Difference between clinical volunteering vs/ clinical "hours"?

[kfcchikin]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but apparently these may be considered separate categories? I have 500+ hrs of this but I'm not understanding the difference.

About half of my hours are at an underserved clinic, and half are a family private practice, all involving direct clinical contact with patients and helping out. All are unpaid work that I'd consider volunteering. I guess, would just the former be considered "clinical volunteering" and the latter "clinical hours"?

Also, if I shadowed the doctors at these places for a few weeks before I started volunteering, is it alright that those prior hours (~50 each) before I regularly volunteered also be marked down for my shadowing? Or does it sound like I'm double dipping?

Thanks

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[Blueprint Med School]

Other than the shadowing, they can all count as clinical volunteering. Being paid would make it 'clinical.'

 

[kfcchikin]

Other than the shadowing, they can all count as clinical volunteering. Being paid would make it 'clinical.'

So is having that clinical volunteering sufficient for the clinical experience category? Or do I need some sort of formal paid clinical position too?

 

[Catalystik]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but apparently these may be considered separate categories? I have 500+ hrs of this but I'm not understanding the difference.

About half of my hours are at an underserved clinic, and half are a family private practice, all involving direct clinical contact with patients and helping out. All are unpaid work that I'd consider volunteering. I guess, would just the former be considered "clinical volunteering" and the latter "clinical hours"?

Also, if I shadowed the doctors at these places for a few weeks before I started volunteering, is it alright that those prior hours (~50 each) before I regularly volunteered also be marked down for my shadowing? Or does it sound like I'm double dipping?

Thanks

Don't double count the hours. Shadowing is not considered volunteering, but they are "clinical hours." Some schools clump all clinical hours together (including volunteer and paid patient contact hours) and others consider each category separately.

 

[kfcchikin]

Don't double count the hours. Shadowing is not considered volunteering, but they are "clinical hours." Some schools clump all clinical hours together (including volunteer and paid patient contact hours) and others consider each category separately.

So I'm not double counting, I did the shadowing first with those doctors for X amount of hours for a few weeks, then after ended up staying for clinical volunteering for (a different) Y amount of hours because I liked the places a lot. But, because they were done at the same places, I don't want it to seem like I'm just marking it off as both / making it seem less legit somehow.

For schools that do consider "clinical volunteering" and "clinical hours" separately, will my ~500 hrs of clinical volunteering be sufficient for both? Or is that solely under volunteering and I need to do something else that's just "clinical"?

 

[LizzyM]

On the AMCAS application, you can label each experience (called "work & activities) with one label. Some of the labels are: shadowing, clinical volunteering, non-clinical volunteering, paid employment clinical, paid employment non-clinical (teaching-tutoring, hobbies, athletics, are some of the other categories).

So you can identify an experience as shadowing and show the start and end dates and the number of hours.
Then you identify a clinical volunteer experience and show the start & end dates and the number of hours. You'll also provide a contact and a description of the activity.
You can list a second clinical volunteer experience. If you had clinical employment, you'd list that separately with start & end times and so forth.

Some adcoms like to see non-clinical volunteering that gets you out serving people in your community in non-clinical ways (soup kitchen, tutoring at-risk kids, literacy volunteer, homeless shelter, etc.)

 

[Catalystik]

1) So I'm not double counting, I did the shadowing first with those doctors for X amount of hours for a few weeks, then after ended up staying for clinical volunteering for (a different) Y amount of hours because I liked the places a lot. But, because they were done at the same places, I don't want it to seem like I'm just marking it off as both / making it seem less legit somehow.

2) For schools that do consider "clinical volunteering" and "clinical hours" separately, will my ~500 hrs of clinical volunteering be sufficient for both? Or is that solely under volunteering and I need to do something else that's just "clinical"?

1) It's fine to get your shadowing and volunteer hours at the same site, and even to use the same Contact to attest to both activities in their separate spaces.

2) Besides Volunteer-Clinical, you still would want to list your dedicated Shadowing hours (which you have). Those two entries are sufficient to cover "clinical" expectations.

I would amend LizzyM's last sentence to read, "Almost all adcomms like to see non-clinical volunteering that gets you out serving people in your community . . . . " Sure you can do nonmedical volunteering on campus, but working directly with people unlike yourself who have poor economic resources gets you more "points."

 

[kfcchikin]

On the AMCAS application, you can label each experience (called "work & activities) with one label. Some of the labels are: shadowing, clinical volunteering, non-clinical volunteering, paid employment clinical, paid employment non-clinical (teaching-tutoring, hobbies, athletics, are some of the other categories).

So you can identify an experience as shadowing and show the start and end dates and the number of hours.
Then you identify a clinical volunteer experience and show the start & end dates and the number of hours. You'll also provide a contact and a description of the activity.
You can list a second clinical volunteer experience. If you had clinical employment, you'd list that separately with start & end times and so forth.

Some adcoms like to see non-clinical volunteering that gets you out serving people in your community in non-clinical ways (soup kitchen, tutoring at-risk kids, literacy volunteer, homeless shelter, etc.)

Thank you so much, this clears up a lot!

 

[kfcchikin]

I would amend LizzyM's last sentence to read, "Almost all adcomms like to see non-clinical volunteering that gets you out serving people in your community . . . . " Sure you can do nonmedical volunteering on campus, but working directly with people unlike yourself who have poor economic resources gets you more "points."

Not to detract but this reminds me of a follow-up q -- I have non-clinical volunteering with an underserved population in my undergrad's city as well - actually something I absolutely loved and grew a lot from as it's community service with incarcerated youth, but I only got to do it for 50 hours before I just graduated and I am no longer in that city.

I'm trying to implement the program in my hometown, however it's been really difficult getting in touch with that org as well as orgs here, so I'm not sure how much more I can do to organize it before the summer when I apply. I know those hours are really little, but were even more meaningful than a lot of the clinical stuff.

I will get in more non-clinical volunteering this year, but do you think it's "okay" for lack of a better term, that it was only 50 hours for that particular activity, as long as I can speak about it? I'd actually love to go back and continue it during my gap year through the app cycle

 

[Catalystik]

I have non-clinical volunteering with an underserved population in my undergrad's city as well - actually something I absolutely loved and grew a lot from as it's community service with incarcerated youth, but I only got to do it for 50 hours before I just graduated and I am no longer in that city.

I'm trying to implement the program in my hometown, however it's been really difficult getting in touch with that org as well as orgs here, so I'm not sure how much more I can do to organize it before the summer when I apply. I know those hours are really little, but were even more meaningful than a lot of the clinical stuff.

I will get in more non-clinical volunteering this year, but do you think it's "okay" for lack of a better term, that it was only 50 hours for that particular activity, as long as I can speak about it? I'd actually love to go back and continue it during my gap year through the app cycle

I think that 50 hours is a respectable number and you should definitely list that activity, whether or not you can find/organize something similar in your hometown. I'd certainly want to read about it!