Does this count as clinical hours?

[Min:))]

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I've working as a research lab technician and blood harvester at a major clinical lab in my area. My work consists of seating volunteers (these are people who get paid and live at our site for weeks) who will get dosed with research drugs, taking a brief medical questionnaire, collecting their blood samples (the phlebotomist does that, I just take the vials from her), centrifuging the samples, and harvesting/processing the plasma. There are doctors and medical assistants that do other tests and procedures (such as biopsies and routine medical exams) that I sometimes observe.

Does my work count as clinical hours? Or should I contact medical schools to ask?

THANK YOU

 

[candbgirl]

They aren’t really patients are they? They seem to be subjects instead. It seems that work is more research oriented. But that’s just my opinion.

 

[Falling Up]

This is more of clinical research; not really clinical volunteering (if that's what you mean by clinical hours). For it to be considered clinical volunteering there needs to be actual patients present.

 

[Min:))]

This is more of clinical research; not really clinical volunteering (if that's what you mean by clinical hours). For it to be considered clinical volunteering there needs to be actual patients present.

I know that doesn't count as clinical volunteering (I'm obviously not volunteering), but I do work in a clinical, medical setting and have interaction with volunteer patients (some of those patients have health conditions like hypertension and do actually get treated with these research drugs). The TMDSAS asks "Do you have any healthcare related community service, volunteer, employment OR shadowing experience to enter?"

So my question is does my work fit that "healthcare related employment" part?

 

[LizzyM]

Is this "healthcare related" employment? What is healthcare? It is when people received services aimed at diagnosis and/or treatment to maintain or restore them to health.

The participants in the research studies you describe may have a medical condition but you (and the people you work with) are not providing treatment to restore them to health (that is what is referred to in clinical research as "therapeutic misconception") but rather to use them to test the hypothesis that the study article will do more good than harm in terms of the subject's health.

To the extent that clinical trials involving human beings are "healthcare related" in that there purpose is to test new drugs for use in healthcare settings, it might be considered "healthcare related" but it is a bit of a gray zone.

 

[Min:))]

Is this "healthcare related" employment? What is healthcare? It is when people received services aimed at diagnosis and/or treatment to maintain or restore them to health.

The participants in the research studies you describe may have a medical condition but you (and the people you work with) are not providing treatment to restore them to health (that is what is referred to in clinical research as "therapeutic misconception") but rather to use them to test the hypothesis that the study article will do more good than harm in terms of the subject's health.

To the extent that clinical trials involving human beings are "healthcare related" in that there purpose is to test new drugs for use in healthcare settings, it might be considered "healthcare related" but it is a bit of a gray zone.

Yeah, I completely agree. I guess I'll have to call each school I'm applying to and get their take on it. I already called one school and the admissions office said to put it as both clinical research and employment, but to use different descriptions for each section.

Thank you all for the help