How can I get some clinical exposure?

[bunnyg]

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Hi all,

I am currently a junior in college and I recently decided that I would like to pursue medicine. I am a Biology major have a very good GPA (>3.9) and am planning on studying for the MCAT this semester and taking it this summer. I have been doing research for a year and played tennis as a student-athlete for my first 2 years (had to quit because of injury 🙁 )

The problem is I have no clinical experience! I did not realize that so much was needed!
Does anyone have advice for getting clinical experience ? I really do not want to volunteer because I have called all the hospitals around my area and they only have openings in places which I would not be getting any exposure. Also, my friends have said that they felt useless in volunteering and it was not a worthwhile experience.

I don't have a job right now because I am doing unpaid research, and I really need money, so does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get clinical exposure and get paid at the same time?

If not, I think shadowing would be cool, but I don't know any doctors personally, so how does one go about finding one to shadow?

Thank you!

 

[mrh125]

Does your college have a jobs/internships center? if they do you can ask around there. Also most universities have programs designed to get students clinical exposure so ask for that and put your name in the pool of applicants. Also, call up clinics (aside from hospitals) and ask about volunteering opportunities and look up scribes of america (scribing is basically taking notes for doctors on the computers so they can interact with patients. it's what i do it's pretty chill). Also be happy you're finding this out now. I found out how much clinical experience I needed on the day i graduated, now that was crazy.

Also, if you want to be really direct and interact with any doctors, just ask during your next visit with them (even if you're a patient), after telling them your interest in medicine and seeing whether or not they're receptive.

 

[Boolean]

Does your college have a jobs/internships center? if they do you can ask around there. Also most universities have programs designed to get students clinical exposure so ask for that and put your name in the pool of applicants. Also, call up clinics (aside from hospitals) and ask about volunteering opportunities and look up scribes of america (scribing is basically taking notes for doctors on the computers so they can interact with patients. it's what i do it's pretty chill). Also be happy you're finding this out now. I found out how much clinical experience I needed on the day i graduated, now that was crazy.

Also, if you want to be really direct and interact with any doctors, just ask during your next visit with them (even if you're a patient), after telling them your interest in medicine and seeing whether or not they're receptive.

Basically covered it. Quick question though: you plan on studying for it this semester and taking it over the summer? If you mean this summer, that's not much time for preparing. Have you at all done volunteering?

 

[mrh125]

Also, dont have really high expectations for clinical experiences, a lot of it can be just dull routine work and feel like you're collecting hours, but medical schools need to see it. Also, dont have really high expectations for clinical experiences, a lot of it can be just dull routine work and feel like you're collecting hours, but medical schools want it.

 

[bunnyg]

No I haven't done any volunteering yet.

I am planning on taking the MCAT at the end of July/Early August.

 

[milski]

Also, dont have really high expectations for clinical experiences, a lot of it can be just dull routine work and feel like you're collecting hours, but medical schools need to see it. Also, dont have really high expectations for clinical experiences, a lot of it can be just dull routine work and feel like you're collecting hours, but medical schools want it.

It is a rather repetitive experience, I agree. 😉

 

[Boolean]

No I haven't done any volunteering yet.

I am planning on taking the MCAT at the end of July/Early August.

Volunteering is pretty essential! You might want to get that. I'm not sure what the average MCAT preparation time is, or what schedule your uni is on, but you might want to devote the summer to studying in which case. You will probably want to spend quite a while studying so you can come in truly prepared.

 

[bunnyg]

If I just shadowed would that be good enough?

I already volunteer in my lab 12 hours a week and feel a bit silly adding another volunteering activity when I don't have an paid job ( I am broke right now!)

I am only taking 3 classes this quarter and plan on devoting most of the summer to studying.

 

[mimelim]

If I just shadowed would that be good enough?

I already volunteer in my lab 12 hours a week and feel a bit silly adding another volunteering activity when I don't have an paid job ( I am broke right now!)

I am only taking 3 classes this quarter and plan on devoting most of the summer to studying.

If I were interviewing you, I would ask, "So why go into medicine?" You are applying or at least planning to apply to medical school with zero exposure to physicians and what they do day in day out. You need to be able to answer this question and most interviewers (rightfully or wrongfully) want to hear that you have seen what doctors do and like the idea of doing that. (as opposed to liking the concept of being a doctor). Shadowing is the easiest way to get the experience necessary to answer this question.

 

[lovemango]

Have you looked into a scribe job yet? They don't pay much, but it's great clinical experience and you're also likely to get a good recommendation letter out of it if you work there long enough. Most scribe companies also usually don't require any experience, they'll give you on-the-job training.

 

[kingjameslbj]

Does your college have a jobs/internships center? if they do you can ask around there. Also most universities have programs designed to get students clinical exposure so ask for that and put your name in the pool of applicants. Also, call up clinics (aside from hospitals) and ask about volunteering opportunities and look up scribes of america (scribing is basically taking notes for doctors on the computers so they can interact with patients. it's what i do it's pretty chill). Also be happy you're finding this out now. I found out how much clinical experience I needed on the day i graduated, now that was crazy.

Also, if you want to be really direct and interact with any doctors, just ask during your next visit with them (even if you're a patient), after telling them your interest in medicine and seeing whether or not they're receptive.

What are the other scribe companies? Scribes of america dont have positions in my area or anywhere close.

 

[mehc012]

Google "Scribe + 'kingjameslbj area'"
That's how I found my job. I googled it, and then I applied to 3-4 places, and then I waited.

And waited.
...

and waited.

and gave up, took another job.

And finally got a position! I took it, then immediately got another interview for a place even closer. I should've followed up on that one, but I wasn't about to ditch the company after I'd made it through training.
Anyway, that's how I ended up with 2 (now 3!) jobs...the wait is definitely brutal.

 

[orangeman25]

Google "Scribe + 'kingjameslbj area'"
That's how I found my job. I googled it, and then I applied to 3-4 places, and then I waited.

And waited.
...

and waited.

and gave up, took another job.

And finally got a position! I took it, then immediately got another interview for a place even closer. I should've followed up on that one, but I wasn't about to ditch the company after I'd made it through training.
Anyway, that's how I ended up with 2 (now 3!) jobs...the wait is definitely brutal.

Just curious, but how are you able to juggle 3 jobs? I'm a scribe and I have to work 4 times a week and each shift is 10 hours long. Are your scribe hours more flexible?

 

[mehc012]

Just curious, but how are you able to juggle 3 jobs? I'm a scribe and I have to work 4 times a week and each shift is 10 hours long. Are your scribe hours more flexible?

Ours are 12s, so some weeks are 3 shifts, some are 4. The hospital is an hour from where I live, though, so those turn into 12 and 14hr days anyway.

We sign up for our availability at the beginning of each month. I block off Wed, Thurs, and Fri. My 3-4 ED scribe shifts are then concentrated on Sat-Tues. On Wed and Thurs I work at my 2nd job from 9-5, and then take class from 630-930 at night. On Fridays I scribe at a different location, with a different boss, for 10hrs.

MOST weeks, we only have 3 shifts because they have to pay us OT if they go over 40hrs, and they will go over 40hrs if we do 4 shifts and any of them were 12s. On those weeks I either take an entire day off for studying, or I move the shift at my 2nd job (a small biotech company, btw) to the free day and study before class.

All of my jobs are fairly flexible. On weeks where I have exams in one of my classes, I update my availability and usually scribe 1 fewer shift and/or take a half-day at the biotech place. The non-ED scribe job is just me and one other person, and he is available to fill in any week when I don't want to work.

This is a temporary schedule - I am trying to transition into working at the more local clinic for scribing, and cut down to fewer hours at the distant place because the commute is killing me (I have my car tricked out for sleeping in on tight back-to-backs, or if I need to pull over because I am tired). In the future I will be working only 1-2 shifts/wk in the ED, 1/wk in the clinic, and whatever hours I want at the biotech place, which is good because I want to start MCAT studying. However, the transition means 'do all of this at once until we can cut your hours down'. Prior to that, I was just doing the ED 3-4 shifts, the 2 classes in the evening, the biotech job, and some volunteering at a children's hospital on Thurs mornings before class, which I quit doing in order to take on the 2nd scribe job (and also because they stopped washing the babies after birth, and also because the people running the program were just unpleasant to work with).

 

[shadow_1]

Could you tell me about the handwriting test that you have to take before you become a scribe?

 

[mehc012]

Could you tell me about the handwriting test that you have to take before you become a scribe?

We almost exclusively use computers, so they did not care at all about our handwriting. I think there may have been a typing test on the application, but if not we just listed our speed and I imagine if we had seemed painfully slow during the shadowing shifts, it would have been pointed out.

 

[shadow_1]

ok thanks

 

[theseeker4]

If I just shadowed would that be good enough?

I already volunteer in my lab 12 hours a week and feel a bit silly adding another volunteering activity when I don't have an paid job ( I am broke right now!)

I am only taking 3 classes this quarter and plan on devoting most of the summer to studying.

No, shadowing is not generally considered sufficient patient exposure (you don't actually interact with patients during most shadowing experiences) and it isn't providing any sort of community service, which is the point of volunteering. Additionally, lab volunteering won't fill the volunteering "requirement" either, since it is doing unpaid work to further your experience, it is not being of service to others like helping out in a hospital, feeding homeless, helping build houses with Habitat for Humanity, etc. are.

If you have quite a bit of time doing research already, and can get good LORs from the research lab head, you could easily drop that without hurting your med school chances, to make time for employment, shadowing, clinical experience, volunteering, etc. You NEED clinical exposure in addition to shadowing, and you need volunteering. You can kill two birds with one stone by having your clinical experience be your volunteering, but shadowing alone is generally not considered sufficient clinical exposure. If you can get paid work that provides clinical exposure, such as scribing or getting a certification and then working as an EMT, CNA, etc., you don't have to volunteer in a clinical environment, but some type of volunteering is expected.

If this seems like too much to get done before July, while also sufficiently studying for the MCAT to get a good score, plan to take a gap year and apply in the summer of 2015. You will greatly hurt your chances at getting into the best schools possible if you apply late in the cycle with a lack of ECs. Good luck!