How many hrs of clinical experience will you have by app time?

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Dulcina

Dulcina

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I know I'm going to get a million "its the quality and not the quantity" replies, so just list your hrs and location.

I'm looking to stop volunteering, because even though I enjoy it a lot, I work MANY hours, and volunteering after work is becoming pretty exhausting.

Again, not looking for the "just look for a meaningful experience" posts, just list your hrs/location.

Thanks! :)
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Dulcina said:
I know I'm going to get a million "its the quality and not the quantity" replies, so just list your hrs and location.

I'm looking to stop volunteering, because even though I enjoy it a lot, I work MANY hours, and volunteering after work is becoming pretty exhausting.

Again, not looking for the "just look for a meaningful experience" posts, just list your hrs/location.

Thanks! :)
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I had about 500 hours of clinical volunteering at a hospital, 100 hours of shadowing, and 100 hours of clinical research...
 
drizzt3117 said:
I had about 500 hours of clinical volunteering at a hospital, 100 hours of shadowing, and 100 hours of clinical research...
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lol cute bunny
 
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roughly 1000+ hours since high school with 6-7 different physicians at several different hospitals, outpatient centers and at their private clinics (see also: my only saving grace)
 
...and as my buddy puts it-I would rather have 50 consecutive tetanus shots than do meaningless undergraduate slave labor/research...Clinical experience FTW:thumbup:
 
gosh, if I really apply this next cycle, let's see, 50 hr/wk x 50 wk/yr x 8 yr as a PA (high responsibility), um, 20,000. (Not counting training time and phlebotomy tech x 6 yr & med assistant x 1 yr....)
:cool:
 
1500-2000 hours as a phlebotomist. Approximately 100 hours shadowing/voluntering.
 
I thought I had a lot with 400. I've spent 4 semesters in a clinical setting which has been really cool - observing surgery and things like that.
 
SwampGator said:
I thought I had a lot with 400. I've spent 4 semesters in a clinical setting which has been really cool - observing surgery and things like that.
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I'm sure it's enough... no one has ever accused me of not having enough clinical experience (except during one interview where the interviewer must not have read my file lol) and most people have considered it good clinical exp/exposure to medicine IME.
 
dont dwell on this. quality >>> quantity and it only matters up to a point.

also, how much you need depends on the rest of your app

So those of you with less than 1000 dont freak out, I'll let you know I had maybe 100 hours and got 11 interviews out of 15 schools
 
My guess is about 3000. I am working full-time this year, and will be moving to supplemental when I go back to school for 2 years before I hopefully will matriculate into medical school. My job, while I don't get as much patient interaction as I'd like, definitely fits Lizzy's definition of clinical experience. ;)
 
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~6,000 hrs as medical asst in private practice/hospital setting. Will also have ~100 hours in overseas medical experience. Does clinical research (with patient contact) count? If so, add 250 hours.

The MA experience wasn't volunteer, though. OP, I feel your pain.
 
three thousand hours in the field/hospital as medic. another two-three hundred volunteering all over a local tertiary hospital. I am such a common sight there that people just know me....
 
I am in med school this year and I had alot less hours than you. Who adds up your hours? Nobody, I guarantee it. The Ad Com wants to know that you have some reasonable idea of what you are getting into, but nobody cares about how many hours you volunteered. I just wish that I could have been a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1802 and caught a few trout when they got to Montana. Can you imagine what the trout were like in Montana in 1802 and what you would have experienced if you would have had a Orvis graphite 6 weight fly rod and a sweet 4lb test leader and some nice #14 flies? It would be a sweet campfire that is for sure. Yes, I get it, there is no time machine, but man, that would have been sweet.
 
Do you guys log your hours in like excel or something?

Just curious as to how you all know how many hours you have.
 
MynameisMike said:
Do you guys log your hours in like excel or something?

Just curious as to how you all know how many hours you have.
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nope just figured how many hours I work on average each week and multiply that by the number of weeks

You arent required to list the total hours on AMCAS just the number/week and the dates
 
Wow I feel like a complete slacker.

I'll have only 200 or so hours.

Most of my free time is spent doing a rather selfish EC.
 
twohundred is fine and good start. You can always increase that by getting involved somewhere.
 
I had probably ~2200 hours as an MA when I applied. I'm up to maybe 3200 now.
 
rogerwilco said:
Masturbation is nothing to be ashamed of.
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hahahaha awesome

yeah i dont guess either, but i would say 20 hours of shadowing and like 50ish of hospital volunteering...i hated it so much i did my volunteer work outside of the clinical setting

i wouldnt recommend going that route, though
 
Hmmm I'm sitting at about 80-100 max. It hasn't been a problem so far, but I also am a poor kid that has to work. I have probably worked 2000+ hours while in college, and I let the adcoms know that all I can offer as a volunteer is one day a week max. I have a ton of volunteer hours that aren't clinical (fundraising, animal-related activities, coaching, youth outreach), and considering my numbers I think I'm doing pretty good right about now.

I agree with the idea that adcoms want to know that you've done some scoping out to make sure its a career that fits. I doubt that thousands of hours is even in the realm of possibility for a decent number of kids, so I wouldn't freak out if you have fewer hours than whats on here. My jaw hit the floor as I was reading through this thread...
 
Just exaclty how do the adcoms ask for EC's? I am in my 2nd year and so far I have not done any, real bad I know, how many hours should I be aiming for and where should they come from?
 
hopefullkid said:
Just exaclty how do the adcoms ask for EC's? I am in my 2nd year and so far I have not done any, real bad I know, how many hours should I be aiming for and where should they come from?
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I recall LizzyM stating that the average amount (for her school) of clinical experience was something like 200 hours. I suspect this thread to be kind of skewed in that no one is going to brag about having 100 hours of volunteer work.

You should volunteer consistently from now until you apply. What you get out of your experience is a lot more important than how many hours you worked. Most people do clinical volunteer work in a hospital setting. Shadowing a doctor is pretty typical as well.

Another EC you might want to consider is research so try to sneak your way in to someone's lab.

You can do something that might just be for leisure as well. For instance, joining the Chess club or whatever.
 
smeagol said:
I recall LizzyM stating that the average amount (for her school) of clinical experience was something like 200 hours. I suspect this thread to be kind of skewed in that no one is going to brag about having 100 hours of volunteer work.
Click to expand...

I think you're probably right on that regard, but still, I do like talking about myself :D

With the Fire Department I had about 3000-3500
Shadowing I had about 200
Working at a hospital I had about 800

So total maybe around 4000-4500, but then again, I worked full time during school and since graduating in May.
 
I had one summer full-time in cardiology (although this was mostly research-oriented) and two full years plus one summer (full-time, not in school) in HIV/AIDS (research and clinical).
 
smeagol said:
I recall LizzyM stating that the average amount (for her school) of clinical experience was something like 200 hours. I suspect this thread to be kind of skewed in that no one is going to brag about having 100 hours of volunteer work.

You should volunteer consistently from now until you apply. What you get out of your experience is a lot more important than how many hours you worked. Most people do clinical volunteer work in a hospital setting. Shadowing a doctor is pretty typical as well.

Another EC you might want to consider is research so try to sneak your way in to someone's lab.

You can do something that might just be for leisure as well. For instance, joining the Chess club or whatever.
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Thats exactly what I was planning to do. I am going to start some ER volunteer work at a local hospital soon and they were saying some thing about setting me up with some doctors for shadowing. As far as research is concerned, do the adcoms prefer if it is in the medical or science field or it doesn't matter to them?
 
hopefullkid said:
Thats exactly what I was planning to do. I am going to start some ER volunteer work at a local hospital soon and they were saying some thing about setting me up with some doctors for shadowing. As far as research is concerned, do the adcoms prefer if it is in the medical or science field or it doesn't matter to them?
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Any science related research that you are genuinely interested in is good.

If it's also medically related it could be a plus. But don't turn down labs if their research isn't directly related to medicine.
 
roughly 700 hours as a medical assistant
80 hours of volunteering in clinical setting
roughly 40 hours of shadowing
 
Well as of today (I apply 2009)
~Hospital Volunteer work- 250hrs
~1 weeks (so you figure out hours) of special needs summer camp
~around 75 hrs shadowing (55 in Peds hem/onc and 20 in general medicine)

By the cycle I will have
~ a little more shadowing
~ most likely one more camp week
~and more hospital volunteer hours
 
dang, i'm scared. I'll be sitting at exactly 100 hrs at app time, and I honestly don't have time to do any more (work full time, doing a "selfish EC" for 7 hrs a week). blah
 
Dulcina said:
dang, i'm scared. I'll be sitting at exactly 100 hrs at app time, and I honestly don't have time to do any more (work full time, doing a "selfish EC" for 7 hrs a week). blah
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Even though your Clinical wont be impressive, the rest of your app is remarkable and you are better offthan 95%+ ofapplicants still.
 
searun said:
I am in med school this year and I had alot less hours than you. Who adds up your hours? Nobody, I guarantee it. The Ad Com wants to know that you have some reasonable idea of what you are getting into, but nobody cares about how many hours you volunteered. I just wish that I could have been a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1802 and caught a few trout when they got to Montana. Can you imagine what the trout were like in Montana in 1802 and what you would have experienced if you would have had a Orvis graphite 6 weight fly rod and a sweet 4lb test leader and some nice #14 flies? It would be a sweet campfire that is for sure. Yes, I get it, there is no time machine, but man, that would have been sweet.
Click to expand...
This is crackin' me up. Let me know if you manage to make it back there. I'm so in!
 
damn yall are insane. i have like 70 (trying to get it up to 100) :(
 
holy.crap.

Do a lot of pre-meds typically have clinical hours in the order of 1000 hours...?

I am really, really scared now.
 
mslee said:
holy.crap.

Do a lot of pre-meds typically have clinical hours in the order of 1000 hours...?

I am really, really scared now.
Click to expand...
From what I gather, a lot of people are including actual jobs. Say you work in a doctor's office over the summer to help collect stats on patients and clean up. 40 hours/week for 3 months gives you 480 hrs right there. Some students go across seas for a week to do volunteer work or work for healthcare systems in other countries. A lot will count that whole week even if they're only working 1/3 of the time...168 hours.

Like the title of the thread says, this is for "clinical" experience and not just "volunteer" experience.
 
Or it's just that pre-meds really love numbers
 
mslee said:
holy.crap.

Do a lot of pre-meds typically have clinical hours in the order of 1000 hours...?

I am really, really scared now.
Click to expand...

I agree. I volunteered for about 150 hours at a hospital and spent 30 hours shadowing A FP and thought that would put me in the middle of the pack. Is there really that much of a difference between volunteering in a hospital for 200 hours versus 1000 hours? It seemed to me that by the 50th hour or so, it started to become a chore.
 
I had about 75 hours of shadowing over one summer. Nothing else really, certainly no clinical volunteering.

I go to Penn now.

All about what else is in your application...
 
2100+ working in the OR as an Anesthesia Tech.
- Could not get better experience than this. I help the Anesthesiologist run central lines, arterial lines, epidurals, nerve blocks. I respond daily to trama cases and codes. Work on difficult airways. I sit in operations and talk to the surgeons about cases from Colon resects to Coronary Artery Bypasses grafts.
200 volunteering in the ER and Radiology
50 shadowing physicians
 
zero hours
 
rcwhite007 said:
2100+ working in the OR as an Anesthesia Tech.
- Could not get better experience than this. I help the Anesthesiologist run central lines, arterial lines, epidurals, nerve blocks. I respond daily to trama cases and codes. Work on difficult airways.
Click to expand...

Asleep patient contact is the best kind of patient contact! :rolleyes: I don't mean this in a mean way, but that experience will not really put you ahead in medical school since by the time you need any of those skills in 3rd year, you'll have had two years of sitting on your ass in class forgetting it all. It's great to be in the OR and hang with gas/surgeons, but there's a lot more of medicine out there and as an admissions person, I would put no more weight on that experience than handing out free condoms.
 
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