How much clinical experience is necessary

[eflwon]

I am going to be applying to DO schools this summer and have little to no clinical experience at all. Could anyone help me out with how much : one you need for application purposes, and two for personal reasons (ie. feeling comftorable in 1st year, and making sure its what you want to do. Also, does anyone know good places to get info on non-profit health care volunteering. As i am in somewhat of a "save the world" mode right now, the work i did volunteering at the local hospital was a little to ...
i appreaciat any help i can get.

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[Nate]

For most schools you need a letter of recommendation from a DO (and even if they don’t need it, they want it). In order to get this letter, you usually need to shadow a DO. Take advantage of this time to ask the DO questions about the profession. This is the minimum that you need.

I think the more experience the better; it will help you in essays and interviews to be able to refer to "that time when I was volunteering with..." You have to realize that for insurance, HIPPA, and liability reasons there is a very limited amount you can do as a volunteer in the health care setting these days. Even if you’re just talking to people or pushing around gurneys you can get some good exposure, especially if you have a good attitude and work hard to make the nurses and techs lives easier. You can try nursing homes and shelters if your local hospital isn’t giving you what you need but I drove 20 minutes to the regional trauma center for my exposure instead of the local hospital, so if that is an option for you, you may consider checking out another hospital’s ER. Good luck

 

[Amy B]

A great place to get clinical experiences as well as feeling like you are adding something to the world is a free health clinic. They are always in need of volunteers. If you start volunteering now at least once a week, you can get some great experiences. Lots of them will teach you how to check a patient in and do simple vitals if you don't know how.

Hospitals are another place to volunteer but you more than likely won't get any good patient contact when you first start there.

Technically you really should have started sooner than this. Most schools value the time an applicant has spent getting clinical/patient contact. It is an important part of the DO application. I would highly encourage anyone who is applying this year or even better next year or the year after to start being a steady regular volunteer somewhere. If you have the time ( a couple of years before you apply) then I would suggest becoming an EMT. That is a great way to get experiences.

Good luck.