Medical Volunteering Here or Abroad

[fishrfriendsnotfood]

Hello guys,

This summer I plan on getting my clinical volunteering numbers up while beginning to study for the MCAT and doing research.

I have a couple options and was curious what you guys think:

1) do research, study, and work in a hospital as a volunteer all in the same summer

2) go abroad and do a medical internship the first month of the summer, then come home and do option #1 for one less month.

My problem is with 2, although I do want to go abroad (specifically Asia) to see that part of the world, I have heard many negative things about these type of clinical programs.
Ex: ethical issues with doing certain things in a clinical setting, "voluntourism", paying to go, etc.

Please let me know what you guys think. I am applying without a gap year so want to make the right decisions before applying! Thank you!

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[freedoctor17]

Hello guys,

This summer I plan on getting my clinical volunteering numbers up while beginning to study for the MCAT and doing research.

I have a couple options and was curious what you guys think:

1) do research, study, and work in a hospital as a volunteer all in the same summer

2) go abroad and do a medical internship the first month of the summer, then come home and do option #1 for one less month.

My problem is with 2, although I do want to go abroad (specifically Asia) to see that part of the world, I have heard many negative things about these type of clinical programs.
Ex: ethical issues with doing certain things in a clinical setting, "voluntourism", paying to go, etc.

Please let me know what you guys think. I am applying without a gap year so want to make the right decisions before applying! Thank you!

Stay

 

[Goro]

Stay!!!

 

[fishrfriendsnotfood]

Stay!!!

Stay!!!

Goro, can you give reasoning as to why? Thank you so much!

 

[boogiecousins94]

Goro, can you give reasoning as to why? Thank you so much!

I think its mainly because you're applying to american schools so you should be more familiar with the american system when volunteering (as thats what you'd ultimately be working in). Its also that in other countries you may be doing stuff that is not allowed for someone of your skill set in the USA and it may shed negative light to your app if you're doing unobserved or "advanced" procedures on impoverished communities without proper training

 

[Toutie]

Hello guys,


although I do want to go abroad (specifically Asia) to see that part of the world,

Then go take a vacation there. Do your medical volunteering at home.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Stay

 

[Goro]

I think its mainly because you're applying to american schools so you should be more familiar with the american system when volunteering (as thats what you'd ultimately be working in). Its also that in other countries you may be doing stuff that is not allowed for someone of your skill set in the USA and it may shed negative light to your app if you're doing unobserved or "advanced" procedures on impoverished communities without proper training

This, plus a lot of people are really visiting the old country to see Nana/Abuela/Imo and not really doing anything, and there's no supervision or contact people to verify the volunteering. They may also engage in actual procedures on patients which either displace local workers, or are simply unethical for an untrained person to do , especially with minimal supervision.

 

[Dwight K Schrute]

Do not go abroad for medical tourism. Stay here and get some actual volunteer experience.

 

[dr_kateb]

• Member schools expressed significant concern with regards to premedical students engaging in unsupervised clinical activities in international settings. In particular, 45- 50% of those schools completing the survey described applicant involvement in invasive procedures in international settings as either harmful to, or of no value to, their application. Examples of such invasive procedures include giving vaccinations, suturing an injury, pulling teeth, and delivering a baby. This concern of admissions officers persisted, albeit at lower levels (35-40% of respondents), when the students were supervised by a health professional while performing such invasive procedures in international settings.

So what about the other half? Is it a positive for them or do they not even look at it? Or just didn’t answer the survey?

 

[deleted480308]

What medical training do you have?
What medical tasks do you expect to perform overseas?
Would you be allowed to do those things here?

 

[operaman]

This thread reminds me of the gomerblog post about the African village that was excited to learn it had been mentioned in its 500th personal statement. The global health ethical issues already raised in this thread are fascinating and something that we also talk about at the resident level - the ethics of a trainee doing a medical mission and their level of supervision and scope. That’s a discussion for another thread though.

OP, perhaps a way to split the difference would be to find a medical volunteer position in an underserved part of the United States. You don’t really have to go overseas to find wide swaths of poverty and little access to care. Some select areas even approach third world conditions.

Maybe someone has heard of a program that does work in such an area that would take premedical volunteers.

The reality is that we desperately need young people to get involved in reaching these populations both here and abroad. I’ve seen some pre meds and med students go to these areas and then come back and develop some new technology or systemwide approach to combat some illness. Obviously there’s a big difference between coming back with an opening for your personal statement and coming back and developing an app or something that can really meet a need in that part of the world.

 

[jconnell82760]

As stated above, there are plenty of areas of the US that are medically underserved. If you would like to also be exposed to a different culture at the same time, I would highly recommend volunteering at tribal health clinics or on Native American reservations. I have done this and it was a great experience!