I recently obtained a position as a "research volunteer" for a medical school in Ohio. Currently they have me doing basic data keeping tasks such as organizing results in spreadsheets, etc. However, I am going to be accompanying the clinical trial directors to see patients very soon as long as I get cleared. Would I count this as research experience, clinical volunteer experience, or what? Thanks for any suggestions!
Clinical Trial Research?
- Thread starter Jsmith34
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Sounds like you're not doing any actual research, but you do have some patient exposure. Sounds like...... clinical research volunteer experience
. It doesn't matter what you call it. Just make sure to give a detailed explanation of your experience (and why it makes you a better doctor or something)
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You might list it under Research, naming the activity Clinical Research Assistant-Volunteer, and making your duties clear. But the primary benefit to your application would be that you are gaining clinical experience during the activity. So you might better list it under Volunteer-Medical/Clinical, making the research assistantship clear in the description. If you do any trouble-shooting, analysis, and conclusion drawing with this activity, that would bump up its value.
Ok thanks for the responses! I guess my primary question here is how I would list it on AMCAS. But am I being too rigid with the rules/sections that I need to list my activities under? For instance, as long as I list it can I explain it as whatever I want in the interviews?
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The application has pull-down menus with preset categories for you to choose, but by "naming" the activity under that category, you have a lot of flexibility in trying to get across the full flavor of the activity. The descriptive section where you enter free text can go into as much or as little detail as you like. You may or may not be asked to discuss it further in the interview, so it's best to be thorough on the application without being so wordy that no one will read it all the way through.
