Does volunteering with Hospice/Home Care count as clinical or non-clinical?

[hebrewBAMmer]

I've been doing hospice volunteering for the past year, and let me just say that it has been an incredibly rewarding experience. However, whether or not for AMCAS purposes it counts as clinical or non-clinical volunteering seems to be unclear. Since most hospice patients prefer being at home rather than a hospice care center, my volunteering has involved me driving to a patient's homes, spending time with the patient while the family leaves, monitoring the patient to make note of any changes in her health I observe, and basically be a compassionate presence for the patient and the family. Would this count as clinical volunteering since there's clearly patient interaction, but it's at a patient's home rather than a center?

If this does not count as "clinical" volunteering, would it be ok to include on AMCAS my volunteering at Children's Hospital I did during high school? That was done from 2006-2007 (and when home on breaks from college during 2007-2010), so I wasn't sure if it was too long ago to put on AMCAS.

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[Lawpy]

Hospice is definitely clinical. Per the @Goro Guidelines: "Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics."

 

[hebrewBAMmer]

Hospice is definitely clinical. Per the @Goro Guidelines: "Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics."

Yea I recall seeing that quote. Just wasn't sure if Goro meant volunteering at a hospice center rather than someone's home

 

[kneeshoe]

If the patients are at home and not receiving treatment, I would classify it as non-clinical. However, it depends on how you spent the majority of the time - in hospice or their home?

Also, any high school work should not be included on your AMCAS application.

 

[Lawpy]

Yea I recall seeing that quote. Just wasn't sure if Goro meant volunteering at a hospice center rather than someone's home

I'd say it's clinical because they are still patients even though you visit them at their homes. But I'll defer to @Goro @LizzyM for clarification

 

[Goro]

That's getting onto a grey area.

I'd say it's clinical because they are still patients even though you visit them at their homes. But I'll defer to @Goro @LizzyM for clarification

 

[Lawpy]

That's getting onto a grey area.

yeah i don't know. i remember in a related thread on nursing homes, @LizzyM said it's a grey area and it's safer to call it as non-clinical to avoid exaggeration/misrepresentation.

the problem here though is it involves OP interacting with hospice patients who chose to be at home. i'm assuming this means the hospice patients prefer getting treatments at home than at a hospice center? that's why to me it looks more clinical than non-clinical.

i could be wrong though, and if so, it's an important learning point since deciding what's clinical vs non-clinical may in fact depend on the location of the volunteering.

 

[hebrewBAMmer]

yeah i don't know. i remember in a related thread on nursing homes, @LizzyM i'm assuming this means the hospice patients prefer getting treatments at home than at a hospice center? that's why to me it looks more clinical than non-clinical.

Yes that is correct. Nurses and doctors come to the patient's home since she's basically too weak to leave the house.

 

[kneeshoe]

It is clinical then. The people are receiving regular treatment at their homes by doctors and nurses and would classify as patients, at least in my eyes.

 

[TehTeddy]

the problem here though is it involves OP interacting with hospice patients who chose to be at home. i'm assuming this means the hospice patients prefer getting treatments at home than at a hospice center? that's why to me it looks more clinical than non-clinical.

I also volunteer for hospice in the same way (i.e. visit patients at their home). I think the preference is usually to stay at home rather than a facility, unless you need constant care. The goal is comfort rather than cure, so you could see why the home is preferred. The patient I'm seeing now has a nurse come once a week, and otherwise takes their medicine on their own. Of course, this is because family can be there to take care of him the rest of the time. But the degree of illness is not necessarily less than institutionalized patients- some die in their home by choice.

 

[Lawpy]

Yes that is correct. Nurses and doctors come to the patient's home since she's basically too weak to leave the house.

I also volunteer for hospice in the same way (i.e. visit patients at their home). I think the preference is usually to stay at home rather than a facility, unless you need constant care. The goal is comfort rather than cure, so you could see why the home is preferred. The patient I'm seeing now has a nurse come once a week, and otherwise takes their medicine on their own. Of course, this is because family can be there to take care of him the rest of the time. But the degree of illness is not necessarily less than institutionalized patients- some die in their home by choice.

Yeah I think it's clinical, but I tagged the adcoms so hopefully we'll get their input on the matter.

 

[candbgirl]

OP your high school volunteering was 10 years ago. You need something current.


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[hebrewBAMmer]

OP your high school volunteering was 10 years ago. You need something current.


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Yea I figured. Hence, hospice

 

[LizzyM]

I would count it as clinical because the person is "a patient" whereas a person on custodial care in a nursing home is a resident.

That said, if your only clinical exposure in the past 5 years has been home hospice and you have no shadowing or employment in a clinical setting then you are not ready to apply this cycle.

 

[Mednight]

* deletes comment because LizzyM posted *

 

[hebrewBAMmer]

I would count it as clinical because the person is "a patient" whereas a person on custodial care in a nursing home is a resident.

That said, if your only clinical exposure in the past 5 years has been home hospice and you have no shadowing or employment in a clinical setting then you are not ready to apply this cycle.

Thanks for the clarification! I don't have employment in a clinical setting because I've been working on my PhD for the majority of time since graduating from undergrad. I did a bunch of shadowing as an undergrad, so I'd presume it would be worth it to do a little more recent shadowing then