Is temperature screening "clinical experience"?

[deleted1001544]

While I'm waiting on some more substantive clinical activities to come through during this epidemic (have an orientation at a local EMS service), I've taken up a gig screening people for COVID-19 at energy stations around my city. I'm definitely going to list this somewhere so they know what I was doing, but I feel like this is kind of similar to the hospice debate, and I have a few reasons for and against.

For:
I am performing basic clinical skills, such as proper use of PPE, taking temperature, and asking basic question to determine COVID-19 risk
I had to have an EMT-B certification to get the job
My activities are directly related to the prevention of the spread of disease.


Against:
It's really basic work. I get that medical schools aren't asking us to perform intubations or administer IV medications in order to get clinical experience, but I'm not providing any care at all, and this work is so basic I'm not sure why I needed the certification for it.
The people I'm dealing with aren't really sick. We don't even refer to them as patients but as customers.
I'm not in a hospital or other setting where I could see healthcare professionals, I'm at power plants and office buildings doing my own thing.
(I feel like clinical experience should substantively meet at least one of those requirements.)

At the end of the day it's probably not going to matter once my other opportunities kick in, but I suppose I'll have to classify this somewhere on the application so just trying to figure out where to put it.

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[boo234]

do it if you want to do something meaningful to help others during this pandemic and are fortunate to be at a place where u are not putting loved ones at risk
dont do it if u simply want "to check a box" bc u will be miserable bc u obviously dont want to do it for the above reason

 

[deleted1001544]

do it if you want to do something meaningful to help others during this pandemic and are fortunate to be at a place where u are not putting loved ones at risk
dont do it if u simply want "to check a box" bc u will be miserable bc u obviously dont want to do it for the above reason

I'm not doing it "for med school" or "to check a box". I've been looking for pretty much any way to use my EMT certification for something since I got it last summer. The volunteer EMS service opportunity has been in the works since January, but the temperature screening opportunity presented itself so I took it. That being said, at some point, I will need to apply to medical school at some point, and in terms of practicality, I'd like to know what counts for what in terms of the application.

 

[vrazzles]

This would be clinical experience IMHO.

 

[mmchick]

As one of the adcom people say on here, if you're close enough to smell the patient, it's clinical experience.

Frankly, don't worry about it. Show up because you want to be there and figure out how to classify it later. Continue to get more immersed clinical experience through EMS in the meantime. Most likely, it'll be a great experience to mention during interviews as I'm sure adcoms will be looking to see what applicants went out of their way to specifically respond/help during this time of a lot of downtime - so if anything, it's niche bonus points. You would probably be safest listing it as non-medical volunteering, but would probably be just as fine listing it as clinical. I don't think this particular experience is going to score you points for clinical experiences that explain your passion for medicine - which is typically the point of having them in the first place - anyway, so don't worry about it.

 

[deleted966164]

It does not matter whether this is clinical or not. Imagine that during an interview at a medical school you will be asked: "What did you do during the Pandemic?" You will be able to say - "I helped by performing temperature screenings." instead of "I watched Tiger King... like everybody else." Which will look better?

 

[Engrailed]

Yes, it is.

 

[Goro]

While I'm waiting on some more substantive clinical activities to come through during this epidemic (have an orientation at a local EMS service), I've taken up a gig screening people for COVID-19 at energy stations around my city. I'm definitely going to list this somewhere so they know what I was doing, but I feel like this is kind of similar to the hospice debate, and I have a few reasons for and against.

For:
I am performing basic clinical skills, such as proper use of PPE, taking temperature, and asking basic question to determine COVID-19 risk
I had to have an EMT-B certification to get the job
My activities are directly related to the prevention of the spread of disease.


Against:
It's really basic work. I get that medical schools aren't asking us to perform intubations or administer IV medications in order to get clinical experience, but I'm not providing any care at all, and this work is so basic I'm not sure why I needed the certification for it.
The people I'm dealing with aren't really sick. We don't even refer to them as patients but as customers.
I'm not in a hospital or other setting where I could see healthcare professionals, I'm at power plants and office buildings doing my own thing.
(I feel like clinical experience should substantively meet at least one of those requirements.)

At the end of the day it's probably not going to matter once my other opportunities kick in, but I suppose I'll have to classify this somewhere on the application so just trying to figure out where to put it.

Yes, it's clinical experience.

 

[JoaoMoutinho]

Yes, it's clinical experience.

What if you can't smell them through your mask?

 

[LizzyM]

Well, you say that they aren't "patients" and that is part of my definition so in that regard it is not clinical, sort of like being at the screening table at a blood drive might not be considered "clinical care". That said, it is a good experience of dealing with the sick and the worried well and you should do it because you want to and worry later about whether to call it "clinical" or "non-clinical". Frankly, I think that this is the exception to the "patients" rule for clnical experience. Thank you for doing your part in the pandemic!

 

[deleted393595]

While I'm waiting on some more substantive clinical activities to come through during this epidemic (have an orientation at a local EMS service), I've taken up a gig screening people for COVID-19 at energy stations around my city. I'm definitely going to list this somewhere so they know what I was doing, but I feel like this is kind of similar to the hospice debate, and I have a few reasons for and against.

For:
I am performing basic clinical skills, such as proper use of PPE, taking temperature, and asking basic question to determine COVID-19 risk
I had to have an EMT-B certification to get the job
My activities are directly related to the prevention of the spread of disease.


Against:
It's really basic work. I get that medical schools aren't asking us to perform intubations or administer IV medications in order to get clinical experience, but I'm not providing any care at all, and this work is so basic I'm not sure why I needed the certification for it.
The people I'm dealing with aren't really sick. We don't even refer to them as patients but as customers.
I'm not in a hospital or other setting where I could see healthcare professionals, I'm at power plants and office buildings doing my own thing.
(I feel like clinical experience should substantively meet at least one of those requirements.)

At the end of the day it's probably not going to matter once my other opportunities kick in, but I suppose I'll have to classify this somewhere on the application so just trying to figure out where to put it.

Yes! You're interacting with potential patients and doing incredibly important work at significant risk to yourself.

Way more than I did as an UG