Patient Transport Volunteer = Clinical Experience?

[StritchMD2011]

I was just wondering what everyone's opinion was on whether or not being a patient transport volunteer in the hospital is considered clinical experience?

I definitely interacted with patients while transporting them to and from radiology and the ER, but I didn't get to experience the patient/doctor interaction as much as I would have liked to.

How do med schools regard this?

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[jbrice1639]

I was just wondering what everyone's opinion was on whether or not being a patient transport volunteer in the hospital is considered clinical experience?

I definitely interacted with patients while transporting them to and from radiology and the ER, but I didn't get to experience the patient/doctor interaction as much as I would have liked to.

How do med schools regard this?

i would try to find something with a little more interaction if possible. i volunteered on a peds floor and got to interact with patients every time i went in. learned a lot about dealing with patients/parents at bedside and also got to observe a lot of patient/physician interaction as well. i started in the ER where there wasn't much action and asked to transfer. definitely see what's available and find a volunteer experience that you enjoy and that gives you the experience you're looking for.

 

[Will Ferrell]

I definitely interacted with patients while transporting them to and from radiology and the ER, but I didn't get to experience the patient/doctor interaction as much as I would have liked to.

Patient Transporting = Patient Contact = Clinical Experience.

I suggest you also do some shadowing since it will show you the procedures. You're getting a lot of patient contact w/ transporting, but unfortunately none of it is personal statement worthy.

 

[Will Ferrell]

i would try to find something with a little more interaction if possible. i volunteered on a peds floor and got to interact with patients every time i went in.

transporting is pure interaction.

 

[StritchMD2011]

Yeah, I've been shadowing for the past 6 months as well. I just wanted to see how my patient transport experience would be regarded.

 

[gujuDoc]

Yeah, I've been shadowing for the past 6 months as well. I just wanted to see how my patient transport experience would be regarded.

It counts as volunteerism in a clinical setting and shows that you have had some exposure to the field. Don't sweat it.

 

[modelslashactor]

I think these sorts of experiences are what you make of them. If you just silently wheel people in and out of the hospital then you are wasting your time, but if you talk to them a little, become more comfortable with patients, and get something out of it that you can talk about at interviews etc then it was worth the effort. if you are not getting this consider moving to another area, but in some hospitals transport is the most interaction you can get as a volunteer.

 

[novawildcat]

Personally I CAN'T STAND the premeds who think that they are too good to follow around nurses, techs, etc. and only follow doctors. I have followed all types of employees in the ER at all levels of positions and have had tons of patient interaction as well as interaction with visitors and family members. You will be surprised at how many of doctors' co-workers actually HATE them with a passion. I swear on my soul, that if i ever became an md, I would not turn into one of those arrogant pricks who think they are god and talk crap to all the nurses and coworkers. Tranporter is patient interaction, you don't HAVE to follow a doctor to be involved with patients. If you want to learn some technical jargon then follow a doc.

 

[notdeadyet]

I think you'll find that for most volunteer positions, the more time you spend wtih doctors, the less time you spend with patients.

Time with doctors is good for getting on record as knowing what the life and duties of a physician are like, but for volunteering, your actual impact and experience with patients is minimized.

 

[2Sexy4MedSchool]

I posted this a little while ago in the non-traditional's forum; I'm just going to cut-and-paste b/c no one has mentioned the last point:

Hello. I've been a patient escort (aka "orderly") for the past 12 months and I have to say that it has been a great experience. You get to go all over the hospital and see every service, every type of patient and all the different types of doctors/nurses/staff. But even more importantly, I've been "the fly on the wall" -- escorts are so ubiquitous that doctors tend to forget we are in the room, so we get to see how they really interact with patients and each other when no one else is around.

 

[g3pro]

Personally I CAN'T STAND the premeds who think that they are too good to follow around nurses, techs, etc. and only follow doctors. I have followed all types of employees in the ER at all levels of positions and have had tons of patient interaction as well as interaction with visitors and family members. You will be surprised at how many of doctors' co-workers actually HATE them with a passion. I swear on my soul, that if i ever became an md, I would not turn into one of those arrogant pricks who think they are god and talk crap to all the nurses and coworkers. Tranporter is patient interaction, you don't HAVE to follow a doctor to be involved with patients. If you want to learn some technical jargon then follow a doc.

If you plan on applying to a Patient Interaction school, then go ahead and shadow patient transporters. This is the MD forum, which is a discussion area for pre-meds to discuss applying to medical school.

If you want to apply to nursing schools, follow nurses.

If you want to apply to physician assistant schools, follow PAs.

If you want to apply to pharmacy schools, follow pharmacists.

I'm not slamming Patient Interaction schools, and if you want to apply to one of 'em, more power to you: we need more patient interactors.

 

[75969]

I think these sorts of experiences are what you make of them. If you just silently wheel people in and out of the hospital then you are wasting your time, but if you talk to them a little, become more comfortable with patients, and get something out of it that you can talk about at interviews etc then it was worth the effort. if you are not getting this consider moving to another area, but in some hospitals transport is the most interaction you can get as a volunteer.

Some of my best 'patient contact' has come from transport...I love the look on peoples faces when they come back to the hospital 3+ weeks later, and I happen to be their transporter again..and say 'hey! I remember you, how is blah blah blah...' or patient's families walk past me and say, 'hey! thats the girl thats from the same county we are from!' It is nice for the patients at a huge hospital (has like 4 buildings, 5 floors each) to know that they are more than a number, when things are really busy, sometimes the only ones who are able to take the time are volunteers...

If you are having a hard time making conversation with the patients, start by asking them where they are from (this only works if it is a specialty center or something, where people generally travel to the hospital) or about the weather (if they were inpatient for a long time)....etc... once you get them to say something, they will start asking u questions too and voila! conversation = good patient contact!

 

[forevalwayzz]

patient transporting, yes, i'll take/list that as clinical experience any day.

 

[Karl_Hungus]

g3pro : I don't remember applying to any "Patient Interaction Schools," they were all titled something like "College of Medicine" or "Medical College."
There isn't this great dichotomy, where schools either teach one or the other. Medical schools teach both academic medicine and applied medicine (so-called Patient Interaction) to all students! Some students/physicians choose to focus more on research, others on patient care. Seperate, equal yet both vital to our industry.
Even the schools known for research produce many physicians who will never be on a research team, opting instead to go onto practicing medicine only.

Why is it so wrong to do some physician shadowing to learn what it is like to actually function as a physician and take on a job where you get some direct patient care experience, what many of us will be doing as physicians. Having done both, I can't say one was vastly superior to the other in terms of preparation for medical school. I will say, however, that my employment in patient care gave me much more to talk about than any shadowing experience.

 

[gujuDoc]

Personally I CAN'T STAND the premeds who think that they are too good to follow around nurses, techs, etc. and only follow doctors. I have followed all types of employees in the ER at all levels of positions and have had tons of patient interaction as well as interaction with visitors and family members. You will be surprised at how many of doctors' co-workers actually HATE them with a passion. I swear on my soul, that if i ever became an md, I would not turn into one of those arrogant pricks who think they are god and talk crap to all the nurses and coworkers. Tranporter is patient interaction, you don't HAVE to follow a doctor to be involved with patients. If you want to learn some technical jargon then follow a doc.

I think you are missing the central point of shadowing a physician. If you want to go into any career, you need to know what the career is like. While all healthcare workers are to function together and work with one another, the point of shadowing is to show you what a physician's life is like on a day to day basis so you can get an idea what real world medicine is like outside of NBC's ER or outside of other fictional shows.

Shadowing SHOULD NOT substitute volunteerism. Volunteerism is where you show your willingness to work with others and your compassion and ability to work with other people. Yes, it is important to take into consideration other people in the allied health fields too. I agree with you there. But if you want to know what a physician's life is like, you need to shadow a physician. You will get interaction with the other professionals through jobs or volunteering.

 

[gujuDoc]

I think you'll find that for most volunteer positions, the more time you spend wtih doctors, the less time you spend with patients.

Time with doctors is good for getting on record as knowing what the life and duties of a physician are like, but for volunteering, your actual impact and experience with patients is minimized.

I shadowed in academic physicians so there were always residents to observe. So I got to see a lot of clinic stuff. The doctors were real nice too. I did more clinic shadowing then hospital stuff so there was a lot of patient interaction.

But it doesn't substitute my volunteer positions. Its just additional stuff.

 

[g3pro]

Shadowing SHOULD NOT substitute volunteerism. Volunteerism is where you show your willingness to work with others and your compassion and ability to work with other people. Yes, it is important to take into consideration other people in the allied health fields too. I agree with you there. But if you want to know what a physician's life is like, you need to shadow a physician. You will get interaction with the other professionals through jobs or volunteering.

I think volunteerism shows that you will do something to get into medical school. After all, the change in behavior in favor of more volunteering is preceded by the intent to apply to medical school. That's just a personal opinion based on the college application process.

Case in point.

 

[gujuDoc]

I think volunteerism shows that you will do something to get into medical school. After all, the change in behavior in favor of more volunteering is preceded by the intent to apply to medical school. That's just a personal opinion based on the college application process.

Case in point.

I'm not denying the truth in that post. However, if you want to get in you learn to play the game. That's what it comes down. I don't mind volunteering and have fun doing it at times, but sometimes I feel like I'm quantifying hours when I feel I shouldn't need to for the very reasons you stated above.

 

[g3pro]

Why is it so wrong to do some physician shadowing to learn what it is like to actually function as a physician and take on a job where you get some direct patient care experience, what many of us will be doing as physicians. Having done both, I can't say one was vastly superior to the other in terms of preparation for medical school. I will say, however, that my employment in patient care gave me much more to talk about than any shadowing experience.

I think the point is that if you're shadowing a physician who does not interact with patients, you're shadowing the wrong "physician." You're bound to interact with patients if you are shadowing a physician who actually does rounds.

Of course, things are different for different people. I think the ideal is shadowing, and if that's not available, volunteering around physicians.

 

[sperola]

I volunteer in the ER and have found that the majority of the physicians are sitting doing paperwork most of the time that I am there. I have found that following around the nurses (who tend to be the ones that need my help) gives me more patient interaction and knowledge about working in the ER. From the doctors that I am able to observe from a far I am learning the traits that I definitely don't want to have as a doctor i.e. talking down to people, impatience, loss of legibility 😉, or that overall impression of not enjoying the job. So overall I think nurses are awesome to follow around and to learn from because they give you the best idea of the kind of doctor you should be, nurses are the people you'll interact with the most why not learn how to interact with them.

 

[gujuDoc]

I'm not denying the truth in that post. However, if you want to get in you learn to play the game. That's what it comes down. I don't mind volunteering and have fun doing it at times, but sometimes I feel like I'm quantifying hours when I feel I shouldn't need to for the very reasons you stated above.

I just wanted to expand on this some more. It is not that I deny the point you are making. What I was getting at was the fact that adcoms themselves are the ones saying to volunteer if you had to pick between the two and that it sends a certain message. Of course deep down you know most premeds do it for the sake of giving the adcoms what they want to see. One adcom even went so far to tell me that working in a clinical facilty vs. volunteering showed two different messages. Of course, again, we know this is not true because people don't just automatically change by doing some volunteer work. But again, if you want in, then you learn to play the game to the best of your ability while doing the other things you also enjoy doing.

 

[emtcsmith]

I'm not speaking from experence here out side my ER clinical time I've spent so far in medic school but...I don't know how you can really count observation of an ER or pushing patients around as any type of actual "medical" experence. No doubt it counts as some exposure to the hospital setting but all you are likely doing is watching. If you really want to test the waters before being an MD there are other tracks to do that.

Become an EMT, you can probaby get that in 1-6 months and get all the exposure you want without a huge educational committment. Become a Paramedic, and while its likely 2 years, you have have a job that can make you money while in school. You also get a leg up with intubation, IV's, drugs, etc. Then you could always go to Nursing School, etc etc.

I feel that if you want real "experence" then you have to be working with, treating, and interacting with patients.

 

[luhando]

I was just wondering what everyone's opinion was on whether or not being a patient transport volunteer in the hospital is considered clinical experience?

I definitely interacted with patients while transporting them to and from radiology and the ER, but I didn't get to experience the patient/doctor interaction as much as I would have liked to.

How do med schools regard this?

hey

i think a common misconception about these labels that look good to med schools is that as long as they fit in the category...they are good. what can you talk about after having that experience? im sure they will consider it clinical experience...but whats more important is how it comes off in your application/interviews. was it one of the reasons that you decided to do medicine? did it bring you closer to the profession? this is when it really becomes important. hope that helps.

 

[gujuDoc]

I'm not speaking from experence here out side my ER clinical time I've spent so far in medic school but...I don't know how you can really count observation of an ER or pushing patients around as any type of actual "medical" experence. No doubt it counts as some exposure to the hospital setting but all you are likely doing is watching. If you really want to test the waters before being an MD there are other tracks to do that.

Become an EMT, you can probaby get that in 1-6 months and get all the exposure you want without a huge educational committment. Become a Paramedic, and while its likely 2 years, you have have a job that can make you money while in school. You also get a leg up with intubation, IV's, drugs, etc. Then you could always go to Nursing School, etc etc.

I feel that if you want real "experence" then you have to be working with, treating, and interacting with patients.

I agree with this. If I could do it over again, I would have become a patient care technician or emt. Although, on the upside, since I'm not in transport but childlife reading to children in the waiting rooms, I feel I'm getting some meaningful time in clinical setting. But then again, I've always loved working with kids in volunteer positions even back in highschool. In highschool we used to do activities at the Botanical Gardens near my friend's house and local elementary and montoseri schools. It was soooooooo much to play with them. but I hate that I have to feel like I'm quantifying my hours and frankly sometimes that is how I feel.

 

[StritchMD2011]

Wow - I didn't expect this thread to become a debate.

For all those who tell me to shadow - I've done a great deal of this as well. I was just curious as to how my patient transport experience would be categorized.

 

[LizzyM]

All you new folks,
Time to learn LizzyM's rule on what is "clinical"...

Have you smelled patients?

If you've smelled patients, it's clinical.

Shadowing is okay but interacting yourself with patients (as one can do when transporting patients) gives you the confidence you need to go in and talk with patients on your own & and examine them on your own when you are an M2 or M3.

 

[6262]

I've been working as a patient transporter for 2 years now and trust me, you get close enough. We have to slide them onto stretchers and put them into wheelchairs and help put them on ct scan tables and We touch them equal if not more than some of the pca's. But this email for a DO school said I need more contact like becoming a er scribe and a pca. We do everything but take vitals. We help clean and make draw sheets and switch out O2 with the nurse permission. I just don't understand!

 

[moneytree]

I've been working as a patient transporter for 2 years now and trust me, you get close enough. We have to slide them onto stretchers and put them into wheelchairs and help put them on ct scan tables and We touch them equal if not more than some of the pca's. But this email for a DO school said I need more contact like becoming a er scribe and a pca. We do everything but take vitals. We help clean and make draw sheets and switch out O2 with the nurse permission. I just don't understand!

6 years too late bro.

 

[LizzyM]

I've been working as a patient transporter for 2 years now and trust me, you get close enough. We have to slide them onto stretchers and put them into wheelchairs and help put them on ct scan tables and We touch them equal if not more than some of the pca's. But this email for a DO school said I need more contact like becoming a er scribe and a pca. We do everything but take vitals. We help clean and make draw sheets and switch out O2 with the nurse permission. I just don't understand!

What don't you understand? It seems the school you asked was specific about what you need to do to gain admission to that DO school. Why are you posting on an old pre-allo thread if your issue is with DO?

 

[NYRangers230]

.
Have you smelled patients?

If you've smelled patients, it's clinical.

I know this thread is from a long time ago, but this is just an awesome quote.