Medical jobs

[ris11]

Hi guys,

I am currently an undergrad freshmen and am planning to pursue being a scribe and MA in my undergrad. Do you think this is possible and feasible?

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[candbgirl]

Why are you pursuing either jobs. To make money? To get clinical experience?

 

[ris11]

Why are you pursuing either jobs. To make money? To get clinical experience?

To mainly get clinical experience

 

[Deltasidearm]

Yes, it's definitely feasible. Many pre-med students will work a part-time job throughout undergrad and I even know some of my medical classmates still pick up some shifts occasionally. However, the most important thing is that your grades are always the top priority and do not fall at all because of working. That said, scribing is the more traditional route but the best clinical experience for undergrads (without other qualifications) is working as a patient care assistant/unit technician fulfilling the role of an in-patient nursing assistant.

 

[seaslug23]

Hi guys,

I am currently an undergrad freshmen and am planning to pursue being a scribe and MA in my undergrad. Do you think this is possible and feasible?

I think you should focus on one or the other. MA and NA positions offer more in patient focused experiences, which could be more beneficial than a scribe position. I think the biggest piece of advice is to not start off with a high FTE. You can always pick up shifts if you have time, but don't over extend yourself for a job.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Don't do both. MA has more direct patient contact plus you get to see the humanity of taking care of frail, sick patients. Assisting in patient moves, hygiene, comfort etc.. Pick one as they will be time consuming and you need to earn a good gpa.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Depends on your school. At my UG, it would’ve been difficult to get grades on the right side of the curve while also working a significant number of hours.

 

[oldman]

Hi guys,

I am currently an undergrad freshmen and am planning to pursue being a scribe and MA in my undergrad. Do you think this is possible and feasible?

The scribe position didn't exist when I was looking for jobs as an undergrad. It has some interesting benefits that I could see. The big one is you'll be working directly with physicians or other providers so a chance to get a letter of recommendation. Also you'll get to see firsthand what they are doing. If doing MA doing it in the outpatient setting probably also gets better contact with the physicians. I work with MA when seeing patients in the office. On the hospital floors the MAs work with patients, but I rarely interact with them. I discuss patients more with the nurses to review care plans.

 

[LizzyM]

While PCT jobs in hospitals and nursing homes would be my recommendation if your goal was to make money, the role is more relevant to one pursuing a career in nursing than in medicine. It does provide a good perspective of hands-on patient care and the back breaking labor of those on the lowest rungs of the care team.
Scribing doesn’t pay as well but is more intellectually stimulating and places you as a fly on the wall during patient encounters which can be valuable. Medical assistant in an office setting would be similar, I think.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Your ultimate goal would be the best grades and MCAT score possible. If money is not an issue, I would recommend volunteering instead for the clinical experience. Kill two birds with one stone (clinical experience and volunteering) by working only 4 hours per week. Depending on what you do, you may have enough down time to get studying done. I have seen people bite off more than they can chew with entry-level clinical jobs, and this ultimately cost them medical school and much more (ended up under-employed).

With that said, if you are able to work and not negatively impact your grades, then scribing is the way to go. It will get you pretty good and doing the H&P, which sets up a good foundation going forward. When I was in medical school, however, they started us at step zero, so I never felt behind compared to peers that scribed and did other stuff. I currently work as a nocturnist, and noticed a lot of the emergency medicine physicians use scribes. I haven't had a chance to chat much with them, but can imagine working overnight shifts while in college doing the pre-med track might be quite difficult. For a gap year, scribing would be the way to go.

Also don't forget you still need to volunteer on top of any paid clinical experience. Hence why I recommend just doing something like volunteering in the emergency department instead.