Hospital Volunteering Question

[cosmicstarr]

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For those non-trads who work full time, take classes at night, and are preparing for the MCAT, how do you find time to volunteer?

I’m working 50+ hours a week (non-medically related job in engineering), taking classes at night, taking TPR class at night and in the middle of it all, I am trying to review for the MCAT and study for classes. I’d like to volunteer more, but I don’t want to do it at the expense of not doing well in my class or taking away from my MCAT prep. I was thinking of volunteering more after the April MCAT, but some people have advised me to start putting in those volunteer hours now. I don’t plan to apply until Summer 2007. Do you think one year’s worth of hospital volunteer activities is sufficient in an application? It seems a lot of people have 2+ years of some type of medically related (volunteer or paid) experience.

Thanks in advanced.

 

[Nikki2002]

i know where i volunteer, i just volunteer 4 hours a week. You could probably even volunteer every other week--they are usually pretty flexible

 

[osli]

I'm in a similar situation except that I'm hoping to get in for the 2006 matriculating class. My MCAT and GPA are fine, the rest of my application is fine (though I need to explain during interviews that I have a lot more EC's than are listed on my AMCAS). The only thing lacking is shadowing or volunteering in the medical field... as an engineer, that simply never was on the "to do" list. 🙂

Currently I'm taking a full load of courses (4 with labs), working two jobs, and married. I'm slated to start with volunteer work at the local hospital in the next week or two, and I expect it to be only a few hours per week. Honestly, that's all I can work into my schedule. I hope the adcomms are OK with that. I think they'll understand that non-trad students that weren't following the standard "pre-med" plan of attack may be lacking these medical EC's. Might hurt at top schools, but most of us are looking at state schools, DO, etc. anyway I would guess.

 

[nonlethal]

Currently I'm taking a full load of courses (4 with labs), working two jobs, and married. I'm slated to start with volunteer work at the local hospital in the next week or two, and I expect it to be only a few hours per week. Honestly, that's all I can work into my schedule. I hope the adcomms are OK with that. I think they'll understand that non-trad students that weren't following the standard "pre-med" plan of attack may be lacking these medical EC's. Might hurt at top schools, but most of us are looking at state schools, DO, etc. anyway I would guess.

I'm in a very similar situation, minus one job.
I know the state med school here REQUIRES an insane amount of volunteer service (to the tune of 3 hrs/month for 3 months prior to admission) and the average applicant has 4hrs/month for 4 years prior to admission... no way will I be able to make that statistic. I'm doing the bare minimum on that one, knowing that my application is alot stronger in other EC areas (research, clinical time, physician shadowing, etc)

 

[Captain Fantastic]

My pre-med advisor has stressed that is important to get clinical experiences. A year's worth of clinical exposure would probably be sufficient. If you have a strong app otherwise you could probably go with less, but I'm thinking for a non-traditional 500 hours is probably optimal. More is good, but at some point you'll have had "enough" exposure to medicine to satisfy the adcoms.

500 hours could be put together with:

• one hour a day for a year
• one shift per week for a year
• one summer full-time

 

[jmnykrkts]

My pre-med advisor has stressed that is important to get clinical experiences. A year's worth of clinical exposure would probably be sufficient. If you have a strong app otherwise you could probably go with less, but I'm thinking for a non-traditional 500 hours is probably optimal. More is good, but at some point you'll have had "enough" exposure to medicine to satisfy the adcoms.

500 hours could be put together with:

• one hour a day for a year
• one shift per week for a year
• one summer full-time

I think 500 hours in one year might be a little bit of overkill. Especially for someone who works 50+ hours a week. Maybe I'm just convincing myself....

 

[Beau Geste]

If you already work in a healthcare job, you could work a couple of extra hours without pay, and then you have volunteer time set up.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

I think 500 hours in one year might be a little bit of overkill. Especially for someone who works 50+ hours a week. Maybe I'm just convincing myself....

Sorry -- double post.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

I think 500 hours in one year might be a little bit of overkill. Especially for someone who works 50+ hours a week. Maybe I'm just convincing myself....

I work 10 hrs/week as a research assistant on a clinical study in addition to my 40+ hour/week full-time engineering job (plus school and other EC's I'm involved in -- I sit on a board for the County Commission, I'm on the board of directors for a non-profit, I'm active in my church, etc). My wife's a IM resident (i.e., not home often) and we have a 3 y/o. I'm well aware of how difficult it can be.

I was trying to say that I think 500 hours is the ideal number for non-trads. I was trying to show how you could rack up that many hours in a year, since the OP was curious as to if one year of clinical experience was all he could get. Even if it takes two years to accomplish it's my opinion that you should strive for 500 hours of clinical exposure. Sorry I didn't explain myself very well.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Well I am not volunteering in the hospital at all. I am mentoring/tutoring two times a month, have minimal volunteering and will be shadowing. Clinical experience is key but for non-trads (depending on where you are applying) there is also more to your application. I don't want to be doing something pointless (as I had done in volunteer positions in the hospital before if they have a "dead" program). There are some good programs that weren't meaningless where I lived and there are many different ways to get experience. Just my $.02

 

[pingouin]

Well I am not volunteering in the hospital at all. I am mentoring/tutoring two times a month, have minimal volunteering and will be shadowing. Clinical experience is key but for non-trads (depending on where you are applying) there is also more to your application. I don't want to be doing something pointless (as I had done in volunteer positions in the hospital before if they have a "dead" program). There are some good programs that weren't meaningless where I lived and there are many different ways to get experience. Just my $.02

I think this kind of volunteering may actually give you more person-to-person contact than many hospital volunteer jobs. Isn't that one of the objectives of the volunteering in the first place?

My background is in social work, so I have lots of hospital-based experience in psych, but notsomuch on the medical end. I was lucky enough to find a per diem spot at one of our children's hospitals where I kind of float around to all of the med floors, including the NICU and PICU. I'm not allowed to volunteer at my own hospital, so I've had to be creative.... since my primary job is a private therapy practice, I've decided to volunteer where my skill set is and do some pro bono work. So I'm starting a support group for a very specific population (it starts tomorrow night wish me luck!) and will be supervising someone for her professional licensure, which is a 2 year commitment.

And regarding volunteering at the hospital where you work- where I am, they do not let you do this because of labor laws and overtime issues. I'm not clear on the specifics, but I'd recommend talking with HR or the volunteer office about this.

 

[thegenius]

For those non-trads who work full time, take classes at night, and are preparing for the MCAT, how do you find time to volunteer?

I’m working 50+ hours a week (non-medically related job in engineering), taking classes at night, taking TPR class at night and in the middle of it all, I am trying to review for the MCAT and study for classes. I’d like to volunteer more, but I don’t want to do it at the expense of not doing well in my class or taking away from my MCAT prep. I was thinking of volunteering more after the April MCAT, but some people have advised me to start putting in those volunteer hours now. I don’t plan to apply until Summer 2007. Do you think one year’s worth of hospital volunteer activities is sufficient in an application? It seems a lot of people have 2+ years of some type of medically related (volunteer or paid) experience.

Thanks in advanced.

I too worked about 50/hours a week and studied for the MCAT every night. I opted not to volunteer during that time and was glad that I did. I now volunteer and have no external pressures like the MCAT.

If you can handle the volunteer load, then go for it. Clinical experience is invaluable and most (if not all) medical schools unofficially require it. If you don't have any expect to get several questions asking why not.

 

[Auggieville]

I too worked about 50/hours a week and studied for the MCAT every night. I opted not to volunteer during that time and was glad that I did. I now volunteer and have no external pressures like the MCAT.

If you can handle the volunteer load, then go for it. Clinical experience is invaluable and most (if not all) medical schools unofficially require it. If you don't have any expect to get several questions asking why not.

I too work 40-50 hrs/week doing accounting and am trying to prepare for the MCAT and take organic chem I. Right now I volunteer in the ER at the local hospital 4 hrs/week. I am trying to be ready for the 2007 entering class as well and am trying to decide how to work in some shadowing work. My plan is to start shadowing 4-5 hrs every other week or so. I would like to try and alternate volunteer work one week and shadowing work one week. Since you are trying to fit in enough hours for the 2007 class, I think you could also cram in your volunteering work over the summer or so and then try and shadow. But from what I have read, the more "shadowing" type hours you have, the better off you are. These type of hours shows that you were more involved in the patient-doctor experience then in just making beds and stuff. But the volunteering hours are important too... 🙂

 

[RisingSun]

Sort of a related question:

I am a non-trad who lived overseas for a number of years and began volunteering at a hospital there in my free time. The experience convinced me that medicine is what I want to do and have returned to the US and am finishing up prereqs (just got physics left to go!!). I run my own business, and with school I just have not had any time to do any volunteering since I have been back to the states. Next quarter my course load will decrease and I should have more time - I plan on volunteering/getting some shadowing experience with US docs then.

Do you think that admissions will want to see more of a clinical commitment from me here in the US instead of just volunteer hours overseas (probably 3-400 in total)? Right now I feel pressured to work as much as possible so that I can save as much as possible for med school (got a wife and two kids to support) and so working full/part-time in a hospital is just out of the question.

 

[unfrozencaveman]

I did absolutely no volunteering while I was doing my post-bacc, or working (in a field unrelated to medicine). But, I had done a few stints in hospitals volunteering before that, and then lived in South Africa afterwards for a few months working in hospitals. I'm having no problems whatsoever with not having carried on my volunteerism during the postbacc. It's never come up. Do what you need to do to finish up your coursework, and, you know, feed a family. There is only so much jumping through hoops one can do for an adcom, and I think you're set.

Sort of a related question:

I am a non-trad who lived overseas for a number of years and began volunteering at a hospital there in my free time. The experience convinced me that medicine is what I want to do and have returned to the US and am finishing up prereqs (just got physics left to go!!). I run my own business, and with school I just have not had any time to do any volunteering since I have been back to the states. Next quarter my course load will decrease and I should have more time - I plan on volunteering/getting some shadowing experience with US docs then.

Do you think that admissions will want to see more of a clinical commitment from me here in the US instead of just volunteer hours overseas (probably 3-400 in total)? Right now I feel pressured to work as much as possible so that I can save as much as possible for med school (got a wife and two kids to support) and so working full/part-time in a hospital is just out of the question.

 

[MJB]

My hospital only requires 4 hours per month..so on the 4th Tuesday of the month, I'm in the ER from 6-10.

 

[MJB]

My question is just exactly what they consider "clinical experience".

My "job" at the hospital involves a TON of patient contact, mostly just chatting with them and keeping them company...it's fun, but tiring with school/work, etc...

Meeting with KCUMB Recruiting person tonight...so I will likely ask.

 

[MeowMix]

Trying to add volunteering to this is setting yourself up for disaster. You MUST do very well on the MCAT. You MUST do very well in your courses. Those are your first priorities.

I had 9 months of clinical volunteering when I applied (one afternoon per week at a local free clinic), and that was plenty. I also had about 50 hours of shadowing doctors; and years of non-clinical volunteer work to prove my desire to serve humankind. I would say that my interviewers seemed to think the shadowing was almost as important as the volunteering, if not more so, since I had observed doctors (and nurses) in a variety of clinical settings and specialties.

You can always get more clinical experience to fix up a weak application. You cannot make bad grades go away, and you don't want to have to explain a bad MCAT score.

I have had MCAT students try the kind of load you're considering, and bomb the MCAT. Please do not do this to yourself.

 

[eccles1214]

You cannot make bad grades go away, and you don't want to have to explain a bad MCAT score. Please do not do this to yourself.

Amen. This was my BIG mistake: not heeding my own best interests and not setting limits for myself, and I ruined my GPA 🙁 and delayed application process. So I need to start again. Instead of concentrating on school, I concentrated on volunteering. Never again. 😱

 

[QofQuimica]

If you're that busy, you just have to be creative to get your volunteering in. If you can't do it the normal way, improvise. Holidays and vacations are great times to get in volunteering and spend time with your family as well. For those of you with families, you might consider doing some volunteer activities together with your children and spouse, such as working at a soup kitchen or tutoring kids. That way, you get to do several good things at once: get some volunteering credit for yourself, spend some time with your family, and help someone else. You could also do a sort of alternative vacation with your family, where you travel to some other location for a week or two and volunteer. We could use plenty of help down here in FL (or anywhere else on the Gulf Coast) if anyone is interested in helping hurricane victims. Or, get your kids to help collect canned foods from your neighbors and donate them to a food pantry for Thanksgiving. Or, spend a week of vacation where the whole family volunteers to build a house for Habitat for Humanity. Or, go work on an Indian reservation as a family. There are tons of possibilities, and you don't have to do them week in and week out or by yourself for them to count as "volunteering."

 

[MeowMix]

Q's ideas are very good, but for a nontrad with no clinical experience, the clinic is where your time should be focused.

The ad comm wants to see that you have been exposed to healthcare and have a realistic idea of what your life will look like as a doctor, not just that you have an altruistic desire to serve humankind (which ALL premeds have, of course). That is the point of volunteering as a nontrad.

 

[montessori2md]

I'm a Montessori teacher -I work with young children each and every day of my life : ) I get paid, but not much!

I'm currently running an infant classroom (last year I was with 3-6 year olds), and I have to say, it's best darn environment (outside home w/mom) for babies in the greater DC area. A lot of what I do is "clinical" -I have "charts" for each infant, my conversations with parents are not unlike the conversations one has with a pediatrician (is he eating enough? Why doesn't he sleep? Should he be talking more?).

Obviously, I want to spend some time shadowing, and time in a hospital setting, but I feel that volunteering for the sake of demonstrating that I have a "humanitarian" or "altruistic" character would be absurd.

Anyhow, as my two cents to those above, since you have kids, why not spend your volunteer time at your kids' school? Maybe you could even make it "medical" or science related, like helping with a flu shot or other vaccine clinic, or talking to your child's class about nutrition, or anatomy, or helping the staff with their science fair or a science demonstration they might like to do but not have the money or personnel to do.

 

[czyja]

An few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with a faculty member (and former dean of admissions) of a prestigious medical school. He stressed (several times) that quality in the EC experience is preferable to quantity. Specifically, he likes to see that the applicant "made a difference" in the life of the people and institutions s/he touched. Rather than schlepping patients around the hospital for a few extra hours prior to application, you may be better served by polishing the old personal statement and presenting what you have already done in the best possible light. You sound very busy - I wish you the best.

 

[MedSchoolFool]

An few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with a faculty member (and former dean of admissions) of a prestigious medical school. He stressed (several times) that quality in the EC experience is preferable to quantity. Specifically, he likes to see that the applicant "made a difference" in the life of the people and institutions s/he touched. Rather than schlepping patients around the hospital for a few extra hours prior to application, you may be better served by polishing the old personal statement and presenting what you have already done in the best possible light. You sound very busy - I wish you the best.

Great point about quality over quantity. In this regard I would strongly suggest becoming a Hospice volunteer. I spend 2 hours a week in direct contact with a cirrhosis patient. I may not play a medical role, but I can certainly say I've made a difference in her life that has increased her welfare. She tells me almost every visit how much it means to her. Every week I leave there feeling like I've really bettered someones condition. You won't likely get that feeling by filing papers in an emergency room (which I've done).

I'm also enrolled in an accelerated EMT-B program so that I can do some work on the frontline of pre-hospital care for medical and trauma patients. I figure that will give me a lot to talk to an ADCOM about when the time comes. Just thought I would mention Hospice and EMT as venues for gaining volunteer experience. Actually, with the EMT you can get the experience while getting paid at least a little bit for your time.

One more thing that I love about Hospice and EMT...both of them are incredibly flexible. You can basically organize a schedule suited to your own convenience. I didn't get as much convenience from my time volunteering in the local emergency room.

JJ

 

[czyja]

You are definately making a difference in your client's life/death and the life of her family. Everybody I know who has had some experience with hospice volunteers talks about how compassionate/fantastic/giving/loving they are. Hospice seems like a really great way to gain experience working with sick people and a great way to discern (in an adult kinda way) whether or not medicine is truly one's calling. Isn't the training rather extensive? How much of a commitment did you have to make?

 

[MedSchoolFool]

You are definately making a difference in your client's life/death and the life of her family. Everybody I know who has had some experience with hospice volunteers talks about how compassionate/fantastic/giving/loving they are. Hospice seems like a really great way to gain experience working with sick people and a great way to discern (in an adult kinda way) whether or not medicine is truly one's calling. Isn't the training rather extensive? How much of a commitment did you have to make?

Czyja,

I'm glad to see your positive comments about hospice. The training is not too extensive at all, at least not for the hospice company where I trained. The training is, in fact, quite basic. Essentially, I met with the volunteer director for about 8 hours worth of instruction and background information on how hospice works. This 8 hours was spread over 3 different meetings on 3 different days due to other commitments I had. I did have to go to the local police station to have a background check run, and also had to get some immunizations (actually, one of the immunization for Hep-B was optional). Of course, hospice paid the costs for all of this.

As far as commitment goes that is one of the best things about hospice. You can totally decide how much you want to do, and you can adjust your commitment as needed, even on a week by week basis. I asked to work with only 1 patient, but I could work with more than that if I wanted to. I visit my patient once a week for usually 2 hours. I only intend to stay for 1 hour, but I find that time flies quickly when I'm there. I've done crafts, played music, rented movies, gone for walks, had lunch, etc. with my patient. Most of the time, though, we just sit and talk.

There have been occasions when I couldn't make it to visit her on a particular week. Sometimes I've given her a call on the phone instead just so I can check on her even though I couldn't show up in person. Also, I've had to change the time that I come to visit a few times because of how school and work schedules will change from semester to semester.

Hospice is utterly flexible. You can visit someone once a day or once a month. You can stay for 10 minutes or you can stay a whole day. You can change things when you need to without any hassle about it. So the commitment you make to hospice is not written in stone. It is very adjustable to meet the not only your patients needs but yours as well. For us non-traditionals who have job, children, home, and school schedules to contend with, it is nice to know there is a volunteer activity we can do that will conform to our often variable time allowances.

Hope this answers your questions.

Justin

 

[batgirl]

My GPA is not good.I had a bad bad year where I failed 2 classes and got D's in the rest.My other grades are ok (B's mostly).My GPA is 3.1 over 4.3 and I am graduating in one semester.Does it count that I was in a really difficult program-Engineering?Or is it only the grades that count???
About the volunteering...I guess you have to do a lot of it when you have as poor a GPA as mine.

 

[Dreamless]

First Id like to say, MSUCOM has accepted me YAY! but all schools have different requirements and look for different things... this.. might help or make you happier:

I had only 1 semester of volunteering, which was an almost useless endevour
I had NO research experiance
I was/am a steelworker in NY at the moment

however a few things helped out that made this possible for me (MSUCOM was my first choice and #9 in the nation)

did an EMT program between my 40+ hours a week, which is instant clinical experiance and very helpful for hands on experiance, and a solid MCAT score (29). My GPA was 3.3 very average.

Aparently this was enough to apeal to them, not to mention I took a chance and wrote ridiculously image inducing essays to try and stand out. A few other details including leadership roles in various nonmedical work experiance came up in th e interview but the EMT program and MCAT seemed to be the factors of decision.

Hope this helps

 

[TX515]

I volunteer on Saturday nights. It is not so bad because the hospital needs the extra help and I'm usually busy enough that I'm not bored.