"Hands on" clinical experience - HTF do I get it?

[VikingLegacy]

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baleeted

 

[Doctor246853]

Well, my top 3 schools are U.Washington, OHSU and U of Utah, respectively. Utah has a requirement that you have ~40 hours of hands-on clinical experience. They specifically state that your experience has to be direct patient care of some sort, such as taking vitals and charting. Regular volunteering and shadowing don't count.

I live in California, where everything is illegal. Where on earth can a college kid with no credentials go that they will allow me to spend 40 hours putting my hands on patients with, once again, no accreditation or certification whatsoever?

Emt,cna, ma or phelbomist (spell check?). These are easy to obtain and great hands on. NOTE: Only do cna if you get at a hospital and dont work in geriatrics or med/surg since these will be like glorified nursing homes with alot of ***** wiping. Anything else will be great experience. 🙂

 

[Ischemic]

To get any amount of "hands on" clinical experience you have to either go EMT or other type of jobs that are in a hospital. They will not let volunteers do any of that stuff without some type of training because you're a liability with no expertise or knowledge. So yeah, find some type of health care field is my best suggestion.

 

[portlandpixie]

Well, my top 3 schools are U.Washington, OHSU and U of Utah, respectively. Utah has a requirement that you have ~40 hours of hands-on clinical experience. They specifically state that your experience has to be direct patient care of some sort, such as taking vitals and charting. Regular volunteering and shadowing don't count.

I live in California, where everything is illegal. Where on earth can a college kid with no credentials go that they will allow me to spend 40 hours putting my hands on patients with, once again, no accreditation or certification whatsoever?

I work as an optometric tech which I consider "hands-on" clinical experience. I get paid, work directly with patients, and don't need any type of certification. It's not the field of medicine we (pre-meds) want to go into but I get tons of exposure to working with patients doing visual field, checking for glaucoma, etc. So I hope it counts for someething. Another idea is being an er scribe....

 

[PremedGunner]

What kind of jobs can you get with EMT?

How do you become a Phleb?

What's the best way to get CNA?

What's the success ratio of getting a CNA job? How competitive?

How does one get a tech job? (EKG tech, patient care tech, etc)

 

[Doctor246853]

What kind of jobs can you get with EMT?

How do you become a Phleb?

What's the best way to get CNA?

What's the success ratio of getting a CNA job? How competitive?

How does one get a tech job? (EKG tech, patient care tech, etc)

EMT jobs are best at a major hosptial (trauma perferred) in the ER youll be an ER Tech and get GREAT experience.
Phleb. is a short corse you take and many hospitals hired them. We call them vampires cause all they do is blood. Take it and leave. I dont know how valuble that is.
Best way to get a CNA is throught the hospital your appling to. Again big hospital perferred.
You can easily get a cna job in a nursing home. BAD F-ING IDEA!! Been there done that. Thats where you clean old mean people all day and get bossed around. *shutter*
Apply in a big hospital and work as an ER tech totally different world. Or work on the floor but not just any floor choose the right one where you wont be around old people like stroke or something. I mean unless you like cleaning butts then its cool. I worked in nuerosurgery, trauma, ER and epilepsy. Man I love my job but it did take some experience to get. You will have a greater chance if you tell them at the interview your a student.

 

[Tesseract]

EMT jobs are best at a major hosptial (trauma perferred) in the ER youll be an ER Tech and get GREAT experience.
P

If you work as an EMT in a hospital or on an ambulance, then you should be earning about 10-12$/hr. Each role has different goals. On the ambulance, however, you will have greater autonomy, but the contact will be more brief (~30 minutes per call) and you will have never have closure. With that said, I enjoy my ambulance work.

 

[equios]

If you work as an EMT in a hospital or on an ambulance, then you should be earning about 10-12$/hr. Each role has different goals. On the ambulance, however, you will have greater autonomy, but the contact will be more brief (~30 minutes per call) and you will have never have closure. With that said, I enjoy my ambulance work.

I would debate the no closure part. I work on both ALS and BLS sides, and there is closure to patients. You know that code you were working didn't make it, when you see them, 30-45 minutes later when you pop into the ER with a new patient, and building a good working relationship with the ER docs also provides closure, since they will usually tell you what happened to your patient(s).

As far as BLS: Either you take 'em home, or you get an invitation to their funeral service. The ones you take home on hospice are fairly self-explanatory too. Depending on how they are doing, I can usually guesstimate on how much they have left +/- 12 hours.

That said, I work in a relatively small county service (~60 full time employees), so there's a lot more intimacy with your patients and other healthcare staff than at a large service (eg 200+ f/t employees). So, your experience may vary.

As for EMS vs ER, I personally like the much greater autonomy you have on the Ambulance. Its you and the patient. You have to get comfortable and proficient at taking history, performing physical exams, and doing procedures on your own, in a rocking and rolling ambulance. YOU manage the patient, no one else. I think building up that confidence in yourself and learning how to take charge of a patient will also put you a step ahead. Plus, you will have some nawrly and memorable calls, if you stick with it for any length of time. Nothing like trucking down the middle of a 2 lane running traffic at 70 in a 35, with a semi in each lane on either side. "THINK THIN!!!" WHOOOOSH!

 

[OtoHNS]

Wait, you live in California which has like 10 awesome public med schools but your top choices are all out of state med schools? This makes no sense to me. My advice: go to the least expensive school you get into (probably instate) --> do family medicine residency in WA/OR (which is one of the easist residencies to match) --> enjoy career as a rural MD in the Cascades or wherever.

If you seriously want to go to another state's school, move there and establish residency.

 

[Moosecakes]

Look up "clinical care extender". Patient care oriented volunteer program in Ca.
You can thank me later.

 

[Bojangles85]

Work/volunteer with a free clinic. I check vials etc. The one I volunteer at is a student ran organization from the local med school. They encourage and want pre-meds to do all that stuff.

It is like 3-4hours a clinic. You can knock that out in no time.

 

[bassvp]

From the AMCAS website when you pull up University of Utah:

"Regular M.D. (Nonresident applicants must have ties to Utah or be specifically recognized as a member of a population group underrepresented in the physician workforce. (Africans and African Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Chamorros, Polynesians including Native Hawaiians, Tongans, Samoans, Filipinos, Tahitians, Maoris, Fijians, Niueans, Palauans; Chicanos/as and Latinos/as including Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, Central Americans and South Americans), or apply to the M.D./Ph.D. program. ) (Restricted)"

Hopefully you fall into this category...otherwise...nix it.

 

[kami333]

I did HIV counseling.

Utah's requirements are a bit extreme, but the upside is that if you satisfy them you're good to go at most other places too.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

hands-on seems like a vague requirement, is transporting hands-on?

 

[TarHeelEMT]

What kind of jobs can you get with EMT?

What is this, some sort of a trick question?

 

[Bojangles85]

hands-on seems like a vague requirement, is transporting hands-on?

I've always gone by, if you can smell the patient, it is clinical. So in my experience, transporting is clinical.

I do more than transporting. I help them get into the wheelchair/stretcher etc. Some volunteers aren't allowed to do any lifting at all. But there is no way I'm gonna let a nurse or patient over exert themselves when I'm standing around.

 

[kami333]

hands-on seems like a vague requirement, is transporting hands-on?

This is what they say:

Patient exposure is defined as direct interaction with patients and hands-on involvement in the care of conscious people. It is important that the applicant be comfortable working with and around people who are ill.
Direct patient exposure can be gained in a variety of ways. Patient contact must include patients other than family members and friends and does not include indirect patient care such as housekeeping (cleaning operating rooms or patient rooms) working at the hospital information desk, or working in a pharmacy.

• The minimum patient exposure requirement is 4 hours per week for a period of 2 months or the equivalent of 32 hours.
• The average applicant spends 4 hours per week in patient exposure for 3 months or the equivalent of 48 hours.

Note: Time spent shadowing a physician cannot be used to meet the patient exposure requirement.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

seems transporting, ushering, etc counts then, and since most hospital volunteering has some component of this, doesn't seem like an onerous req

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted

 

[Dannyw]

Work/volunteer with a free clinic. I check vials etc. The one I volunteer at is a student ran organization from the local med school. They encourage and want pre-meds to do all that stuff.

It is like 3-4hours a clinic. You can knock that out in no time.

+1

I've had great experiences, lots of time to interact with doctors and hands on experience.

 

[kami333]

Thanks to everybody who gave me such good advice in this thread so far. On another note, Utah's website is extremely dry, lacking in detail, and largely under construction. I read the whole thing cover to cover and don't have a clue what is special about their school or why I should want to go there, yet the requirements are beastly.

What do I apparently not know about U. of Utah SOM?

What's special about U of U?

They're the only medical school in Utah, next closest medical school Utah residents stand a chance of getting into is 10hrs away in Denver. The environment sells it, there aren't many other medical schools where you can be on the slopes skiing within 30min of getting out of lecture, I knew a couple of students who would go backcountry skiing before classes.

Curriculum-wise, I was told by a number of residents that it isn't anything special and that I should apply elsewhere, they felt the MS3/4 were under-prepared. I know they've been changing the curriculum so I don't know how it affects things.

They cut their class size by 20% 2 years ago, from 102 to about 82 (which leaves about 15-20 spots for out of state residents). 6months before that, they were talking about increasing the class size by 30%. Also there's been ridiculous tuition increases, 10% in 2009, not sure what it was this year but with the way the legislature is I'm not sure things are going to change anytime soon. I actually moved from Utah to Ohio a few months ago since I felt that it was too much of a risk having Utah as my only in-state school, I'll probably claim ties to Utah and still apply but I'm not going to be holding my breath.

If your female, your odds of getting in are better than if you're male.

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted

 

[kami333]

Great info. I'll consider that. Do you know if they have any special connection to rural medicine? Also, does being LDS do anything for your odds of getting in?

They've been nationally ranked for their rural medicine, and I think the students used to be required to do a rotation in rural medicine (it's been a couple years since I looked into it so it might have changed). I know they had a student run outreach program, but again with their current funding 'crisis' I don't know how it's fared. They consider Park City/Heber City to be rural, which I wouldn't, but I could see doing a rotation in Moab interesting.

The official line is that they are religon-blind, and there was even a legislative inquiry a few years ago into whether the adcom was biased against LDS members (they weren't, it just turns out a lot of Mormons apply so they are rejected in higher numbers as well). Although a lot of Utah Mormons tend to have similar backgrounds they might get passed in favor of more different backgrounds.

 

[Reaction]

Well, my top 3 schools are U.Washington, OHSU and U of Utah, respectively. Utah has a requirement that you have ~40 hours of hands-on clinical experience. They specifically state that your experience has to be direct patient care of some sort, such as taking vitals and charting. Regular volunteering and shadowing don't count.

I live in California, where everything is illegal. Where on earth can a college kid with no credentials go that they will allow me to spend 40 hours putting my hands on patients with, once again, no accreditation or certification whatsoever?

I was wondering the same thing... What qualifies as hands-on clinical experience=/

 

[Bojangles85]

+1

I've had great experiences, lots of time to interact with doctors and hands on experience.

A lot of the "big" docs come to it as well. Kinda nice shooting the breeze with people on the ADCOM and former COS, etc etc.

Always good to make that connection.

PLUS though, the experience is awesome