Help with EC's?

[CringyLife32]

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Hello guys, thanks for taking time out of your day to answer my question. So I'm wondering about EC's, in particular EC's for clinical exposure. The EC's I have include five hours shadowing a cardiologist, and I volunteer as a member of Mended Hearts as a visitor to patients, and I've volunteered with a few organizations here and there. I've looked into becoming a medical scribe, however, I am very interested in becoming a EMT, because I considered that as a career in its own right, and I think its very interesting. However it is very time and resource consuming, and would interfere with my school work, but I am more than willing to sacrifice if you guys think it is worth it, considering would would heavily interfere with my school work(main reason I'm contemplating it instead of just doing it). So, with that being said, what are some EC's I could/should look into? I'm all eyes and ears to any suggestions. Thanks.

 

[candbgirl]

I think there are mixed reviews on EMTs. So you need to spend a few hours reading the hundreds of threads detailing what others have done for ECs. You don't say how far along in your journey you are but your current ECs are pitiful. I hope you are a first semester freshman. Remember you need clinical and non clinical ECs. I'm not sure how scribing is viewed but you might figure that out in your reading of threads. But do find something in both arenas that you are passionate about. And remember to do something with/for the underserved in your community. It is very important to
show your altruistic side.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[Goro]

Adcom members tend to view EMT as a glorified bus or taxi driver.

Hello guys, thanks for taking time out of your day to answer my question. So I'm wondering about EC's, in particular EC's for clinical exposure. The EC's I have include five hours shadowing a cardiologist, and I volunteer as a member of Mended Hearts as a visitor to patients, and I've volunteered with a few organizations here and there. I've looked into becoming a medical scribe, however, I am very interested in becoming a EMT, because I considered that as a career in its own right, and I think its very interesting. However it is very time and resource consuming, and would interfere with my school work, but I am more than willing to sacrifice if you guys think it is worth it, considering would would heavily interfere with my school work(main reason I'm contemplating it instead of just doing it). So, with that being said, what are some EC's I could/should look into? I'm all eyes and ears to any suggestions. Thanks.

 

[RunningMochi]

Scribing is best if you need shadowing hours imo. They don't do any hands-on work with the actual patient from what I've seen.

Adcom members tend to view EMT as a glorified bus or taxi driver.

This makes me sad 🙁. Although true if you ride with a paramedic, as an EMT I run my own calls when I'm on a BLS rig. Mind you, I don't get any heart attacks or strokes and such on BLS calls, but I still think you get a decent amount of patient interaction on it. You still have to make assessments of your patient and stuff.

I think you should go ahead and do the EMT route if you think you can get enough shadowing hours without being a scribe! We get paid more than scribes lol 😉. Not just that, but if you feel like you really like being an EMT (it sounds like you're interested in it), you can go on to be a paramedic before going to med school! Paramedics are at the top of the EMS, so at least you'll be able to experience the pre-hospital system too if you'd like.

 

[Kpw101]

While there are many other ways to get valuable healthcare experience, I thoroughly enjoy being an EMT. Granted, you are a very low level healthcare provider. In your time as an EMT, you will probably spend most of it just transporting patients around. We regularly get CPR calls and Traumas where I work though (very densely populated city). I'm put in high stress situations all the time that I don't think I would get anywhere else at this point in my life. It's a shame that adcoms wouldn't think of being an EMT as a valuable healthcare experience, but I can see why they would think that as a good amount of my time is spent lugging around non-emergent patients and sleeping. Regardless, I think it is a very valuable experience and like all experiences, one you should do for the EXPERIENCE and not just for box-checking.

 

[slamm27]

Careful- I'm pretty sure some schools wouldn't count scribing as shadowing, especially if it is paid. Just going by what is being said above. Not sure 100% but I think they are technically two separate things. However, that does not mean that you won't see the same things as if you were shadowing, you do see some cool stuff. But to be safe I would do separate shadowing hours (i.e. not via a paid job). Also I tried to quote above but I'm a noob and have no idea what I'm doing