Lab assistant (clinical)/gap year

[Doe22]

So, I posted a while ago here about working as an optometric assistant during a gap year that I have taken to improve my application. I'm taking the MCAT in January. GPA=3.87. bio major. Clinical volunteering ~600 hrs, non-clinical ~100 hrs Research since June 2019 in a lab in the med school at my University. Most of the work in the lab was volunteering, but some hours went towards my degree. No publications, but was selected for an oral presentation in a conference which got cancelled due to COVID-19. No major leadership positions. I was a tutor in an ESL program, a peer mentor in my college for a semester, a kids' marathon mentor for a summer program (supervised kids while training and ran the marathon with them). Participated in a CPR event that took place on campus, in which I trained tens of people. Shadowing ~40 hrs two specialties. Volunteering as a COVID-19 screener since July.

Long story short, I have taken this gap year to improve my application due poor EC's. I applied for multiple positions heard back mostly from Lab assistant jobs I applied to and ended up accepting a Job offer. I have read a lot of things on here regarding this type of job (some say it's clinical some say it's not). I understand that this is a lab assistant position which is different from research assistant. Most of the work will be routine. Preparing specimen, handling specimen, taking in and entering orders.... etc. Patient interactions is not a major aspect of this job. However, there are many doctors (pathologists) working in the department, of course.

Any thoughts on this? does anyone have an experience or worked a similar job that they found to be helpful on the application?

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[lull]

I work as a lab assistant (specimen processor). My role has very minimal patient interaction, the only small interaction I had with a non-lab employee was urine drug screen observations for employees/CPS. Some lab assistants do specimen processing and phlebotomy, which would be more patient interaction, but specimen processing alone....doubt it.

I still think there's a lot of benefits that can come out of this experience. You do a lot of coordinating work (large part of my job is making sure lab draws are being done/finding phlebotomists, answering calls from providers/outside clinics), there's a lot of administrative work, there's a lot of learning how to be patient with not-so-happy providers, learning how to problem solve when things go wrong (when tubes are mislabeled/incorrectly collected/missing/analyzers stop working etc), learning how to prioritize/remain calm when it gets incredibly busy and you have to manage calls, process specimen, and make sure draws are being done in a timely manner. I think there's a lot of skills you get out of this kind of job.

 

[Doe22]

I work as a lab assistant (specimen processor). My role has very minimal patient interaction, the only small interaction I had with a non-lab employee was urine drug screen observations for employees/CPS. Some lab assistants do specimen processing and phlebotomy, which would be more patient interaction, but specimen processing alone....doubt it.

I still think there's a lot of benefits that can come out of this experience. You do a lot of coordinating work (large part of my job is making sure lab draws are being done/finding phlebotomists, answering calls from providers/outside clinics), there's a lot of administrative work, there's a lot of learning how to be patient with not-so-happy providers, learning how to problem solve when things go wrong (when tubes are mislabeled/incorrectly collected/missing/analyzers stop working etc), learning how to prioritize/remain calm when it gets incredibly busy and you have to manage calls, process specimen, and make sure draws are being done in a timely manner. I think there's a lot of skills you get out of this kind of job.

Do you know if this is considered clinical experience when applying to med school or just a regular job?

 

[lull]

Do you know if this is considered clinical experience when applying to med school or just a regular job?

I was told by an adcom on here that it is not generally clinical experience. I would ask in those forums if your job role is different from mine v

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That makes it easy to say that one of the "plans for next year" is to accept the Service Award that will be conferred in late September 2020 for . . . . In addition, for schools where I used the secondary "additional comments" essay to do a "why us" or diversity question, would it be okay...

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*~*~*~* Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2020-2021 *~*~*~*

That makes it easy to say that one of the "plans for next year" is to accept the Service Award that will be conferred in late September 2020 for . . . . In addition, for schools where I used the secondary "additional comments" essay to do a "why us" or diversity question, would it be okay...

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[Missusa001]

Arriving late to the conversation but I just to say that generally lab assistant jobs are what your specific lab have delegated for you to do. Like mentioned above, many labs will use them for specimen processing. At my lab, we are assigned to the departments to do in-lab testing or bedside testing as required. In my role, I work within hematology with some bone/blood cancer patients. I also work on the floors or cancer centers assisting the doctors with marrow biopsies and transplants. Which this reason alone is what I consider positive patient contact experience. I hope you'll land a gig that's very much involved in patient care as well. Best of luck.