Is this clinical or non-clinical volunteering?

[ManlyMan246]

Hi everyone, I volunteer with an organization that provides companionship and support for people with intellectual disabilities. Definitely close enough to "smell them" but I don't know if they are considered "patients." What would you say?

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[gettheleadout]

Are you helping to provide medical care? If no, then it is non-clinical. I do similar volunteer work, and although the people being helped have medical issues, the work with them is not directly meant to care for their conditions as opposed to helping develop their social skills.

 

[REMMAH]

I work with children who have disabilities (like autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.) to help develop their fine and gross motor skills. I, too, am not sure if this would be considered clinical or not. I assume it would be, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Hi everyone, I volunteer with an organization that provides companionship and support for people with intellectual disabilities. Definitely close enough to "smell them" but I don't know if they are considered "patients." What would you say?

If you're assisting the people like asking them how they feel and helping them and physically interacting with them, then it's clinical. Clinical experience is all about working with the sick or elderly or even the disabled and learning about what it's like to interact with a certain population of people who need help and to see if you mentally or physically can stomach it.

 

[gettheleadout]

If you're assisting the people like asking them how they feel and helping them and physically interacting with them, then it's clinical. Clinical experience is all about working with the sick or elderly or even the disabled and learning about what it's like to interact with a certain population of people who need help and to see if you mentally or physically can stomach it.

I'm interested to see what Cat or LizzyM think about this, as I can see how by your definition much work with disabled individuals could be considered clinical, but for my volunteering the "companionship and support" I provide is not specifically of a "clinical" nature in the sense that it would be not provided in a true clinical setting. I assume it could depend on the nature of the work? If you're tutoring or just being a friend to mentally disabled individuals this would be non-clinical, correct? As opposed to REMMAH's work with developing motor skills, which I would assume would be clinical as it is basically physical therapy.

 

[blp11]

I had a similar question as well, but one of the programs I'm considering mostly involves driving elderly people to doctors' appointments. Another is just about helping more generally in the home for those who need help with daily tasks.

I don't know if clinical work absolutely has to involve administering medical care, because most undergrads don't have the qualifications to do that, and yet hospital volunteering (transporting patients, giving drinks, etc) is considered clinical.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I'm interested to see what Cat or LizzyM think about this, as I can see how by your definition much work with disabled individuals could be considered clinical, but for my volunteering the "companionship and support" I provide is not specifically of a "clinical" nature in the sense that it would be not provided in a true clinical setting. I assume it could depend on the nature of the work? If you're tutoring or just being a friend to mentally disabled individuals this would be non-clinical, correct? As opposed to REMMAH's work with developing motor skills, which I would assume would be clinical as it is basically physical therapy.

Well I think there is a bit of subjectivity. But I remember either Lizzy or cat saying that even working as pharm tech and assisting the sick like that is clinical as well. So I would assume that the definition of clinical experience is very broad and is simply about helping a population which is in need of medical help physically. So I mean working at the soup kitchen isn't clinical because it's not medically related. But I think if it's related medically it's likely to be clinical than non-clinical.
But I think physical therapy is without a doubt 100% clinical. You're actually touching people and assisting them, that's more than most pre-meds who clean beds or stop in and talk to the patients or bring in their meals.

 

[MightyMoose]

Hi everyone, I volunteer with an organization that provides companionship and support for people with intellectual disabilities. Definitely close enough to "smell them" but I don't know if they are considered "patients." What would you say?

I work with children who have disabilities (like autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.) to help develop their fine and gross motor skills. I, too, am not sure if this would be considered clinical or not. I assume it would be, but I'm not 100% sure.

I think both of these sound like they could be clinical experiences. Definitely REMMAH's (I wouldn't even question it), but I would say for ManlyMan, if you could swing a couple of visits with them to a specialist of sorts, you could say that you were able to help them implement prescribed care, etc.. Without that though, I would say it falls under Volunteer, non-medical. It's definitely something to talk about at interviews, where you can integrate into patient care and experience discussions, but for cataloging purposed, it's more volunteer non-med at this point. At least that's my take.

 

[gettheleadout]

Well I think there is a bit of subjectivity. But I remember either Lizzy or cat saying that even working as pharm tech and assisting the sick like that is clinical as well. So I would assume that the definition of clinical experience is very broad and is simply about helping a population which is in need of medical help physically. So I mean working at the soup kitchen isn't clinical because it's not medically related. But I think if it's related medically it's likely to be clinical than non-clinical.
But I think physical therapy is without a doubt 100% clinical. You're actually touching people and assisting them, that's more than most pre-meds who clean beds or stop in and talk to the patients or bring in their meals.

Oh, I definitely do agree with that.

 

[LizzyM]

I'd say that physical and occupational therapy and other activities that require a physician's prescription are "clinical services". On the other hand, is bowling or going to the mall with a person with a mental or physical disability a "clinical activity"? I would say not.

That said, many non-clinical activities can teach you much about the human experience, and about how to interact with people. The more people, and the greater variety of the people, you have the opportunity to interact with, the more you can learn about what makes people tick. That comes in handy when you are required to interact with people in clinical settings.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone, I volunteer with an organization that provides companionship and support for people with intellectual disabilities. Definitely close enough to "smell them" but I don't know if they are considered "patients." What would you say?

If your duties include assisting with exercizes to improve strength, range of motion, and dexterity, or practice with proper speech patterns, or OT-type practice activities, or ensuring that they take medication in a timely manner, or assessing relative mental status using a checklist, or assisting with cath or ostomy care, among others, then this would be a clinical experience. If you are assisting with daily tasks of living (feeding, bathing, dressing, transfers, etc.), playing games, and being a buddy, then it is community service-nonclinical, and still a valuable experience.

 

[Catalystik]

I remember either Lizzy or cat saying that even working as pharm tech and assisting the sick like that is clinical as well.

IMO, the part of a pharm tech's job that entails window contact and educating patients on their medications is clinical experience. The duties that require counting pills, labeling, inventory, selling other pharmacy general merchandise items at the register, is not. It is overall an excellent experience regardless, but should not stand on its own.

 

[gettheleadout]

I'd say that physical and occupational therapy and other activities that require a physician's prescription are "clinical services". On the other hand, is bowling or going to the mall with a person with a mental or physical disability a "clinical activity"? I would say not.

That said, many non-clinical activities can teach you much about the human experience, and about how to interact with people. The more people, and the greater variety of the people, you have the opportunity to interact with, the more you can learn about what makes people tick. That comes in handy when you are required to interact with people in clinical settings.

That is exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you

 

[ManlyMan246]

Thanks for the help everyone!