Hospital volunteering and shadowing as the only major clinical experience?

[Medigal]

I am a rising sophomore and have volunteered at a local hospital for about 11 hours during the spring of my freshman year. I can no longer volunteer or sign up for shifts at that hospital because the volunteer coordinator left the job, so I only volunteered for two months (Feb and March). I then applied to a major hospital which is known for a good volunteer program and networking opportunities, and I recently completed the health clearance so I should be able to start volunteering in the ER or surgical department in the last week of July, if not earlier. I plan to gain about more than 200 hours and continue volunteering until I graduate.

I have also planned to shadow a DO who is a family practice physician at my university's health services department. I don't plan to apply to DO medical schools but this was the only physician I could get to let me shadow for now. I will look out for other specialty physicians such as a surgical oncologist, etc to explore my interests. I had applied for a scribe position through Scribe America and I was rejected due to my upcoming fall semester schedule and they asked me to try again when my schedule gets more flexible. So now I can only do volunteering and try shadowing as much as I can. I don't know if this is enough for the clinical experience or should I be looking for more opportunities.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dr panda]

What exactly will you do in the ER or surgical department? Clinical experience means not just being inside the hospital, but direct patient interaction. 200 hours is basically enough for clinical exp; you don't need to have zillion hours of shadowing, 50 is more than enough.

 

[Catalystik]

I should be able to start volunteering in the ER or surgical department in the last week of July, if not earlier. I plan to gain about more than 200 hours and continue volunteering until I graduate.

I have also planned to shadow a DO who is a family practice physician at my university's health services department. I don't plan to apply to DO medical schools but this was the only physician I could get to let me shadow for now. I will look out for other specialty physicians such as a surgical oncologist, etc to explore my interests.

I can only do volunteering and try shadowing as much as I can. I don't know if this is enough for the clinical experience or should I be looking for more opportunities.

Whether the active clinical experience in the ER or surgical department are "enough" depends on your roles. If you complete 200 hours prior to applying to med schools, that can be enough, provided you interact with (conscious) patients.

Your shadowing should include a primary care doc. Probably the DO in a university health services facility would qualify. Anything over 50 hours is not necessary and could be better spent giving hours to a nonmedical community service group, which is an experience you'll want to include for a good med school application.

 

[candbgirl]

And don’t forget nonclinical volunteering to the underserved in your community. You need 150+ hours of this too.

 

[Medigal]

What exactly will you do in the ER or surgical department? Clinical experience means not just being inside the hospital, but direct patient interaction. 200 hours is basically enough for clinical exp; you don't need to have zillion hours of shadowing, 50 is more than enough.

Thanks for the perspective! There will be some amount of direct patient interaction involved in these positions. In the ER, will be assisting patients with anything like oral care for meals, ordering food, phone calls, measuring I-O, and general things like distributing supplies when they need, acting as a liaison, etc. In the surgical department, I will help in the waiting room, calling preop, walking them to the preop, occasionally transporting using a wheelchair, and verifying surgery schedules, among other activities.

 

[Medigal]

Whether the active clinical experience in the ER or surgical department are "enough" depends on your roles. If you complete 200 hours prior to applying to med schools, that can be enough, provided you interact with (conscious) patients.

Your shadowing should include a primary care doc. Probably the DO in a university health services facility would qualify. Anything over 50 hours is not necessary and could be better spent giving hours to a nonmedical community service group, which is an experience you'll want to include for a good med school application.

Thanks for the help! I will be able to have some direct patient interaction as a volunteer and I am planning to get involved with non-clinical volunteering as well.

 

[Medigal]

And don’t forget nonclinical volunteering to the underserved in your community. You need 150+ hours of this too.

I have been planning to get involved with non-clinical volunteering. Thanks for bringing this up specifically in terms of the underserved community service because my friend was rejected from med schools the last cycle (even though his app was overall very perfect) because he only volunteered as a college advocate to help new students transition to college life which I think is a coveted position at our university but he did not have anything to show that he went out of his comfort zone to serve in the underprivileged areas. So yeah I will definitely try for meaningful volunteer opportunities and gain 150+ hours as well.

 

[Goro]

I am a rising sophomore and have volunteered at a local hospital for about 11 hours during the spring of my freshman year. I can no longer volunteer or sign up for shifts at that hospital because the volunteer coordinator left the job, so I only volunteered for two months (Feb and March). I then applied to a major hospital which is known for a good volunteer program and networking opportunities, and I recently completed the health clearance so I should be able to start volunteering in the ER or surgical department in the last week of July, if not earlier. I plan to gain about more than 200 hours and continue volunteering until I graduate.

I have also planned to shadow a DO who is a family practice physician at my university's health services department. I don't plan to apply to DO medical schools but this was the only physician I could get to let me shadow for now. I will look out for other specialty physicians such as a surgical oncologist, etc to explore my interests. I had applied for a scribe position through Scribe America and I was rejected due to my upcoming fall semester schedule and they asked me to try again when my schedule gets more flexible. So now I can only do volunteering and try shadowing as much as I can. I don't know if this is enough for the clinical experience or should I be looking for more opportunities.

Totally fine!

 

[Planes2Doc]

That's totally fine. The point of clinical experience is to get a sense of what the environment is like, not to learn any specific skills. Medical school will start you at step 0 when you are there. Add in some non-clinical volunteering and spend the rest of the time studying!