Medical Scribe Good for Med School Application?

[DrBioEngineer]

Hi Everyone,

I just got a medical scribe position for the summer and I was wondering if this would be considered good experience? Because basically I am shadowing a doctor all the time and in the clinic I will be working at, I get to interact with the patients even and help out in very minor tasks. It is a urology office where they do surgeries and also just regular check-ups. I know clinical experience (taking care/interacting w/ patients) is important but kind of impossible to do unless you're already in med school haha. Is this good clinical experience?

Thanks Everyone!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MaxPlancker]

Well, you answered your own question. Yes, it's one of the best clinical experiences you can obtain as a pre-med.

 

[DrBioEngineer]

Well, you answered your own question. Yes, it's one of the best clinical experiences you can obtain as a pre-med.

Do you know of any other clinical experiences that could make me stand out or are maybe better than this?

 

[MaxPlancker]

Well, common ones would be EMT, PCT but I personally think scribe is the single best because you follow the doc closely everywhere, learn about documentation, and actually document the patient's history of present illness, review of systems, physical exam, medical decision making, blah blah. Some places you even place lab orders with permission and the docs will teach you how to read rads and stuff.

 

[Acoustica]

I got a job as a medical assistant for my gap year that I thought was not only a paycheck but also great clinical experience and tons of fun...but obviously this is not something you could do while actively in school...

CCE programs are great because you actually have responsibilities as a volunteer and help with a lot of patient care activities. I was a CCE on a med/surg floor and helped turn patients, clean them, feed them, brought them water/blankets.

Honestly no one asked me how many hours I shadowed/volunteered...they mostly cared about if the experience was meaningful and what I got out of it.

 

[P0ke]

Hi Everyone,

I just got a medical scribe position for the summer and I was wondering if this would be considered good experience? Because basically I am shadowing a doctor all the time and in the clinic I will be working at, I get to interact with the patients even and help out in very minor tasks. It is a urology office where they do surgeries and also just regular check-ups. I know clinical experience (taking care/interacting w/ patients) is important but kind of impossible to do unless you're already in med school haha. Is this good clinical experience?

Thanks Everyone!

Being a scribe, especially for a long duration, will be a huge advantage in your clinical years. You'll know what different medications do, medical terminology, history taking, physical exam, and you'll see so many cases that you'll practically be diagnosing patients yourself after a while (although that's still the doctor's job).