Is this clinical experience?

[prairiemusic]

I just got a gap year job as a reception tech/medical screener at a plasma donation center. I know that donors are not patients, but I'll be performing clinical tasks like taking blood pressure and doing a finger stick for blood protein levels. I'll also be cross trained in a few months to assist phlebotomists on the donor floor. I have clinical volunteering and shadowing so I'm not desperate for hours or anything, I just think this might fit clinical more than non-clinical. If I were only at the reception I'd say non-clinical, but the blood pressure and screening makes me think it might be clinical. What do you all (especially @LizzyM if you aren't busy) think?

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[Goro]

I consider it clinical.

 

[prairiemusic]

I consider it clinical.

Thank you!

 

[LizzyM]

Does AMCAS differentiate between clinical and non-clinical employment? Frankly, I haven't really looked at the applications and the pull-down menu tags for the AMCAS experience section in a long time. The instructions on pages 43-44 describe that section but don't specify.

If AMCAS doesn't differentiate employment in that way, it doesn't really matter.

It is sort of clinical but not really. The people are not sick or injured (or they shouldn't be). They aren't there seeking health care. There are no physicians present, ever, caring for patients, prescribing or managing health problems. You are learning to do some things that medical school would teach you in a single afternoon. You are learning to be comfortable talking with strangers and touching them and doing things that are mildly uncomfortable for them and those are skills that it might be helpful to practice so that you learn to deal with people in that way.

It isn't a bad job but it certainly can't be your only clinical experience.

 

[Catalystik]

Does AMCAS differentiate between clinical and non-clinical employment?

Yes, they do now.

 

[LizzyM]

I always believe that down-coding is better than up-coding. If you think that something might or might not be X compared with Y and X is more highly desirable, pick Y. The adcom/reader can always say, "this person is too modest, this is really X" but you don't want them to say, "This person is feeding us a line of B.S., this is not X, it's only Y."