Not sure whether to list job as a research experience or a paid clinical experience

[MissingCalifornia]

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Long time lurker here.

So I'm a non-trad, and I'm currently working as a research assistant at a university. The clinical side of my job consists of recruiting patients from the hospital here. Essentially, I pre-screen patients online and let the doctors know which patient I will be seeing. If the patient is interested, I set up an appointment for us to meet where I administer questionnaires, surveys, and I draw their blood, measure their blood pressure, and things of that nature. For the actual research part of the job, I score and analyze the results of the questionnaires using statistical software. I also make poster presentations for my PI, and I've been working on my own abstract.

I will be applying this coming cycle, and I was just wondering whether it would be best to list this as a research experience or as a paid clinical experience? I'll have about 190 hours of clinical volunteering come application time, and the only other research experience I have is through a class in undergrad where we conducted our own research study on our classmates. I know my hours are pretty average, so would listing this as a research experience put me at a disadvantage?

Thanks!

 

[deleted1027852]

It sounds like you are getting some great clinical experience--talking to patients, taking bp, etc. That is unique. I would emphasize the clinical aspect. As far as number of research hours, I wouldn't sweat it. Reflect on the quality research experience you are getting in this job when you describe it.

 

[LizzyM]

I hate to rain on your parade but are they "patients" or "reseach subjects"? Are they receiving clinical services or merely providing data points for research? Don't conflate research with paid clinical activity. You can get slapped down for this. You can say that it is research and in the description you can list phlebotomy and vital signs as research tasks assigned to you. I think that it is better to downplay clinical exposure when there is any chance that the reviewer might disagree that the activity is clinical/involving patients.

 

[MissingCalifornia]

I hate to rain on your parade but are they "patients" or "reseach subjects"? Are they receiving clinical services or merely providing data points for research? Don't conflate research with paid clinical activity. You can get slapped down for this. You can say that it is research and in the description you can list phlebotomy and vital signs as research tasks assigned to you. I think that it is better to downplay clinical exposure when there is any chance that the reviewer might disagree that the activity is clinical/involving patients.

Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it. They are patients at the hospital and their doctors are our co-investigators. I forgot to mention that we do an MRI scan as well. I’m there to get them in/out of the scanner and take vitals. I’ll follow your advice and refer to this as a research experience and the reviewers can decide whether or not there’s a clinical aspect to it from the description. Thanks again.