On Campus EMT count as clinical experience?

[Dogruffle01]

Hi,

Since freshman year of college I've been apart of my college EMT unit for the last 3 years. This is a standard BLS unit. The end of my sophomore year we got an ambulance and began transporting patients to the nearby ED. We have radios on us during our shifts, and we're dispatched by our university security office. We run to the call and respond as needed. I'm not going to lie, I've probably only seen a handful of "crazy" calls. Usually we deal with ETOH calls (drunk college kids), some soft tissue injuries at the recreational center, and ,surprisingly enough, some depression/suicide calls. My pre-med advisor says these hours don't count because they're exclusive to the college demographic and they're not at a hospital. I have about 90 other hours as a clinical assistant at an inpatient hospital unit for autistic children also, but this experience only lasted 3 months because my grandma became ill and I needed to move out of state to take care of her.

I have three questions:

Is my pre-med advisor correct? She says that I should take another gap year to get hours since my on-campus EMT hours "don't count"?

Also, I heard during interviews interviewers will ask you in-depth questions about your job. I can explain in detail like the explanation I gave above, and I can talk about charting and using SOAP, but I don't know if there's some secret part of the job that differentiates me from the "fakes".

Do you all think I need more hours? If I had to put a number on it I would say its about 200-250 hrs total.

@Goro @LizzyM

Thanks

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[DNAJB6]

Increasing clinical hours is never bad especially when you only have a couple hundred. With that said campus EMT is a clinical experience. I have no idea where your advisor came up with the idea that it only counts if you cater to certain demographics.

 

[DNAJB6]

As for the gap year, what do the rest of your ECs look like? Stats? Any clinical volunteering?

 

[Catalystik]

Since freshman year of college I've been apart of my college EMT unit for the last 3 years. This is a standard BLS unit. The end of my sophomore year we got an ambulance and began transporting patients to the nearby ED.

I have about 90 other hours as a clinical assistant at an inpatient hospital unit for autistic children also, but this experience only lasted 3 months because my grandma became ill and I needed to move out of state to take care of her.

If I had to put a number on it I would say its about 200-250 hrs total.

It's not clear what you're including in that final number. Besides the 90 clinical assistant hours, how many service hours could you list for EMT, not including the time you carried a beeper and were on call?

 

[LunaOri]

It's the non-clinical volunteering that AdComs like to see done outside your campus bubble (support the community, help the homeless, etc)

 

[Dogruffle01]

It's not clear what you're including in that final number. Besides the 90 clinical assistant hours, how many service hours could you list for EMT, not including the time you carried a beeper and were on call?

I’ve been on about 150 hours on shift for my EMT unit, but as you know not all of these hours I was actively on a call. That’s why I have variability in my number. The 200 number comes from this and my 90 hours on inpatient work.

 

[candbgirl]

So can you break down that 150 hours for us? How many were you dealing with a “ patient” directly?

 

[Dogruffle01]

So can you break down that 150 hours for us? How many were you dealing with a “ patient” directly?

I would say about 2/3 of the hours were directly pertaining to the patient, so around 100 hrs.

I don't mind getting more hours next semester since I'm graduating early, but I was already planning on taking a gap year. I just feel like taking 2 would be overkill.

Also, pertaining to other ECs I have approx. 500 hours of non clinical volunteering as a cooking coordinator for a women's shelter, 2 summers as a boy scout leader teaching low-income children , and 4 years as a leader of a club that does science experiments with low-ses children.

 

[LizzyM]

You have the non-clinical volunteering well covered.
You have 90 hours of in-patient work which is going to be pretty average in these Covid times.
I would count the time you are spending with patients on campus as clinical/pre-hospital. it is totally legit and your pre-med advisor is an idiot. After you get admitted to medical school you can tell her that LizzyM said so. 😉

 

[Catalystik]

I would say about 2/3 of the hours were directly pertaining to the patient, so around 100 hrs.

I don't mind getting more hours next semester since I'm graduating early, but I was already planning on taking a gap year. I just feel like taking 2 would be overkill.

Also, pertaining to other ECs I have approx. 500 hours of non clinical volunteering as a cooking coordinator for a women's shelter, 2 summers as a boy scout leader teaching low-income children , and 4 years as a leader of a club that does science experiments with low-ses children.

Listing 90 hours in-hospital volunteering + 100 hours of campus EMT hands-on clinical service would be sufficient for most med schools. Staying involved in clinical exposure of some kind until you apply is a good idea.

 

[Goro]

Hi,

Since freshman year of college I've been apart of my college EMT unit for the last 3 years. This is a standard BLS unit. The end of my sophomore year we got an ambulance and began transporting patients to the nearby ED. We have radios on us during our shifts, and we're dispatched by our university security office. We run to the call and respond as needed. I'm not going to lie, I've probably only seen a handful of "crazy" calls. Usually we deal with ETOH calls (drunk college kids), some soft tissue injuries at the recreational center, and ,surprisingly enough, some depression/suicide calls. My pre-med advisor says these hours don't count because they're exclusive to the college demographic and they're not at a hospital. I have about 90 other hours as a clinical assistant at an inpatient hospital unit for autistic children also, but this experience only lasted 3 months because my grandma became ill and I needed to move out of state to take care of her.

I have three questions:

Is my pre-med advisor correct? She says that I should take another gap year to get hours since my on-campus EMT hours "don't count"?

Also, I heard during interviews interviewers will ask you in-depth questions about your job. I can explain in detail like the explanation I gave above, and I can talk about charting and using SOAP, but I don't know if there's some secret part of the job that differentiates me from the "fakes".

Do you all think I need more hours? If I had to put a number on it I would say its about 200-250 hrs total.

@Goro @LizzyM

Thanks

Data point # 3303484663927224930 proving that most pre-med advisors are *****s.

 

[Catalystik]

it is totally legit and your pre-med advisor is an idiot. After you get admitted to medical school you can tell her that LizzyM said so. 😉

OP: Your advisor won't learn any better if you don't return and give her a data point (aka your successful application) needed to shift her point of view.