retractor holder ex. job

[mofuturedoc]

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I am a 2nd year pre-med at southeast missouri state. I have an interview for a retractor holder position at the local hospital. If I get this job, will it help me on my quest to get into med school. My gpa is 3.475, biomedical major. Thanks a lot. 🙂

 

[Green912]

Congratulations on your interview. Are you talking about being a retractor holder during surgury? I guess I never thought of that as being its own position. Anyway, will it help your application, probably. Are there other/better types of experience out there? In my opinion, yes. I don't mean to look down on your opportunity, but it seems like that would be a pretty sterile job with little if any real personal patient contact. I wonder if a position where you get to interact on an individual level would be better. Then again if you decided you love surgury you'd have solid experience to justify your desire. Sorry to play devils advocate in my own response. There's no easy answer, but I'd personally look into something with more individual contact. Especially when keeping in mind that DO's are heavily into primary care.

 

[Dr JPH]

2 things

First of all, Greens post suggesting that surgeons cannot be "people oriented" is ignorant and biased. Maybe he was trying to imply something else, but it came across the wrong way.

Secondly...being a retractor holder sounds interesting. You would probably get to see some interesting things. However, I cannot see it helping your future medical career. You could possibly get a letter or recommendation from one of the surgeons...that would certainly be a good things.

But what would the letter say? "Johnny is an excellent candidate for medical school. He follows directions, can stand still for hours on end, and has superb bladder control."

Go for the job. Probably good money and insight into the life of a surgeon. Just don't look at it as a way of securing a spot.

Also...GPA is not bad. Work on hitting a 3.5 cumulative or higher and do well on the MCAT. Remember to enjoy college as well.

 

[Green912]

First of all, Greens post suggesting that surgeons cannot be "people oriented" is ignorant and biased.

JPHazelton, this is a vast overstatement of my post. I certainly never mentioned the word surgeon. The implication that has eluded you is that being a RETRACTOR HOLDER would most likely leave little room for patient contact. That in itself doesn't make it a bad job, but is something to CONSIDER when looking for EC's related to DO schools. Please read more carefully before making overstating and slanderous posts.

 

[futurdoc11]

In addition to retractor holder you could also do some volunteering at the local Emergency Room. I have volunteered at the local ER near SEMO for 1.5 years and it's great for patient contact experience. And this volunteer experience looks good on applications also.

 

[Dr JPH]

Originally posted by Green912
JPHazelton, this is a vast overstatement of my post. I certainly never mentioned the word surgeon. The implication that has eluded you is that being a RETRACTOR HOLDER would most likely leave little room for patient contact. That in itself doesn't make it a bad job, but is something to CONSIDER when looking for EC's related to DO schools. Please read more carefully before making overstating and slanderous posts.

Upon reading your post again I see where I misinterpreted what you said.

Was I wrong with what I said? Probably not...I am rarely ever wrong...in fact, I can't remember the last time I was.

This time let's just say that I "wasn't right."

Keep up the good posts.

😉