Red Cross

[ICUatUCI]

Hey guys,
I'm planning to volunteer at Red Cross. I haven't done any clinical volunteering yet. Thus, what position at red cross should I apply. I was looking at Red cross blood drive where you sit and serve refreshments. Would that count as clinical experience or would it just be community service?

I also have an interview at nearby local hospital for volunteering in a week.

also, do i need both clinical expericne and community service?

Thanks guys

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[juliedi]

Hey guys,
I'm planning to volunteer at Red Cross. I haven't done any clinical volunteering yet. Thus, what position at red cross should I apply. I was looking at Red cross blood drive where you sit and serve refreshments. Would that count as clinical experience or would it just be community service?

I also have an interview at nearby local hospital for volunteering in a week.

also, do i need both clinical expericne and community service?

Thanks guys

I would trust the LizzyM rule as to if something counts as a clinical experience or not: If you can smell patients, it is a clinical experience. And it seems like the SDN consensus is that it's advisable to have both clinical and non-clinical volunteering. I'm not saying this is the absolute truth, but it's usually the advice I've heard on this site about it.

 

[torshi]

patient contact is clinical experience not serving refreshments

don't need both, but it's beneficial

 

[Cypher321]

Hey guys,
I'm planning to volunteer at Red Cross. I haven't done any clinical volunteering yet. Thus, what position at red cross should I apply. I was looking at Red cross blood drive where you sit and serve refreshments. Would that count as clinical experience or would it just be community service?

I also have an interview at nearby local hospital for volunteering in a week.

also, do i need both clinical expericne and community service?

Thanks guys

If you're already at UCI and you want to get involved with Red Cross for volunteering, the Red Cross club there is fairly good (or used to be). There is also room for a leadership position if you stick around for awhile. Med school app stuff aside, there's also a few cute girls there to boot (used to flirt with one who was also in my physics class ).

 

[ICUatUCI]

If you're already at UCI and you want to get involved with Red Cross for volunteering, the Red Cross club there is fairly good (or used to be). There is also room for a leadership position if you stick around for awhile. Med school app stuff aside, there's also a few cute girls there to boot (used to flirt with one who was also in my physics class ).

Thanks everyone. I still go to uci for volunteer research but i graduated in fall 2010. So i dont think i can join the uci red cross? lol cute girls, you def right. What positions should i look for at red cross since i really need clinical exp. u still at uci?

Thanks guys.

 

[mauberley]

Red Cross typically does disaster relief and blood donation, both of which are more non-clinical (IMO). If your chapter has a first aid team and you're involved with them, I'd think that could be considered as clinical.

 

[Disinence2]

I did a lot with the red cross as a pre-med and it was great.

You want to be in the department of "health and human safety" or something like that.


They can train you to teach CPR classes, which is great experience! It came up at all of my interviews for med school, and even a few for residency.

PM if you need more help. Red Cross is a great organization that really an use some pre-meds around to help out.

 

[Cypher321]

Thanks everyone. I still go to uci for volunteer research but i graduated in fall 2010. So i dont think i can join the uci red cross? lol cute girls, you def right. What positions should i look for at red cross since i really need clinical exp. u still at uci?

Thanks guys.

Naw, I left UCI after I realized that the MAE dept. and I didn't see eye to eye on how engineering should be done.

As far as I know, to be able to do any significant clinical work you'll need a certification which may or may not be applicable to what the Red Cross needs. One route you might consider if you have ~$2000 lying around is getting a phlebotomy cert. and seeing if you can take blood at the blood drives. Even if Red Cross doesn't take you, a phlebotomy cert. could still land you some clinical experience at a hospital in a paid position.

 

[LizzyM]

Adcoms usually look to see that an applicant has had some exposure to clinical care/medical work/doctoring and that the applicant is altruistic meaning giving service to the community (however you define the community to be). Some people will combine "community service" and "exposure to medicine" and serve as as a volunteer in a hospital or clinic. Others will have worked as employees in a health care setting and chosen to serve as volunteers in non-clinical settings (literacy volunteers, soup kitchen, etc). Many people add shadowing to either of these options.

While many folks do both clinical and non-clinical volunteering there is nothing that says that you must do both. Even shadowing, non-clinical volunteering and a non-clinical job (f/t for more than a year) can be acceptable -- particularly if the applicant is a non-trad.

 

[Catalystik]

I was looking at Red cross blood drive where you sit and serve refreshments. Would that count as clinical experience or would it just be community service?

I also have an interview at nearby local hospital for volunteering in a week.

also, do i need both clinical expericne and community service?

Those donating blood are healthy people, not patients, so I would not view this as a clinical experience. Hospital volunteering is better for that purpose, provided you're not in the gift shop or filing papers in a back room.

To have your application appeal to the greatest number of school adcomms, it would be wise to have clinical experience with sick people, community service, and shadowing experiences if you can manage it.

 

[munchymanRX]

Hey guys,
I'm planning to volunteer at Red Cross. I haven't done any clinical volunteering yet. Thus, what position at red cross should I apply. I was looking at Red cross blood drive where you sit and serve refreshments. Would that count as clinical experience or would it just be community service?

I also have an interview at nearby local hospital for volunteering in a week.

also, do i need both clinical expericne and community service?

Thanks guys

Personally, I'd be bored out of my goddamned mind if I had to sit there and serve people lemonade and cookies all day. For clinical experience, you'll have a much better experience if you do something that's fun and meaningful for you. Don't just volunteer because everyone else seems to be doing it or it appeared to be a good idea at the time. You'll be miserable and the adcoms will notice.

And yes, you do need both clinical experience and community service. Keep in mind that on the AMCAS application, the form does not distinguish between these and it's up to you to describe your own experiences.

 

[ICUatUCI]

Thnks guys for all the inputs, really appreciated. Cypher231, thanks for the adivce on phlebotomy, but i'm kind of tight on money. I will go to a red cross department and talk to them about any kind of positions that are open and see my options.


One more question, let say someone with 200 hrs of volunteering in a month vs 200 hrs in a year, which one is bette? i kind of know the answer, the latter one. But does it really make it difference when adcom are looking it?

Thanks again

 

[Catalystik]

One more question, let say someone with 200 hrs of volunteering in a month vs 200 hrs in a year, which one is bette? i kind of know the answer, the latter one. But does it really make it difference when adcom are looking it?

Yes. Longevity is preferred.