Elaborate please?

[040111333]

What counts as clinical EC's? I heard that shadowing is not technically a clinical EC…but now, I'm a bit confused as to what schools are looking for in terms of clinical EC's…can someone please elaborate?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Vans42]

Clinical ECs are not shadowing (it's shadowing), and it is when you are in a volunteer or paid position where you where you work with/in very close proximity with patients. It doesn't necessarily have to be in a hospital setting, although it usually is.

 

[040111333]

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[theseeker4]

Okay, thank you! So would these activities be counted as clinical EC's?

1. Season's Hospice
2. Volunteering with disabled children in a special facility for kids with special needs (not a hospital…)
3. Volunteering at a free clinic
4. Volunteering at a Veterans hospital
5. Performing clinical research (for this, I don't have direct contact with patients…but I'm located in the ICU unit in the midst of patients)
6. Volunteer scribing at a private clinic

What other clinical opportunities are out there?

#2 probably is not, #5 is research experience which is valuable on its own, the rest are all clinical.

Employment in a clinical setting is another common clinical EC, such as working as a tech. Most jobs will require training and certification that might be more trouble than they are worth.

 

[DokterMom]

Is #2 a medical setting? Like speech therapy, OT, behavioral therapy? Even Special Ed tutoring or Social Skills Group for autistic kids could be 'stretched' to fit...

 

[040111333]

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[Doctor Dream]

As the adcom LizzyM says, "If you can smell patients, it's a clinical experience". In the case of shadowing, it doesn't count because it's passive observation vs. hands on experience

So by that definition, if you can smell patients and aren't passively observing, it's a clinical experience.

 

[theseeker4]

As the adcom LizzyM says, "If you can smell patients, it's a clinical experience". In the case of shadowing, it doesn't count because it's passive observation vs. hands on experience

So by that definition, if you can smell patients and aren't passively observing, it's a clinical experience.

Only if they are actually receiving "patient care." #2 above is with "patients," but from the description it is not a clinical environment, so it wouldn't really be considered patient care. I think LizzyM's quote refers to work/volunteering in a clinical setting; meaning, if you are working in a hospital, but in some administrative role where you are doing paperwork and never see/smell the patients, that isn't really clinical experience. Likewise, if you are working in something like #2, where the children you are working with could be considered "patients" but you are NOT working with them in a clinical-care environment, it wouldn't be considered clinical care. Obviously there are gray areas involved, and it depends entirely on what the role of the facility really is, but from the description, it wouldn't fall under clinical experience, just a nice volunteering experience.

 

[LizzyM]

Does babysitting for a child with a disability count as clinical experience?

I have come around to thinking that to be a clinical experience there should be "doctor's orders" directing the patient's/resident's care. In most cases (except ambulatory care/outpatient clinics) the people being cared for should be wearing ID bracelets.

 

[Goro]

I like your list and would add:
Hospice
Nursing homes.

I understand where my learned colleague Lizzy is coming from, and would posit that "clinical experiences" can be separate from "experiences with patients", since, say, sick children in a camp are not actually in a clinical, they still a patient population with medical issues/needs. I think a clarification should be added as "Experiences with patients who are not your relatives".

Okay, thank you! So would these activities be counted as clinical EC's?

1. Season's Hospice
2. Volunteering with disabled children in a special facility for kids with special needs (not a hospital…)
3. Volunteering at a free clinic
4. Volunteering at a Veterans hospital
5. Performing clinical research (for this, I don't have direct contact with patients…but I'm located in the ICU unit in the midst of patients)
6. Volunteer scribing at a private clinic

What other clinical opportunities are out there?

 

[Lamel]

Always been curious about this: does patient interaction during clinical research count?

 

[LizzyM]

Always been curious about this: does patient interaction during clinical research count?

Is it research or is it clinical? If you are designing the research study, collecting and analyzing the data, I'd count it as research and count it heavily. If you are only interacting with sick people during a clinical encounter but the information you gather is used for research, then it is more on the clinical side, imho. So, you might be consenting patients, measuring vital signs, providing instructions on how to collect a urine sample and directing the subject to the restroom, preparing samples for shipment, filing paperwork.... that isn't research so much as clinical.

 

[Lamel]

Is it research or is it clinical? If you are designing the research study, collecting and analyzing the data, I'd count it as research and count it heavily. If you are only interacting with sick people during a clinical encounter but the information you gather is used for research, then it is more on the clinical side, imho. So, you might be consenting patients, measuring vital signs, providing instructions on how to collect a urine sample and directing the subject to the restroom, preparing samples for shipment, filing paperwork.... that isn't research so much as clinical.

Okay thanks for clarifying.

I only ask because one of my friends has a decent amount of shadowing, but most of his patient interaction is through his research job at a hospital. Supposedly he interacts with patients a lot, but dunno if that will suffice.