Should I put my 1 month of scribing on my app?

[peachmelon]

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this!

I am planning on applying to medical school this cycle, and I was just wondering whether I should include my experience medical scribing as clinical experience on my app?
Unfortunately, I was only a scribe for one month because the company was not honest to me about where I would be working, and it wasn't until after I had completed all the training that they told me I would actually be commuting 35 minutes to another hospital (which I could not afford to do at the time).

I trained onsite for 150+ hours as a scribe, which is a significant amount of clinical experience, but I am afraid that if I list this experience that I will look uncommitted or as though I did not enjoy my experience.
I would get more clinical hours to make up for this, but I am trying to study for my upcoming MCAT and my regular classes and am admittedly stretched a little thin.

Obviously this is not an ideal situation, but any advice? Thanks again!

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[curvesetter]

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this!

I am planning on applying to medical school this cycle, and I was just wondering whether I should include my experience medical scribing as clinical experience on my app?
Unfortunately, I was only a scribe for one month because the company was not honest to me about where I would be working, and it wasn't until after I had completed all the training that they told me I would actually be commuting 35 minutes to another hospital (which I could not afford to do at the time).

I trained onsite for 150+ hours as a scribe, which is a significant amount of clinical experience, but I am afraid that if I list this experience that I will look uncommitted or as though I did not enjoy my experience.
I would get more clinical hours to make up for this, but I am trying to study for my upcoming MCAT and my regular classes and am admittedly stretched a little thin.

Obviously this is not an ideal situation, but any advice? Thanks again!

i'd still put it. you could write more about the experience you had with medical professionals and patients rather than the specifics of the training and skills you acquired

 

[Catalystik]

I am planning on applying to medical school this cycle, and I was just wondering whether I should include my experience medical scribing as clinical experience on my app?
Unfortunately, I was only a scribe for one month because the company was not honest to me about where I would be working, and it wasn't until after I had completed all the training that they told me I would actually be commuting 35 minutes to another hospital (which I could not afford to do at the time).

I trained onsite for 150+ hours as a scribe, which is a significant amount of clinical experience, but I am afraid that if I list this experience that I will look uncommitted or as though I did not enjoy my experience.
I would get more clinical hours to make up for this, but I am trying to study for my upcoming MCAT and my regular classes and am admittedly stretched a little thin.

Obviously this is not an ideal situation, but any advice? Thanks again!

What other clinical experience do you have? How many hours? What percent of your scribe training time was spent in the presence of a real patient?

 

[peachmelon]

What other clinical experience do you have? How many hours? What percent of your scribe training time was spent in the presence of a real patient?

I have ~50 hours shadowing in family practice, but besides that, no clinical experience. I scribed in the room with the patient for ~150 hours. This time was split between family practice and emergency medicine.
Thanks!

 

[peachmelon]

i'd still put it. you could write more about the experience you had with medical professionals and patients rather than the specifics of the training and skills you acquired

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it!

 

[frosted2]

I would still think that GPA = MCAT > ECs.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

I have ~50 hours shadowing in family practice, but besides that, no clinical experience. I scribed in the room with the patient for ~150 hours. This time was split between family practice and emergency medicine.
Thanks!

So 150hr per month means 40 hours a week. So you did that in one month and on top of all that you did training?

 

[peachmelon]

So 150hr per month means 40 hours a week. So you did that in one month and on top of all that you did training?

Yeah, the 10-12+ hour shifts added up fast. There was online training (medical terminology classes, online modules, practice HPIs, etc) and EMR and Epic training that I did in the month or so leading up to the onsite training as well if that's what you're referring to. I didn't mention that because it's not clinical.
I was in the room with the patient and physician observing another scribe for ~30 hours and I was doing the scribing myself from there on out.

Doesn't seem baloney to me

 

[duopy]

Accepted medical student here,

I was a scribe for about 3 months before i quit. It was an enlightening experience that came up in every interview. If the experience impacts you in any way, i definitely would.

 

[Catalystik]

I have ~50 hours shadowing in family practice, but besides that, no clinical experience. I scribed in the room with the patient for ~150 hours. This time was split between family practice and emergency medicine.
Thanks!

As you said earlier, not an ideal situation. I think you have no choice but to list it, assuming you have a contact who will attest to your total hours and timeframe.

The shadowing is fine. Having only one month of active clinical experience regardless of the number of hours is sparse.

A better option would be to wait a year to apply and "check the box" with a more conventional duration of experience.

 

[peachmelon]

Accepted medical student here,

I was a scribe for about 3 months before i quit. It was an enlightening experience that came up in every interview. If the experience impacts you in any way, i definitely would.

Thanks for the feedback! It absolutely impacted me and after all the responses here I think I'm gonna go for it and put it on my app. I just hope I get a chance to explain what happened.

 

[Catalystik]

I just hope I get a chance to explain what happened.

Your explanation for not continuing with the scribing is understandable, but I suggest you set in motion ASAP an effort to replace the scribing with another active clinical activity to take its place.

 

[chemphysicsinstructor]

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this!

I am planning on applying to medical school this cycle, and I was just wondering whether I should include my experience medical scribing as clinical experience on my app?
Unfortunately, I was only a scribe for one month because the company was not honest to me about where I would be working, and it wasn't until after I had completed all the training that they told me I would actually be commuting 35 minutes to another hospital (which I could not afford to do at the time).

I trained onsite for 150+ hours as a scribe, which is a significant amount of clinical experience, but I am afraid that if I list this experience that I will look uncommitted or as though I did not enjoy my experience.
I would get more clinical hours to make up for this, but I am trying to study for my upcoming MCAT and my regular classes and am admittedly stretched a little thin.

Obviously this is not an ideal situation, but any advice? Thanks again!

I would recommend including it. Be sure to mention what you learned from the experience.

 

[peachmelon]

Your explanation for not continuing with the scribing is understandable, but I suggest you set in motion ASAP an effort to replace the scribing with another active clinical activity to take its place.

Good suggestion, thank you so much!!