's day (which you may see "on the job") but such things as the morning report with residents as well as Grand Rounds and other talks with continuing medical education (CME) credit.

 

[kiwifriend]

See if you can get some shadowing experience with a PI. Can you come in early or stay late or "shadow" on your lunch hour? Not just the patient care part of a physician-investigator's day (which you may see "on the job") but such things as the morning report with residents as well as Grand Rounds and other talks with continuing medical education (CME) credit.

That's part of what I love about my job! I have had lots of the opportunities to go to Grand Rounds and various talks intended for residents/medical students. Pretty much all of my shadowing so far has taken place after hours with physicians I know through work. I wasn't really pre-med until late in the game, so I'm now stuck trying to get a significant amount of shadowing in while working full time, which is tricky. I'm doing about 4-5 hours a week now, but I am applying this cycle so the total hours won't increase that much before June though.

 

[LizzyM]

You can list future hours as well on AMCAS. This is a relatively new development over the past couple years compared with years ago.

 

[ChrisMack390]

I think clinical research is a PERFECT job for pre-meds. You see clinic, you see research, you work with doctors and patients, you learn how a hospital works, you work as part of a team and deal with everything from insurance agencies to pharmaceutical companies.

 

[kiwifriend]

You can list future hours as well on AMCAS. This is a relatively new development over the past couple years compared with years ago.

Would I just do that using the repeat button?
Would it look odd to list more future hours than completed hours?

 

[LizzyM]

I'm not sure of the mechanism for doing it on the form.

I would not find it odd to have more future hours than completed hours unless you only started the activity in March or later of the year that you are making the application.

 

[kiwifriend]

I would not find it odd to have more future hours than completed hours unless you only started the activity in March or later of the year that you are making the application.

Haha uh oh, I've done most of my shadowing starting this March onward. Hopefully it doesn't look too, too bad! I was taking night classes/studying for the MCAT up until February and it took me a little bit to get things rolling.

 

[LizzyM]

Haha uh oh, I've done most of my shadowing starting this March onward. Hopefully it doesn't look too, too bad! I was taking night classes/studying for the MCAT up until February and it took me a little bit to get things rolling.

How did you get as far as taking the MCAT without ever shadowing?? Use as a start date the very first date you ever shadowed, not just when you did "most" of it.

 

[7331poas]

Why no love for scribing here? Personally, you actually get to work with the physician, pick their mind on the diagnostic process real time, and gain valuable experience in the healthcare note and billing atmosphere.

 

[kiwifriend]

How did you get as far as taking the MCAT without ever shadowing?? Use as a start date the very first date you ever shadowed, not just when you did "most" of it.

Oh I can definitely do that! I have some shadowing from 2014 but then a gap with only sporadic shadowing when I was taking all my pre-rec classes and trying to figure out how to be pre-med.

 

[LizzyM]

Why no love for scribing here? Personally, you actually get to work with the physician, pick their mind on the diagnostic process real time, and gain valuable experience in the healthcare note and billing atmosphere.

There's plenty of time to do that starting in M3 year. The goal now is to get into medical school and, frankly, physicians on adcoms don't use scribes but they do know clinical trials and have a respect for pre-meds who know how research is done in academic medical centers. I think that a pre-med, particularly one interested in academic medicine, is going to get further with clinical research experience than with a job as a scribe.

 

[7331poas]

There's plenty of time to do that starting in M3 year. The goal now is to get into medical school and, frankly, physicians on adcoms don't use scribes but they do know clinical trials and have a respect for pre-meds who know how research is done in academic medical centers. I think that a pre-med, particularly one interested in academic medicine, is going to get further with clinical research experience than with a job as a scribe.

Is basic research not as advantageous then? Should I start looking for clinical research positions in lieu of my basic research position at my chem department in your opinion?

I already have ~1000hrs and a pub here and I apply in 1 year.

 

[LizzyM]

Is basic research not as advantageous then? Should I start looking for clinical research positions in lieu of my basic research position at my chem department in your opinion?

I already have ~1000hrs and a pub here and I apply in 1 year.

Basic science research is pretty standard and it is typically what undergrads do in part, perhaps, because clinical research positions are usually full-time jobs.

For someone available for full-time employment and deciding between clinical research assistant and scribe, I'd pick the research job.

 

[lajessmess]

For those of you who ARE Clinical Research Coordinators.... did you guys need letters or references? If so, how many and do you think that's a crucial part of getting an offer?

 

[ridethecliche]

For those of you who ARE Clinical Research Coordinators.... did you guys need letters or references? If so, how many and do you think that's a crucial part of getting an offer?

You're applying for a job. It depends on the person hiring you what they want.

Also, you should keep these questions on your thread instead of asking something very tangential to an old thread.