How do you get clinical experience without any clinical skillset to offer?

[Elizabethx89]

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[brownbaglunch]

My clinical experience was volunteering. The point of clinical experience is to demonstrate that you have some idea what a career in medicine is like. It doesn't have to be clinical work experience.

 

[Patassa]

Just volunteer in some department at a hospital. I volunteered in Oncology. I brought patients ice and answered the call button at the nurses station.

 

[threesparrows]

The LOR that you submit for these volunteer experiences doesn't have to be from someone who has supervised you in a clinical setting. Maybe you can get one from an old boss or a professor from undergrad or from your post-bacc, speaking to interpersonal skills that will make you good for the position? In my experience, 1 LOR was the minimum requirement for a clinical volunteer position. It's a hoop you must jump through.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Goro]

Not all volunteering has to be done in a hospital. Think clinic, hospice or nursing home.

Please forgive me for being an idiot. I know thousands of other pre-meds have no issues finding ways to get clinical experience, but I can't figure out how to get started.

Every opportunity I look into, both paid and volunteer, seems to have some sort of requirement that you have previous experience doing that type of work or some type of certification. At the very least, the volunteer positions want letters of recommendation, and I can't think of anyone who would write me a letter of recommendation seeing how the reality is that I have no experience working in a clinical atmosphere at all.

I applied to some ER scribe positions the other day since that seems to be a popular pre-med job, but I'm not expecting to hear back on them because I don't have experience with medical terminology. Even if I managed to land one of the jobs, how am I supposed to actually do the work when I'm completely unfamiliar with the wide range of medical terms ER scribes need to use? One of the applications required me to complete a multiple choice test to determine my familiarity with medical terms, and I didn't even know what the terms meant on 90% of the questions.

Here are some of the job descriptions I pulled up on the local hospital's website, showing the requirements they're looking for.

Job Title Monitor Tech
Job Requirements
Six months experience in a critical care hospital setting. Experience with rhythm strip interpretation.

Job Title Central Sterile Tech
Job Description
Two to five years of previous central sterile experience.

Job Title Physical Therapy Assistant(PTA)
Job Requirements
Georgia State licensure required with one or more years experience. Must have current BLS card.

Job Title Nursing Assistant-Tele
Job Requirements
Certified Nursing Assistant. Current BLS.

I looked into a small local clinic that offers free and reduced-priced services, but they're not looking for pre-meds with no real skills to offer but a desire to learn those skills either. They're looking for MDs, RNs, etc. who are willing to volunteer their services.

I completely understand why they want qualified individuals to handle the tasks they need completed. I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to get to the point where I'm qualified to work in a clinical setting. I know a lot of other non-traditional students already have previous experience working in healthcare, but that isn't the case for me, so I don't really know where to turn.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Zelda840]

I think a nursing home is absolutely a clinical atmosphere. Have you been able to find any shadowing opportunities?

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Zelda840]

I would go to the nursing home and volunteer as often as possible and try to be chatty with everyone you meet. Someone there knows a doctor you can shadow. Wow - 100 hours is a lot for shadowing! My school only requires 4 hours. I have a little under 40 at this point but all with a family doc so I'm trying to find doctors from other specialties now.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Zelda840]

Thanks! I'm pretty introverted by nature, too. It's something I'm constantly working on. Don't sell yourself short or assume you don't have what it takes just because you're not like every other super-outgoing premed though. I don't. I recognize that I need to work on being more open about myself, but I also don't intend to be fake or try to fundamentally change my personality just to make it to medical school. I really believe it takes all kinds. Some patients might feel better with a more outgoing physician, but I personally prefer to be seen by someone a little calmer who listens more than they talk. To each their own, right? As for the LOR, do you have a boss from a previous career? All you need is someone who can say that you are a responsible, ethical person who can be trusted.

 

[Quik]

Two ways: one, find a formal volunteer program with a hospital OR hospice, and volunteer wherever you can get in. Hopefully you'll be able to climb the volunteer ranks into a more desirable positions with more physician/patient contact. You might find that your local school of medicine has a student outreach clinic; this is one of my current EC's and I volunteer with admin duties, and also get to shadow med students doing their patient assessments... I get to take vitals and sometimes translate spanish-english; all in all, it's an excellent learning opportunity. Some volunteer positions ARE competitive, but such is the life in this game. You gotta go for it.

Second, cold call (or email) a few local physicians and ask to shadow. I also found a great ongoing experience this way. I heard an Orthopedic Surgeon speak at a conference, called his office and sent an email, heard no response so I followed up twice more and sent my resume.... He let me come in and I've accumulated over 50 hours with him. It's also an excellent learning opportunity.

On a side note, you really need to start building relationships with people whom you can ask for a letter of recommendation/reference/evaluation. This is a very important component of your application, and as you are experiencing now, pretty helpful in obtaining the other equally important EC opportunities you'll need for a robust application. Pick your favorite professor you think you might best relate with, and step in their office and chat about your perspectives of the course, give them feedback, tell them about yourself, and give them a glimpse of you that they can respect. This is how you might build a relationship with a professor.

Lastly, this is meant with absolute sincerity, but you could also use a good dose of self-confidence. I've sensed a lack there-of in many of your posts that I've read, and think a bit of positive mental framing could do you very well. You are pursuing a very challenging and admirable goal, and just for that you should be proud of yourself. Check out this Ted talk, start building some positive affirmations into your day, and think optimistically. This road is far too difficult to travel doubting yourself the whole time. Tell yourself you are smart enough, you will work hard enough, and you will make it. You do have to jump out of your shell sometimes.

I thought it seemed like a lot too! I read over that section on the paper over and over to make sure I was reading it right. It just seems so incongruous with what I'm hearing elsewhere. For instance, when I went to a pre-med conference at the Medical College of Georgia last weekend, the adcoms there even said that they recognize and take into consideration that it is getting harder to find shadowing opportunities these days. So it just strikes me as a little bizarre that my school would require so much shadowing, especially in this rural town where we don't even have that many doctors. Hmm.

Anyway, thank you for the suggestion. : ) I'm a major introvert, so the being chatty thing is nerve-wracking to me, but I know I have to get over that. Well done on being so far along with your shadowing!

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Elizabethx89]

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[jemill]

Also, here's the second part of the equation in case anyone has any advice on this front.

A major reason why I've been trying to find paid clinical experience is that I've been unemployed for about three months now. I've tried applying to a variety of positions, but I'm not hearing back on anything because, again, I have no real skill set to offer anybody. I have an English degree that tells employers I am capable of writing an essay; that's about it. Even unskilled work like cashier positions seem hard to come by around here. From what people tell me, it's because it's a college town, and all of the college students eat those jobs up and then hold onto them for dear life once they have them.

I moved here for school with $7,000 in savings assuming that I'd eventually be able to find work to pay my bills, but after several months on not hearing back on anything, I'm losing hope. If I can't find a job, my savings account is going to keep dwindling, and I'm eventually going to have to drop out of school and move back in with my dad. Not only will that put an end (or at least a pause) to my dream, it will also mean moving back in with my monster of a sister. Without going into too much detail, I have a little sister who lives to make everyone around her miserable. The police are always at my dad's house because of her, and she does some truly disgusting things around the house that I won't mention because they're gross. I was completely miserable living in that house with her to the point that I would try to force myself to go back to sleep in the mornings because I just didn't want to be awake around her and the conditions she forced us to live in.

On top of that, I have a dental issue that I need to take care of but don't have money for due to my lack of a job. I'm supposed to have some medical tests done too that I told my doctor I can't afford right now, but I'm not as concerned about those -- they can wait.

So yeah, I definitely need volunteer experience, but finding paid work (any kind, not just clinically related) is kind of a more pressing issue right now. So if anyone has any ideas on how to find employment that I haven't tried, those would be appreciated too. I really don't want to have to drop out of school halfway into finishing my prereqs, but it seems unavoidable right now due to my lack of an income.

If there are any big retailers around where you live, they may be hiring now for spring/summer seasonal help. I work at a large home improvement retailer and know that they are starting to hire for the seasonal positions, many of which go on to permanent part/full-time positions after the summer. It's not related to healthcare in any way, but could be used for recommendations later on, and you get a much needed paycheck. Good luck!

 

[sazerac]

I got an EMT, and then I used it in a lot of non-traditional ways like volunteer Search n Rescue and volunteer firefighter. It gave me lots of fun stories to tell, and I could also pontificate on my app that I wanted to be a physician because I wanted to contribute even more.

I got in to med school, and I spent exactly zero hours in a hospital. Except for quick patient hand-offs, I suppose.

 

[crazy87]

Can you do a C.N.A. course? Where I live they run around 700-1000 dollars and you can pay with either loans or payment plan. That will give you clinical experience (possibly in nursing home) and make it easier for you to get clinical type jobs or volunteering.

Also I like some of the above posts about volunteering in nursing home, for a home hospice organization, and just volunteering for non patient experiences in the hospital.

But since you're looking for work too, perhaps consider a training program (EMT, cna) if it can be worked into your budget. I saw someone suggest EMT above. I did a nursing assistant course and as I was finishing it I got a job as an in-home caregiver. With no other clinical experience except the course, plus I showed an interest in elderly populations. The pay sucks but it was a good entry way for me into the hands on/clinical part of future jobs. The cost of the class was well worth it for me.

Good luck!!

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Elizabethx89]

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[Zelda840]

I did my CNA class and it was 4 weekends, 8 - 5:30 both Saturday and Sunday.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[crazy87]

My class was Saturdays only. For about 3 months. I took mine thru a standalone company instead of the community college. But sounds like if you're in a rural area you will have less options :-/

 

[katiemaude]

It seems that living in a rural area is hindering your opportunities for paid clinical work. If that's the case, I'd take whatever job I could get. (i.e. if you have a nursing home near you, call them directly and ask how they find their CNAs, what programs they use to recruit, etc.) If that failed, I'd get ANY job and get my clinical experience through the school volunteer program that you mentioned.

In my area, we have phlebotomy courses offered through a community college, one night a week for four hours, over three months. They cost about $1,500 with clinicals and certifications. We also have two-week, full-time CNA courses offered through the community college at about half the cost. Both major hospital networks train their own Patient Care Assistants or Patient Technicians or whatever they want to call them to work in med-surg, the ICUs, the emergency department, etc. The training includes BLS certification. I did this with only my background as an emergency department volunteer, which my interviewers liked ... but honestly, I think it had little impact. The hospital gave us full-time, paid training over 12 weeks with a bump in pay of a few dollars once training ended. We did a combo of CNA/phlebotomy work. I currently work in the Operating Room as a tech, which required a background as a med-surg tech and four weeks of on-the-job paid training. I had never heard of a sterile field before I stepped foot into the OR.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Eccesignum]

Elizabeth,

I'm also rural, so I understand the frustration of having a lack of access. I wanted to second Goro's suggestion about hospice. I did hospice volunteering while in nursing school and it was an invaluable experience. You don't necessarily need clinical skills; many times they just need people willing to go and spend time with a patient and/or their families. A lot of people are intimidated by the thought of being around that kind of environment, but it isn't anything like one might expect. And it's a window into an area many people are afraid to deal with, especially in medicine.

 

[sazerac]

If your town is so rural, any chance of joining the volunteer fire department or SAR? My village only had 2,000 people in it, and we were an hour away from the nearest stoplight, but they still taught an evenings / weekends EMT class every summer for the volunteers.

 

[katiemaude]

About your weekend idea: That could actually work really well if you have a large hospital within an hour or two of you. Hospitals often have "weekend programs" for CNAs/PCAs. You can work 12-hr shifts for two days a week at a higher pay rate than the 8hr/5d a week positions.

 

[theSmurfette]

And check out the continuing education selection at the college you currently attend. I know that there was a CNA course offered by a votech that was days but the CNA class offered by Continuing Ed was a night/weekend class. The EMT-B class at my local CC are 1 semester long and like 2 nights a week. You do your ride-alongs on the weekends I believe.

Also, I worked as an ED Tech at 2 different hospitals. For my first tech job, I had NO experience in health care! I was a math teacher before I went into healthcare. The posting said that they wanted experience but they hired me with none. As long as it's not a position that requires a certification, they may sometimes give you a chance. It never hurts to apply. Some nurse aide positions require CNA due to Medicare reimbursement issues. In the hospitals I've worked in, sterile processing is normally done by people who finished a scrub/surgical tech training.

A monitor tech--normally they will train you with an EKG interpretation class, if you don't have any experience with it.

 

[steeno]

Where I'm from, some places hire caregivers instead of CNAs. Caregivers can do mostly all the same things with on-the-job training, however the pay is less. I'm not sure how medical schools view the position but it's definitely direct patient care and it's a foot in. With a little bit of experience, I was able to take a CNA course at a nursing home with all fees covered as long as I agreed to work for them after the course ended.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Elizabethx89]

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[smallbiz2doc]

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