Good job picking out one thing focusing on that and ignoring everything else I said. If you take the post as a whole you’d understand but I guess you don’t want to do that so you won’t.
Okay I will take the post as a whole then so we can clear some of the air.
1) not all scribe positions are that beneficial
Glad we agree on we something
2.) ER tech positions can give the same sorts of benefits you're describing
2) not even close to being correct. My techs are techs. We have some interaction but scribes are attached to my hip. To even compare the two shows how naive you are regarding their roles. I would put my neck out for a scribe I like, a tech, less likely.
Notice that my original post said that tech positions can potentially give similar benefits to what you were describing with regards to learning directly from physicians. This was in response to you stating that EMTs do not get one on one physician interaction. I never intended to give the idea that a tech was equal to a scribe in terms of physician interaction and went on to specifically state that a scribe position can't be beat in this regard. To say that I was "not even close to being correct" shows a disregard or misunderstanding of my post in its entirety. As stated, the benefits of a tech position in terms of physician interaction vary a lot by hospital and relationship between tech and physician. I have seen pre-med techs who absolutely love their jobs because of how much they learn
from physicians. I think in the ER at least the key to this is an outgoing tech, a physician willing to teach, and an ER that's not so insanely busy as to have no time for teaching. I have also seen people absolutely hate their tech positions for lack of the above or similar reasons. The exact same thing can be said for scribe positions. From what it sounds like, you have a teacher's mindset, and anyone would have an extremely beneficial experience working under you, but that cannot be said for everyone everywhere. I have had friends receive formal complaints for asking questions and trying to learn from the physicians outside of their specific scribe responsibilities.
You don’t have to believe me but have you taught medical students? I can tell you that those with a previous scribe job for a few years far outperform their colleagues during MS3. You are also not understanding how powerful one phone call or letter of recommendation to the right person can be.
This is a very valid point and a great contribution to the conversation. I don't have experience teaching med students as I am just a pre-med, but this observation does sound very subjective and lacks control with regards to the topic of scribe vs emt/ER tech. I suspect that previous experience working in a hospital or in medicine in general (scribe, nurse, tech, etc.) is a huge help in MS3 when the majority of students have no paid clinical experience. By simply comparing former scribes to "their colleagues" in MS3 you're mostly comparing them to people who have never worked in a hospital before. I've heard first hand from an ER attending that former EMTs are his favorite med students because of their composure under pressure among other things. Obviously this is an n=1 opinion and likely specialty specific, but so is your opinion. I would love to hear from more physicians or see more concrete evidence on links between specific paid clinical positions as a pre-med and subsequent success in MS3 and beyond.
EMT basic is fine but like I said you don’t know what you don’t know and you don’t have a physician there at all times to correct you. EMTs think they might know things but just wait and see how little you actually know. Paramedics are even worse. Literally all my doctor friends who were former medics all say the same thing: I was so shocked with how much I thought I knew but how little I actually did know.
This is very true and one of the hardest parts about being an EMT. We get an abdominal pain and the only thing we know how to do is transport in a position of comfort. In pursuing work as an EMT or medic it is key to always keep in mind how little you know. It's frustrating and humbling at the same time and really makes you value the medical education to come. Working as an EMT, especially pre-hospital, is not about learning medicine, or at least learning diagnoses, treatments, etc. You learn the basics of a limited scope of practice in school and then you learn things from experience and trial and error like how to interact and care for patients, how to work under pressure, and the responsibility of having someone's well-being in your hands. If you're goal in a paid clinical job is to learn as much "medicine" as you can prior to med school then don't be an EMT; however I don't believe that is the point of medical exposure during pre-med.
You get more bang for your buck as a scribe especially in the ED. Period.
I hope I have made a decent argument as to why this sort of generalization is very misleading. As previously stated in this thread and many before it, the benefits of paid clinical positions such as scribe and EMT vary incredibly by region, hospital/EMS service, and even individual personalities. I encourage OP to look into the opportunities available in his/her area; talk to scribes, techs, and EMT's about their experiences and compare these things to what he/she wants out of their job.
