Foreign Clinical Experience

[pvpapaioann]

Hello,

I will be going to Poland for a Fulbright research grant, and my med application is a little light on clinical experience. I do plan on gaining some hours from now until I leave, but I also wouldn't mind getting more when I'm in Poland. However, I'm not sure how foreign clinical volunteering would be interpreted by US medical schools. Anyone have any insight on this dilemma?

Thanks!

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[Toutie]

Hello,

I will be going to Poland for a Fulbright research grant, and my med application is a little light on clinical experience. I do plan on gaining some hours from now until I leave, but I also wouldn't mind getting more when I'm in Poland. However, I'm not sure how foreign clinical volunteering would be interpreted by US medical schools. Anyone have any insight on this dilemma?

Thanks!

Foreign clinical volunteering is probably great if you plan to practice in a foreign country. Adcoms want to see you know what it is like to work in medicine in the US not in Poland.

 

[LnSin]

On a Fulbright, it's no issue. Find an area you're passionate about and volunteer for an extended period of time.

The real "no no" is when people engage in voluntourism for a week and claim they've helped rebuild a community or some such nonsense.


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[Goro]

Hello,

I will be going to Poland for a Fulbright research grant, and my med application is a little light on clinical experience. I do plan on gaining some hours from now until I leave, but I also wouldn't mind getting more when I'm in Poland. However, I'm not sure how foreign clinical volunteering would be interpreted by US medical schools. Anyone have any insight on this dilemma?

Thanks!

Congrats of the Fulbright, that's no mean feat.

But if you're going to practice Medicine in the US, best not to listen to pre-meds. Adcoms want you to know what you're getting into, with American Medicine.

 

[LnSin]

For reference, the adcoms in this thread seem to indicate its no issue (so long as you have some form of volunteering in the US, etc): Are volunteer hours from abroad valid?

 

[pvpapaioann]

I figure that when speaking of abroad volunteering, its best to say your passion for medicine drove you to continue volunteering in another country and you used this experience to gain new perspectives on how to distribute efficient healthcare and also possible pitfalls of different methods as well.

 

[Toutie]

I figure that when speaking of abroad volunteering, its best to say your passion for medicine drove you to continue volunteering in another country and you used this experience to gain new perspectives on how to distribute efficient healthcare and also possible pitfalls of different methods as well.

Yes, its certainly not going to hurt you at all and will be an interesting experience for sure. But it will NOT replace the need for you to also have some experience in the US.

 

[LizzyM]

Having exposure to medical care delivery in the US and Poland would be very interesting for you and would certainly be something I'd choose to ask you about if I have the privilege of interviewing you for admission.

 

[LizzyM]

AAMC survey of schools has found concern for foreign shadowing experiences that applicants should understand prior to engaging in such activitie


https://www.aamc.org/download/474346/data/clinicalexperiencesshadowingsurvey.pdf
Member schools expressed significant concern with regards to premedical students engaging in unsupervised clinical activities in international settings. In particular, 45-50% of those schools completing the survey described applicant involvement in invasive procedures in international settings as either harmful to, or of no value to, their application. Examples of such invasive procedures include giving vaccinations, suturing an injury, pulling teeth, and delivering a baby. This concern of admissions officers persisted, albeit at lower levels (35-40% of respondents), when the students were supervised by a health professional while performing such invasive procedures in international settings.

What is described in that paragraph is not shadowing and the concern is really about untrained, and in some cases unsupervised, volunteers doing invasive procedures.