How to categorize a paid EEG technician position in my research lab on AMCAS?

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How should I categorize this experience?

  • Paid employment – medical/clinical

  • Paid employment – not medical/clinical

  • Research/lab

  • Other


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SpanishMusical

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Hi all,

In my research lab, we had a collaborator who had been doing a study for a few years and used our lab's RAs and equipment to gather EEG data for their own study. I was hired on a per hour basis to run these EEGs. I'm unsure how to categorize them for AMCAS for the following reasons.

1. I only learned the most rudimentary basics of the experimental design itself – my job was to understand the equipment and procedure and collect the data, not analyze it or write it up or anything; for this reason, I'm unsure if this counts as research.
2. While EEG is a clinical procedure, we were using it for research only, not diagnostics; this makes me unsure if I should count this as clinical or non-clinical employment.

Thoughts?

EDIT:
Since I want to avoid making another thread but was hoping for some advice on a separate issue, do people recommend including a separate entry for professional certifications on AMCAS? I am a certified EMT and English-Spanish medical interpreter, and was wondering if including these certs as their own entry was advisable. If so, how should I categorize them? Awards/honors?
 
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strappysandals

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Sounds like you will already have a "Research" entry for the lab work. If you were so close that you could smell the patients - "Paid employment - Clinical." If not, "Paid employment - Non Clinical" or maybe not even list it and add it to your research entry.

As for Your professional certifications, did you use them? Were you an EMT and/or interpreter? If so, they should have their own entries where it becomes clear you were certified in the respective fields. If you did not actually use the certifications, I dont really see the need to list it at all.
 

SpanishMusical

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Sounds like you will already have a "Research" entry for the lab work. If you were so close that you could smell the patients - "Paid employment - Clinical." If not, "Paid employment - Non Clinical" or maybe not even list it and add it to your research entry.

As for Your professional certifications, did you use them? Were you an EMT and/or interpreter? If so, they should have their own entries where it becomes clear you were certified in the respective fields. If you did not actually use the certifications, I dont really see the need to list it at all.

Yeah, I will have a separate "research" entry, so I guess clinical makes sense, using your litmus test. The one caveat is that they weren't really patients; they were more participants (if that changes anything).

For the certs, that makes sense.

Thanks for your help!
 
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A. In my research lab, we had a collaborator who had been doing a study for a few years and used our lab's RAs and equipment to gather EEG data for their own study. I was hired on a per hour basis to run these EEGs. I'm unsure how to categorize them for AMCAS for the following reasons.

1. I only learned the most rudimentary basics of the experimental design itself – my job was to understand the equipment and procedure and collect the data, not analyze it or write it up or anything; for this reason, I'm unsure if this counts as research.
2. While EEG is a clinical procedure, we were using it for research only, not diagnostics; this makes me unsure if I should count this as clinical or non-clinical employment.
3. The one caveat is that they weren't really patients; they were more participants (if that changes anything).

B. Since I want to avoid making another thread but was hoping for some advice on a separate issue, do people recommend including a separate entry for professional certifications on AMCAS? I am a certified EMT and English-Spanish medical interpreter, and was wondering if including these certs as their own entry was advisable. If so, how should I categorize them? Awards/honors?
A. Call it Employment-Not Medical/Clinical.

B. I agree with strappysandals.
 
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