Does this count?

[Caregiver2016]

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Hello everyone.
I am a non-traditional pre-med student.
I currently help care for my wheel chair bound grandmother. Duties include: helping her to the restroom, helping her take breathing treatments, helping her in and out of bed, etc. pretty much various day to day tasks. This takes up a significant amount of my free time. I enjoy helping her, but I do not have a large amount of extra time for volunteering. Can some of these hours count as clinical? I am performing the same tasks that an RA/CNA would perform.

 

[LizzyM]

This is your grandmother... call it "other" and describe what you do and make an estimate of the hours per week that you are actively providing care, not the hours you might be sleeping nearby or studying, etc.

Caring for a family member whether an offspring, sibling, parent or other family member is not "volunteerism".

 

[Walter Raleigh]

IIRC, in some states, relatives can be reimbursed for providing home care by the government. It's not volunteerism, but is it clinical in any way? OP needs real volunteer hours, to be sure, but does it mean anything?

 

[Caregiver2016]

This is your grandmother... call it "other" and describe what you do and make an estimate of the hours per week that you are actively providing care, not the hours you might be sleeping nearby or studying, etc.

Caring for a family member whether an offspring, sibling, parent or other family member is not "volunteerism".

I was more wondering if it was clinical hours? I see people say that being a CNA counts as clinical hours. I wasn’t sure if this would as well.

 

[Caregiver2016]

IIRC, in some states, relatives can be reimbursed for providing home care by the government. It's not volunteerism, but is it clinical in any way? OP needs real volunteer hours, to be sure, but does it mean anything?

I plan to try to get real volunteer hours in a few months, but I feel guilty leaving her for “extra” things. I hope that makes sense. She’s had surgery this month, was on a ventilator, etc.

She’s very much better now, but it would be a while before I’m comfortable letting someone else help with her.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I understand your family situation; it's admirable on a personal and moral level that you are extending yourself to care for her. See if the government can reimburse you for taking care of her, if for no other reason than to put some money in your pocket. It may or may not add some legitimacy to your experience. I'd say that you still need at least 200 hours of clinical volunteering, but your experience isn't completely worthless. Best wishes to your grandmother!

 

[Goro]

I was more wondering if it was clinical hours? I see people say that being a CNA counts as clinical hours. I wasn’t sure if this would as well.

You're supposed to take care of loved ones.

So no, I don't consider it clinical.

 

[Caregiver2016]

You're supposed to take care of loved ones.

So no, I don't consider it clinical.

I would take care of her either way. I have for a while now. But because it takes up a lot of time, I don’t have a lot of time to do clinical hours. I wasn’t sure what the difference was between this and being a cna, other than her being related. Before she was this sick, I did work as a CNA for a few months. The main difference now, is that I am also doing breathing treatments every 4 hours and taking her to appointments. I guess I was hoping it would count a little, so that I didn’t have to find help and leave her for more time. My mom will be able to take care of her some, next year. For now, i just leave two days a week for a few hours for class. Thank you for answering my question though. It was very helpful.

 

[freedoctor17]

You're supposed to take care of loved ones.

So no, I don't consider it clinical.

Although I agree i wouldn't consider it a clinical experience I wouldn't use that logic. Doctors are supposed to take care of their patients, does that mean they're not doing clinical work 😛

But in all seriousness taking care of your family member is great but unfortunately isn't the same clinical experience you'd get visiting a patient in the hospital or some other place. You love and care for your family member and are comfortable with them. It's much different visiting a stranger you know nothing about and building a relationship with them, making them feel comfortable, bring comfortable yourself, etc. I hope your grandmother starts doing better soon!

Also as a side note you don't have to volunteer, you could get a job in a clinical setting as well. And just get volunteer hours in non clinical settings when you have a chance here and there. In your personal statement or somewhere else on your application you might be able to tie in caring for your grandmother into your interest in medicine and that will hopefully get accross to adcoms that your time was limited due to caring for her.

 

[Peter Pan.]

I picked up a piece of trash today so does that count as community service?

 

[Walter Raleigh]

You're supposed to take care of loved ones.

So no, I don't consider it clinical.

Would it be clinical if OP got certified as a CNA or home health aide, then got employed by Medicare or the state government to be a health care aide for their grandmother?

 

[freedoctor17]

I picked up a piece of trash today so does that count as community service?

Assuming you disposed of it appropriately and didn'tjust pick it up and put it back down, then yes, you did a service for your community 😛

 

[Goro]

Although I agree i wouldn't consider it a clinical experience I wouldn't use that logic. Doctors are supposed to take care of their patients, does that mean they're not doing clinical work 😛

But in all seriousness taking care of your family member is great but unfortunately isn't the same clinical experience you'd get visiting a patient in the hospital or some other place. You love and care for your family member and are comfortable with them. It's much different visiting a stranger you know nothing about and building a relationship with them, making them feel comfortable, bring comfortable yourself, etc. I hope your grandmother starts doing better soon!

Also as a side note you don't have to volunteer, you could get a job in a clinical setting as well. And just get volunteer hours in non clinical settings when you have a chance here and there. In your personal statement or somewhere else on your application you might be able to tie in caring for your grandmother into your interest in medicine and that will hopefully get accross to adcoms that your time was limited due to caring for her.

Trying to get credit for clinical volunteering by taking care of your grandmother is about the same as taking credit for breathing

 

[Goro]

Would it be clinical if OP got certified as a CNA or home health aide, then got employed by Medicare or the state government to be a health care aide for their grandmother?

Not in my book again. You're supposed to take care of family members!

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Well, that puts that to bed. Might still be worth listing on the application but won't do much. See if the state will reimburse you so you can get some cash out of the deal!

 

[Caregiver2016]

Not in my book again. You're supposed to take care of family members!

I definitely understand where you’re coming from. Thank you.

 

[Caregiver2016]

Well, that puts that to bed. Might still be worth listing on the application but won't do much. See if the state will reimburse you so you can get some cash out of the deal!

I haven’t thought of that, but she is on state insurance and they will not pay for someone to take care of her. We tried for a nurse for when I am at school, they said that any payment to an aide would come out of her disability. Currently, I pay out of pocket for that.

 

[LizzyM]

If you have worked as a CNA, then you have clinical experience. Do you have at least 150 hours? You might get a pass for volunteering if you show that you are spending a number of hours per week doing "other" which would be responsibility for your grandmother's home care.

 

[Caregiver2016]

If you have worked as a CNA, then you have clinical experience. Do you have at least 150 hours? You might get a pass for volunteering if you show that you are spending a number of hours per week doing "other" which would be responsibility for your grandmother's home care.

I worked roughly 500 hours. I had to leave the job short notice. I did explain the situation to them. But because I could not work out a 2 week notice, I wasn’t sure if I could count that.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

No, you can count that: you worked those 500 hours, and you had a very good reason for leaving the job on short notice. Unless they were so disgruntled with you that they would lie to any AMCAS verifiers that you never worked at that job, you are going to be good. Put it on your application: it's valuable clinical experience. Have you done any nonclinical volunteering? If so, you're golden, and the care for your grandmother can only help.

 

[deleted804295]

Hello everyone.
I am a non-traditional pre-med student.
I currently help care for my wheel chair bound grandmother. Duties include: helping her to the restroom, helping her take breathing treatments, helping her in and out of bed, etc. pretty much various day to day tasks. This takes up a significant amount of my free time. I enjoy helping her, but I do not have a large amount of extra time for volunteering. Can some of these hours count as clinical? I am performing the same tasks that an RA/CNA would perform.

You can actually be paid and list this on your applications if you enroll her in a program. PCA work comes to mind.

Edit: Strikethrough reflects the consensus of adcoms disagreeing with this statement. I wonder if it can be used in personal statement however?

 

[LizzyM]

It doesn't matter whether or not he's paid, he should list it as "other" on the application and let adcoms figure it out. Having 500 hours of clinical experience is sufficient clinical experience. Shadowing is necessary, too. Not having volunteerism due to responsibility for an ill family member will be taken into account.

 

[Caregiver2016]

No, you can count that: you worked those 500 hours, and you had a very good reason for leaving the job on short notice. Unless they were so disgruntled with you that they would lie to any AMCAS verifiers that you never worked at that job, you are going to be good. Put it on your application: it's valuable clinical experience. Have you done any nonclinical volunteering? If so, you're golden, and the care for your grandmother can only help.

If they call and the facility says I left without 2 weeks notice, would it not look bad to AMCAS? Would this facility remember the reason I left? I was a great worker. I showed up early, worked extra shifts, never complained, etc. I worked graveyard and had to explain the situation by phone from the hospital (she was rushed by ambulance and I had no notice). My boss said she was disappointed in the situation. A couple weeks later we spoke, and talked about me coming back for less shifts/hours, at night. When my brother would be able to help a few hours to care for My grandma some while I was gone for a few hours. She was supposed to call me or text me after she spoke to the rest of the managers, but after that conversation I never heard from her again.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

No, this is not an issue. At absolute worst, it would be seen as a minor professionalism issue. You have a very, very good reason for leaving without your two weeks' notice. And no bridges were badly burned: your boss was willing to consider allowing you to come back on a part-time basis. Your boss said she was disappointed in the situation, not in you personally. You are fine.