Sporadic clinical volunteering?

[PurpleCow2016]

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[Catalystik]

Hi all,

After something a friend recently said, I'm a little worried about what could be a lack of clinical volunteering in my application. I'm hoping to apply for matriculation in fall 2018.

So far I have:
- 140 hours hospital volunteering, done over one summer- a little boring, though I did make a strong connection with a particular patient, which was a great experience
- 80 hours working with children with developmental disabilities at a 2 week camp
- couple times being a respite care provider for families with children with developmental disabilities (basically a babysitter for date nights- I feel like this sounds like a great experience but it honestly felt like typical babysitting to me. Organization was cool though! They paid me, and it was free for the families- so accessible childcare for them.)

I graduated in 2016 and am now doing a 2 year postbac at the NIH, where I work closely with a physician and see study patients, I'd say:
- 2 hours a week, for 2 years? This is not volunteering though, this is part of my job.

My other nonclinical activities include:
- 4 year membership and eventual leadership of a mentoring organization at my school, for elementary school kids.
- 4 years ESL tutoring, 1 hr per week
- now teaching health education at a homeless shelter bi-weekly (will be for 2 years)

I'm a little concerned about my lack of clinical volunteering because those were experiences early on in college, and two of those weren't even really in a clinical hospital setting. Even though these experiences were short and not long-term, I have had great experiences from them and definitely a lot to talk about in interviews and stuff, so I'd like to think that its not only about the number of hours!
I hope that my current job, with extensive interaction with patients, physicians, and fellows, will maybe compensate a little, but I'm not sure.
I also may or may not go the MD/PhD route (depends on MCAT), so I've been pretty research focused these past few years, and have also heard that perhaps clinical volunteering does not matter quite as much for MD/PhD?

Should I try to incorporate more clinical volunteering? I'm very passionate about my nonclinical activities, especially health education, and I currently have an opportunity to teach STEM in an afterschool program which I would love to do. If I really do need more clinical experience, I could volunteer at a hospital instead. I just really hate to do things for the sake of box-checking, and am really interested in the STEM program.

Active clinical experience with patients can be acquired through volunteering, work, or helpful interaction with current patients in a research study. Special medically-oriented camps or respite care could be a source as well (or not), depending on your role.

Examples:
-A research study on active elderly persons to measure their hippocampuses wouldn't qualify. A research study testing various interventions to slow Alzheimer's Disease progression would.

-Feeding, bathing, & entertaining developmentally disabled children wouldn't qualify as "clinical." Administering tube feedings or medication, clearing a trach tube, changing dressings, or providing catheter or stoma care would.

 

[PurpleCow2016]

Active clinical experience with patients can be acquired through volunteering, work, or helpful interaction with current patients in a research study. Special medically-oriented camps or respite care could be a source as well (or not), depending on your role.

Examples:
-A research study on active elderly persons to measure their hippocampuses wouldn't qualify. A research study testing various interventions to slow Alzheimer's Disease progression would.

-Feeding, bathing, & entertaining developmentally disabled children wouldn't qualify as "clinical." Administering tube feedings or medication, changing dressings, or providing catheter care would.

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[Catalystik]

1) At the camp for children with developmental disabilities (specifically selective mutism), we were trained in behavioral therapy and spent each day paired with a child to encourage them to verbalize across people, places, and activities. This wasn't providing direct medical care, but rather psychological support I suppose.

2) How would feeding/bathing children with developmental disabilities not count? Would that also hold true for hospital volunteering? (I changed a lot of sheets and helped patients with feeding as well)

3) For your research study examples- do you mean that for it to count as clinical experience, the patient has to actually be "sick"? (Alzheimer's disease vs. active and healthy? elderly people)

1) I would count that as clinical due to its therapeutic potential. It would help if you submitted reports on progress and had a psychologist, OT, etc on site.

2) Would you count babysitting an infant as "clinical?" Just because kids have a condition, caring for them doesn't necessarily count, if you are not giving that care due to current patient status or orders by a clinical care provider. Feeding patients in a hospital does count.

3) They don't need to be sick, but they do need to have a condition for which your intervention is potentially helpful.


Obviously, there are a lot of potential nuances here, which every adcomm may not interpret in the same way. I'm providing a general opinion, not necessarily my own.

 

[PurpleCow2016]

1) I would count that as clinical due to its therapeutic potential. It would help if you submitted reports on progress and had a psychologist, OT, etc on site.

2) Would you count babysitting an infant as "clinical?" Just because kids have a condition, caring for them doesn't necessarily count, if you are not giving that care due to current patient status or orders by a clinical care provider. Feeding patients in a hospital does count.

3) They don't need to be sick, but they do need to have a condition for which your intervention is potentially helpful.


Obviously, there are a lot of potential nuances here, which every adcomm may not interpret in the same way. I'm providing a general opinion, not necessarily my own.

Thanks for the clarification! No, of course babysitting an infant does not count as "clinical". Maybe I should have been more specific, but part of my hospital volunteering did involve working in the peds unit with children with developmental disabilities. Respite care on the other hand, was mainly babysitting with some added responsibilities.

My main question is, are these experiences sufficient for a med school app? Thanks again. I've learned a lot from them, but would understand if others would like to see more patient contact in a hospital setting on my app

 

[Goro]

I consider any interacting with the developmentally disabled to be clinical. This is a very vulnerable demographic and one not too many people are willing to work with, either.

Working with patients who are really research subjects is a finer line.

Thanks for the clarification! No, of course babysitting an infant does not count as "clinical". Maybe I should have been more specific, but part of my hospital volunteering did involve working in the peds unit with children with developmental disabilities. Respite care on the other hand, was mainly babysitting with some added responsibilities.

My main question is, are these experiences sufficient for a med school app? Thanks again. I've learned a lot from them, but would understand if others would like to see more patient contact in a hospital setting on my app

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for the clarification! No, of course babysitting an infant does not count as "clinical". Maybe I should have been more specific, but part of my hospital volunteering did involve working in the peds unit with children with developmental disabilities. Respite care on the other hand, was mainly babysitting with some added responsibilities.

My main question is, are these experiences sufficient for a med school app? Thanks again. I've learned a lot from them, but would understand if others would like to see more patient contact in a hospital setting on my app

If you judge the clinical research to have passed the guidelines I gave you, then I think you're fine.

 

[PurpleCow2016]

I consider any interacting with the developmentally disabled to be clinical. This is a very vulnerable demographic and one not too many people are willing to work with, either.

Working with patients who are really research subjects is a finer line.

If you judge the clinical research to have passed the guidelines I gave you, then I think you're fine.

Thank you both for your input