need advice re: whether to accept job offer

[colorado_doc_2B]

I'm looking for a job for the 16 months or so until I (hopefully) start medical school. I have an offer to work as an HR assistant at a group practice. My question is, will this look at all impressive to an admissions committee? Or should I continue trying to find a job with more patient contact? The reason I am asking is because the assistant director of admissions for my top choice medical school came and spoke at my school recently, and he made a big deal about how important it is to have "paid clinical experience." He doesn't think that volunteer experience is nearly as useful as paid work experience, because he thinks that the HIPPA rules prevent volunteers from gaining much useful experience. I disagree with him, because I think my volunteer experience with both a hospice and a free clinic has been really valuable. But nevertheless, I need to get some paid work experience in order to impress the admissions committee. I've been applying for months for low-level health care jobs that would entail some patient contact, but haven't even gotten a call back until now. So, what do you think? Should I take the HR job, or keep trying to get a job as a lab tech or something like that?

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[njbmd]

You have 16 months in which you have to cover your living expenses. It is very doubtful that you are going to be able to get any "paid" job with patient contact unless you are currently holding a certification for something like phelbotomy, nursing assistant and EMT. Other jobs that give contact with patients but require no certification are things like patient transporter (in some cases these folks are Certified Nursing Assistants).

While HIPPA has curtailed some volunteer opportunities, most institutions (and individuals) have required that volunteers go through a HIPPA training course. (I now ask my patients for permission to allow a volunteer/pre-med shadower to be present during interactions).

You need to have some patient contact experience but you volunteer experience will be fine. If you want to take the time to earn some sort of certification that will enable you to have patient contact, then you need to move quickly otherwise, carefully describe the experience that you presently have and take the HR job.