Ski Patrol - Clinical or Nonclinical Volunteering?

[gobills123]

I did volunteer ski patrol for a couple years, and I was wondering if this counts as clinical or nonclinical volunteering hours? I'm leaning clinical, but I'm not sure.

Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Goro]

What exactly did you do?

 

[gobills123]

What exactly did you do?

Anything from stabilize and transport skiers after injuries to setting up signs/cones, assessing safety of runs, closing a run, or ran supplies throughout the park. The place I worked at is through National Ski Patrol so we are all certified Outdoor emergency care (OEC), which is a like a medical first responder course.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It's similar to an EMT?

Membership FAQs - National Ski Patrol

Q. I am interested in learning more about what a ski patroller does, is there a way to really see what it is like? Yes, you can attend an applicant-screening day where you are invited to work with your local patrol. This is your opportunity to learn more about how the patrol operates and what is

nspserves.org

I lean "clinical" unless there is something else.

 

[gobills123]

It's similar to an EMT?

Membership FAQs - National Ski Patrol

Q. I am interested in learning more about what a ski patroller does, is there a way to really see what it is like? Yes, you can attend an applicant-screening day where you are invited to work with your local patrol. This is your opportunity to learn more about how the patrol operates and what is

nspserves.org

I lean "clinical" unless there is something else.

I know EMT's can take a fast track version of the course, but I'd say yes it's similar for the course. My job duties weren't only clinical like an EMT though. Sure I had to get a few skiers stabilized and toboggan them down, but majority was nonclinical.

 

[deleted1136042]

Not giving advice, but this is a really cool activity

 

[thumbz]

Skiier here - figure I can weigh in. Did you do Red Cross ski patrol or was it the volunteer ski patrol specific to the mountain you worked on?

Most of the mountains I've been on split ski patrol into two groups - we had "bumblebees" who were essentially mountain cops and the Red Cross Patrol who were either ACLS or BLS/CPR certified. Typically the latter was a paid position, although I do it in exchange for free season passes.

I would say if you were required to be BLS/ACLS/CPR certified then it was clinical. If you were the other type of ski patrol, even though you occasionally assisted an injured skier, that it would be non-clinical.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Nonclinical imho

 

[gobills123]

Skiier here - figure I can weigh in. Did you do Red Cross ski patrol or was it the volunteer ski patrol specific to the mountain you worked on?

Most of the mountains I've been on split ski patrol into two groups - we had "bumblebees" who were essentially mountain cops and the Red Cross Patrol who were either ACLS or BLS/CPR certified. Typically the latter was a paid position, although I do it in exchange for free season passes.

I would say if you were required to be BLS/ACLS/CPR certified then it was clinical. If you were the other type of ski patrol, even though you occasionally assisted an injured skier, that it would be non-clinical.

Volunteer to the specific mountain I worked at. We were all required CPR, first aid etc. We all had to do the OEC course

 

[thumbz]

I'd call it clinical then. If you need CPR certification to do the gig in my mind that counts

 

[Catalystik]

I did volunteer ski patrol for a couple years, and I was wondering if this counts as clinical or nonclinical volunteering hours? I'm leaning clinical, but I'm not sure.

Thank you!

I'd suggest you label it as Non Clinical, since you spent far less than 50% of your time aiding injured folks, but include wordage in the title you give the space that refers to your first responder role. In the description, describe all your roles and be honest about the time spent aiding the injured. Let adcomms make up their own minds about what percent of the activity to assign to clinical exposure.

If you are desperate for clinical hours to list, then maybe divide the activity into two spots, each with their own dates, separate hours, description, and Contact.

 

[PeteytheFish]

Former patroller and current MS3 here. I agree with @Catalystik above. I'd label it non-clinical but describe it well. Too much of ski patrol is non-clinical and patient care is so brief that it just doesn't really count. But you could turn it into a cool activities essay...

 

[gobills123]

I'd suggest you label it as Non Clinical, since you spent far less than 50% of your time aiding injured folks, but include wordage in the title you give the space that refers to your first responder role. In the description, describe all your roles and be honest about the time spent aiding the injured. Let adcomms make up their own minds about what percent of the activity to assign to clinical exposure.

If you are desperate for clinical hours to list, then maybe divide the activity into two spots, each with their own dates, separate hours, description, and Contact.

Thanks! I’ll go with non clinical. I’m not in desperate need of clinical so that works well.

 

[tovarishch]

Hi, I’m hopefully not going to be applying again, so this is merely academic for me, but I find it interesting that patrol isn’t considered clinical while ambulance EMT work is. I do both, and so far I’ve had roughly similar amounts of patient interaction in both. Much of my EMT work is really just driving a paramedic around and patient contact is by necessity brief, albeit not as brief as patrol.

 

[PeteytheFish]

Hi, I’m hopefully not going to be applying again, so this is merely academic for me, but I find it interesting that patrol isn’t considered clinical while ambulance EMT work is. I do both, and so far I’ve had roughly similar amounts of patient interaction in both. Much of my EMT work is really just driving a paramedic around and patient contact is by necessity brief, albeit not as brief as patrol.

I had an advisor tell me that ambulance EMT work sometimes really isn't considered patient care for exactly that reason and that adcoms look at it with some suspicion, depending on where you worked. Now, I worked for a rural BLS service that could only arrange ALS intercept when the s**z was really hitting the fan and I never, ever drove the rig, so I counted my thousands of ambulance hours as clinical care and prepared to defend it if necessary. But then usually it was just me in the back with a patient, and our transports were often upward of an hour. If that isn't solid clinical experience, then I don't know what is. Conversely, I patrolled at a big resort and only ever spent ten minutes or so with a patient before loading them on a sled and going, so I would never have felt comfortable calling that clinical experience.

The truth is, there is no rubric for this. Only the applicant really knows what their job looks like. There may be patrol positions in which patient care is much more of the job than is the rest of the BS we do on patrol. If that were the case, then the applicant would be well advised to count it as clinical experience and describe it well.

It's a judgement call. Those of us giving advice can only work from our own framework and experience and then it's the OP's job to parse that out, take the applicable advice and toss out the less helpful stuff. BUT adcoms have seen it all, so if you claim something as clinical or otherwise, you'd better be able to back that up if asked.

 

[LizzyM]

I think that we can regard this as we do service as a life guard. Much of what one does is prevention and a very small proportion of one's time is the actual administration of clinical services. The people are skiers or swimmers or other people engaging in recreational activities, they are not patients until they are transferred for clinical care after sustaining an injury.

When in doubt, it is always advisable to call it "non-clinical" and let adcom members up-grade it than to call something "clinical" and be second-guessed by the adcom.

 

[gobills123]

I think that we can regard this as we do service as a life guard. Much of what one does is prevention and a very small proportion of one's time is the actual administration of clinical services. The people are skiers or swimmers or other people engaging in recreational activities, they are not patients until they are transferred for clinical care after sustaining an injury.

When in doubt, it is always advisable to call it "non-clinical" and let adcom members up-grade it than to call something "clinical" and be second-guessed by the adcom.

Thank you!