Street Medic on a Medical School Resume?

[deleted1030570]

I've been attending the George Floyd protests and have been using my first aid training to provide medical assistance to other protestors. Could this count on my resume? that's not why I do it, I'm just curious. I'm joining a street medic collective where there are medics with training levels of first aider (like me) all the way up to RNs. I am careful to stay within the scope of my training. So far I've wrapped an ankle, helped a girl having a panic attack, and recommended a dude getting heat exhaustion to take a break and take off the thick hat (which he declined to do, but wcyd?).

I have just the basic CPR and first aid training I got when I became a home care aid. Basically I can treat minor injuries and take vitals. I got my "certifications" through the online free first aid certification because I can't afford the red cross certification courses, but I took a practical college-level first aid class and I practice regularly. I definitely know when I'm out of my league.

I don't administer medication (though I know how to administer an epi-pen and would if I absolutely had to). I am technically trained in medication administration through my job, but I don't have insurance so I don't want the liability. I don't even carry Advil. Basically I am there to flush eyes with saline (tear gas/pepper spray), wrap sprains, pass out moleskin for shoes, bandage cuts/scrapes, and splint injured fingers. Anything much worse I can take basic details like vitals and pass off to EMS if the patient is willing or to a more experienced medic. I've been lucky enough to avoid a real triage situation, but I know how to and could if necessary. I'm essentially a baby medic, helping where I can and learning from those with more training. My hope is to get certified as an EMT in the future, but formal certification is expensive, ya know?

So I guess my question is, would medical schools see this as scary or cool? On one hand: radical politics, flat organization structure (we're all "medics" no one flaunts certifications). On the other: show that I can keep a cool head in chaotic situations, have experience directly caring for patients.

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[medicaldoctor041815]

how many hours do you have in this activity? have you been basically attending all the protests in your area? it definitely sounds clinical to me, and i don’t really think “radical politics” would be a factor at all in your activity. could be wrong though

 

[deleted1030570]

how many hours do you have in this activity? have you been basically attending all the protests in your area? it definitely sounds clinical to me, and i don’t really think “radical politics” would be a factor at all in your activity. could be wrong though

I just started, so I've only done about 15 hrs so far at various protests.

 

[RJ McReady]

Tbh I think it would be risky to list this type of thing as a clinical activity on your application. This is an unlicensed, unsolicited activity. (Not saying it’s right or wrong).
You could always discuss it in an interview, given the right situation.

 

[ChymeofPassion]

Would not put on your application, maybe bring it up in an interview if you read the room correctly.

 

[LizzyM]

If you are employed as a home health aide, you have nothing to gain and you don't need this as a clinical experience. Plus, there is a very slight risk that if could put you in an unflattering light. Why take a chance? And if you are going to say "I wouldn't want to go there..." it can be just one person out of a faculty of thousands who will find fault but use some other excuse to toss your application.

Agree with @ChymeofPassion that you can bring it up at an interview if it seems like it would be well received by your audience.

 

[jhmmd]

I've been attending the George Floyd protests and have been using my first aid training to provide medical assistance to other protestors. Could this count on my resume? that's not why I do it, I'm just curious. I'm joining a street medic collective where there are medics with training levels of first aider (like me) all the way up to RNs. I am careful to stay within the scope of my training. So far I've wrapped an ankle, helped a girl having a panic attack, and recommended a dude getting heat exhaustion to take a break and take off the thick hat (which he declined to do, but wcyd?).

I have just the basic CPR and first aid training I got when I became a home care aid. Basically I can treat minor injuries and take vitals. I got my "certifications" through the online free first aid certification because I can't afford the red cross certification courses, but I took a practical college-level first aid class and I practice regularly. I definitely know when I'm out of my league.

I don't administer medication (though I know how to administer an epi-pen and would if I absolutely had to). I am technically trained in medication administration through my job, but I don't have insurance so I don't want the liability. I don't even carry Advil. Basically I am there to flush eyes with saline (tear gas/pepper spray), wrap sprains, pass out moleskin for shoes, bandage cuts/scrapes, and splint injured fingers. Anything much worse I can take basic details like vitals and pass off to EMS if the patient is willing or to a more experienced medic. I've been lucky enough to avoid a real triage situation, but I know how to and could if necessary. I'm essentially a baby medic, helping where I can and learning from those with more training. My hope is to get certified as an EMT in the future, but formal certification is expensive, ya know?

So I guess my question is, would medical schools see this as scary or cool? On one hand: radical politics, flat organization structure (we're all "medics" no one flaunts certifications). On the other: show that I can keep a cool head in chaotic situations, have experience directly caring for patients.

You could put it on your app but I definitely woudn't paint it as being a "street medic." Although you take care to draw boundaries it could be off-putting. Just my $.02.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

I wouldn't. Way too high risk and too low reward.

 

[cheese puff]

I wouldn’t list it in the activities section but it seems like it could be an interesting essay topic if you focus on “showing that you can keep a cool head in chaotic situations and have experience directly caring for patients” as you said.

 

[deleted1001544]

So not accusing you do anything like this, but there's quite a few videos circulating right now of "street medics" who are totally incompetent and mess up in providing care. The most egregious example I've seen so far was improper application of an improvised tourniquet on a wound with already controlled bleeding, out of Washington DC. The reason we provide EMS through organizations is so that we have a standard of care that is higher than this. "Street medics" bring with them a lot of issues regarding scope and standard of practice, accountability, and proper medical direction.

When you go through EMT training, one of the first things you'll learn is that the validity of EMS rests on the concept of "medical direction", the idea that a doctor can delegate his practice to individuals in his system that he deems qualified. Outside of this, you can very quickly enter the territory of unlicensed practice of medicine. Getting my EMT-B just means I can say I'm an EMT-B. Mentioning this to someone I happen to come across who's in trouble, and that I can help, is one thing. It's entirely different to advertise this as a regular service I can provide, without practicing through a doctor. Doctors reading the app may have questions regarding the legitimacy of the services, however well intentioned, you provide.

My advice is to stay away from these organizations. If you are at a protest, and you happen to see someone you can help (and in all likelihood, you probably will anyway), go for it. And I don't think there's anything wrong with talking about a time when you saw someone in trouble and helped them in the way you knew how. But stay away from organizations of questionable legitimacy, because if/when something happens, everyone's going down in a flaming spiral.

(Also I highly recommend EMT certification. Even though you probably won't be able to find a job on a 911 service if you can't commit full time for at least a year, you can definitely find a lot of jobs that are not minimum wage. I made back the cost of my program with about a week's worth of work this summer.)

 

[deleted480308]

also, medic is a term that generally implies a certain level of professional training (as it's a term for for emts/paramedica/military medics) that you clearly don't have. adding "street" doesn't change that and it's no more appropriate to call yourself a "street medic" than it would be to say you are a "street nurse practicioner"

 

[Justapremedguy]

You call yourself a street medic, but medic implies paramedic. You aren’t even an EMT-B. And from your other post, you almost killed someone by not calling an ambulance or getting help from the cops (yes, most cops are good) who were right there. I think most adcoms would reasonably not love this for many reasons (“medic” when you aren’t, endangering a life, practicing outside your scope, choosing politics over a life, etc). You can go for it, but I think it’s risky for you

 

[Blueprint Med School]

I wouldn't touch it, especially as written. It carries a tremendous risk of looking like you are stepping over boundaries in licensing and staying away from political topics is a must.

You can say that you volunteered to provide basic first aid during local events, but even that might be risky. I wouldn't mention it in the app and I would read the room first before talking about it in person, wherein the right situation it could be helpful.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
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