The BEst Pre-Med Prep Job

[AngelaChanel34]

I am currently oking as a Tech at a major hospital. I did this thinking I wanted to be a Nurse, so basically Im a Nurse AID I know now I do not want to be a RN. I was wondering what are some good jobs to look into for those of us who want to be Doctors? Please dp not say CNA because your basically a Gopher/Nurse Slave and you just do baths and clean up poo all day. It's a Joke really. I would like to start looking for other positions that will give me some real experience! Thank You!

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[scaredoflife]

I talked to a dean of a medical school and he told me that if you worked as an orderly or or a nurse tech. They look at you with respect, because you are doing scut work. So if you are a nurse tech right now and you are fed up with it move into scribe maybe..? If you are applying this cycle stay as a nurse tech.

The dean said that you basically do the cleaning, and shaving all that as a nurse tech so they honor what you did to show you have the balls to become a doctor.

 

[apumic]

I talked to a dean of a medical school and he told me that if you worked as an orderly or or a nurse tech. They look at you with respect, because you are doing scut work. So if you are a nurse tech right now and you are fed up with it move into scribe maybe..? If you are applying this cycle stay as a nurse tech.

The dean said that you basically do the cleaning, and shaving all that as a nurse tech so they honor what you did to show you have the balls to become a doctor.

^THAT

Honestly, you can't get any "physician-like" experience w/o significant medical training (e.g., NP, PA, etc.). Your current position will make for great clinical experience. Just do some shadowing, volunteering, and research to show those interests/strengths as well.

 

[willen101383]

try phlebotomy....i was a phlebotomist for 4 years undergrand...before progressing to a clinical lab technologist...and then ultimately getting into med school....you get a TON of experience with patient care, testing, and the medical field as a whole if you want to learn. I highly recommend.

 

[BritishTang]

I worked as a Medical Assistant through Undergrad. They loved me. I really think it helped me get accepted.

 

[FuturaDocta]

I talked to a dean of a medical school and he told me that if you worked as an orderly or or a nurse tech. They look at you with respect, because you are doing scut work. So if you are a nurse tech right now and you are fed up with it move into scribe maybe..? If you are applying this cycle stay as a nurse tech.

The dean said that you basically do the cleaning, and shaving all that as a nurse tech so they honor what you did to show you have the balls to become a doctor.

What if you do all that, but for free. Yah, I pretty much do all what the techs do but as a volunteer. Does that look as good or not so much?

 

[DrYoda]

I was wondering what are some good jobs to look into for those of us who want to be Doctors?

The job that pays the most= the best job.

 

[jkmph]

The job that pays the most= the best job.

Not necessarily good advice. The job that gives the best clinical exposure and provides the best med-school-application resume building experience is the best job in this case. What the pay is should be low on your list. Frankly some students do CNA-like "scut" work for free and volunteer where others are paid simply because it looks a lot better than "the best paying job=the best job".

 

[DrYoda]

Not necessarily good advice. The job that gives the best clinical exposure and provides the best med-school-application resume building experience is the best job in this case. What the pay is should be low on your list. Frankly some students do CNA-like "scut" work for free and volunteer where others are paid simply because it looks a lot better than "the best paying job=the best job".

Or you could take the better job and volunteer some time on days off.

For most students there are only two job criteria that matter 1. Money 2. schedule flexibility.

 

[TheGoodGoodTime]

I am currently oking as a Tech at a major hospital. I did this thinking I wanted to be a Nurse, so basically Im a Nurse AID I know now I do not want to be a RN. I was wondering what are some good jobs to look into for those of us who want to be Doctors? Please dp not say CNA because your basically a Gopher/Nurse Slave and you just do baths and clean up poo all day. It's a Joke really. I would like to start looking for other positions that will give me some real experience! Thank You!

. Why not?

I did this for three years. In fact its not really that easy of a job, and really one of the only things you can do without a degree or professional training in the medical field. IMO it was one of the best thing I did for my resume. Not only did it show that I did my "time" as the low man on the totem pole, but it gave me 1) loads of patient interaction 2) basic clinical skills 3) lab interpretation ability 4) and most importantly plenty of hilariously epic stories. Can't tell you how many people I interviewed with wanted to hear about this job, and I could tell an amazing story.

Also I think its important to mention that I volunteered at a hospital for a couple years, but just about every school wasn't interested in that at all. They all know that you basically don't do anything in that position as you're not trained to anything. When they see you worked in a real pt. care setting, it automatically perks interest and shows them that you really do want to go into this field.

Lastly CNA/PCTs don't do everything you say they do if you're in the right hospital. Maybe you're right about their roles in a nursing home (which is the worst place ever for that job), but if you find a position in a level one trauma hospital in a good medical surgical unit or ER, you have a lot more responsibility than your incredibly generalized stereotype.

I really challenge you to find something else to be besides a CNA/PCT or Medical Assistant. Because honestly, nothing else really exists.

 

[jkmph]

Or you could take the better job and volunteer some time on days off.

For most students there are only two job criteria that matter 1. Money 2. schedule flexibility.

3. Neurotic premeds wanting to get into medical school. And for most people 3 >>> 2+1. Don't get me wrong I'm a broke graduate student, but when someone asks what job is the best pre-med job, it's probably not the one that pays the best.

 

[PB2464]

I've worked as a PCT on a med/surg unit, patient transporter, surgical associate, and now an ER scribe.

The PCT position gave me the best patient interactions by far. Definitely worth it!

As a surgical associate I was able to scrub into surgeries and hold retractors/lap cameras. Very interesting but not much patient interaction.

As an ER scribe, I'm learning how to perform histories and physical exams. It's an awesome job for pre-meds if you have a program in your area!

 

[MarieMarie]

EMS is fun as hell but requires more schooling (and therefor time and money).

But your CPR will be top notch!

 

[Smackey]

I was an ER tech during college and it helped tremendously. Every interviewer made a comment about it. I also probably knew more going into 3rd year than most because I could do EKGs, Foleys and all sorts of little things.

 

[leon9]

I have a weird point of view on this.. See my parents are immigrants and don't speak much English so they work as a custodian/ teacher aide and both of these are low paying jobs. To me a job that pays enough so that I can make a necessary amount to pick up the slack for them is the best job.. The job I have now gives me immense clinical exposure and I can help my parents [32+ Hours/ Week @ 11.50 per hour .. 17.25 holidays n overtime 😀 ]

Also, I think a job that is paid is more likely to keep you on your feet because you have to be at the top of your game to keep your job and to provide the best care you can.

I'm a PT Aide and I have no intention in going into PT... It's just a great job and I get to meet many interesting people [patients.] Plus the money is nice for someone my age.. 19 😀


Good luck.

 

[Grey Wind]

I am currently oking as a Tech at a major hospital. I did this thinking I wanted to be a Nurse, so basically Im a Nurse AID I know now I do not want to be a RN. I was wondering what are some good jobs to look into for those of us who want to be Doctors? Please dp not say CNA because your basically a Gopher/Nurse Slave and you just do baths and clean up poo all day. It's a Joke really. I would like to start looking for other positions that will give me some real experience! Thank You!

I recommend working as a tech in a different unit - the ED. For the most part, patients aren't in the ED long enough to poo 🙂laugh🙂, so your poo cleaning will be at a minimum. You will do more procedures (blood draws, EKGs, etc), you will learn more, and depending on the ED you may be exposed to trauma cases which will are always good experiences. Plus, in the ED, you will be peripherally exposed to different areas of medicine (trauma surgery for one). The tech job that you described sounds like you are working on a med/surg floor or something similar.

 

[Dross]

I don't really know what the best job is for pre-med. However, i work as a Ortho-Tech at my local hospital, which is also a teaching hospital. I have found that all the physicians and residents are so eager to teach that I am gaining priceless knowledge clinically from this job. I do physical exams, patient history, injection prep, casting, bracing and splinting, cleaning and preping wounds, and suture and staple removal. The pay isnt tremendous but the hours are flexible and I am making some extremely valuable connections with my local med school and with physicians who are more than willing to write LORs for me.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

The best pre-med job is: being a stellar undergrad.

 

[keregg228]

I recommend working as a tech in a different unit - the ED. For the most part, patients aren't in the ED long enough to poo 🙂laugh🙂, so your poo cleaning will be at a minimum. You will do more procedures (blood draws, EKGs, etc), you will learn more, and depending on the ED you may be exposed to trauma cases which will are always good experiences. Plus, in the ED, you will be peripherally exposed to different areas of medicine (trauma surgery for one). The tech job that you described sounds like you are working on a med/surg floor or something similar.

I work in a mid sized ED (30 beds) in an urban area. In my experience patient care techs spend a significant amount of their time cleaning up poo (most nurses will avoid doing this at all costs). You have to realize anytime someone is very ill they usually have an "accident". I currently work as a Patient Registrar in the ED (I am also a respiratory tech/EKG tech at another hospital). I am qualified to become a patient care tech (would even get a 50 cent pay raise) but would never ever do it. I care about people, would do almost anything to help them, but I am not cleaning up poo for half my day. We almost always have someone come in with a GI bleed, which for those of you who have never experienced that smell, it is something that will go with you to your grave (and make you want to be there right then). Nursing homes transfer patients that aren’t feeling well to the ER anytime they are unstable, or fall down. So these patients usually need help using the restroom.
Once, I saw an intern fudge up an enema (get the pun?). The result was a poo covered wall 2 very angry techs, and one vomiting nurse.
Another funny story, one time I was helping a patient to the restroom (I had free time and was helping out the patients nurse). She said she didn’t need help actually using the restroom. After a few minutes she yelled “I’m ready.” in this cute little old lady voice. I said “okay I’m coming in now.” at this point I opened the door to the restroom to find her bent over spreading her cheeks. (That is an image that will stick with me for a long time) Lol. I told her that the nurse would be in to help her in a minute.
I personally believe I have the best pre med job ever. I work several part time jobs; one of them is as a Respiratory assistant. I give breathing treatments to (non critical) patients that have already had an initial evaluation by a Respiratory therapist. I make 18.5 an hour. I check vitals, breath sounds, and adjust O2 (In addition to giving treatments, and doing stat EKGs). Good money, great patient contact, and I am actually doing something other than cleaning up poo. Most of you wouldn’t qualify for this position. You usually have to be in a Respiratory therapy program to get the job (which I am).
I got a degree in Human Bio with not the best grades (3.0). So I started towards a career in Health care administration, which I hated. I decided I needed to do something with patient contact so I started a RRT program. All my courses other then labs and clinical are online, and I already had all the prereq’s covered. Two semesters (and 12 total credits in) and I have a great job. After I started working as a Resp tech I knew I would never be satisfied with the role of a technician, and am now applying to med school. (I am also in a MPH program and have 3.9 in both the MPH and RRT program.)
If your grades or EC’s are lacking, consider getting an allied health certificate. Patient care techs, EMT’s, phlebotomists, Unit coordinators, EKG techs, surgical techs, and NA’s all make 10-20$/hour (with only 1 class, to a couple semesters of training). You’ll meet tons of physicians for LOR, and get plenty of patient contact. It is also possible to use your credentials to participate in more fulfilling volunteering experiences (i.e. I volunteer at a flu shot clinic with the health department, and as a medical assistant in a free clinic).
FYI I am at work (bored out of my mind) getting paid to write this email. I hope this has helped someone or at least made them laugh.

 

[medcourses09]

I am currently oking as a Tech at a major hospital. I did this thinking I wanted to be a Nurse, so basically Im a Nurse AID I know now I do not want to be a RN. I was wondering what are some good jobs to look into for those of us who want to be Doctors? Please dp not say CNA because your basically a Gopher/Nurse Slave and you just do baths and clean up poo all day. It's a Joke really. I would like to start looking for other positions that will give me some real experience! Thank You!

I did chart prep (while in college), worked as a patient transporter (full-time three years), and medical chart abstrcation (while in college). THose are my medical related jobs. I also did crises counseling, basic research, auditing for a hotel and how I work two full-time jobs. I also did medical writing. None of these jobs I would call ideal.

 

[Grey Wind]

I work in a mid sized ED (30 beds) in an urban area. In my experience patient care techs spend a significant amount of their time cleaning up poo (most nurses will avoid doing this at all costs). You have to realize anytime someone is very ill they usually have an "accident". I currently work as a Patient Registrar in the ED (I am also a respiratory tech/EKG tech at another hospital). I am qualified to become a patient care tech (would even get a 50 cent pay raise) but would never ever do it. I care about people, would do almost anything to help them, but I am not cleaning up poo for half my day. We almost always have someone come in with a GI bleed, which for those of you who have never experienced that smell, it is something that will go with you to your grave (and make you want to be there right then). Nursing homes transfer patients that aren’t feeling well to the ER anytime they are unstable, or fall down. So these patients usually need help using the restroom.
Once, I saw an intern fudge up an enema (get the pun?). The result was a poo covered wall 2 very angry techs, and one vomiting nurse.
Another funny story, one time I was helping a patient to the restroom (I had free time and was helping out the patients nurse). She said she didn’t need help actually using the restroom. After a few minutes she yelled “I’m ready.” in this cute little old lady voice. I said “okay I’m coming in now.” at this point I opened the door to the restroom to find her bent over spreading her cheeks. (That is an image that will stick with me for a long time) Lol. I told her that the nurse would be in to help her in a minute.
I personally believe I have the best pre med job ever. I work several part time jobs; one of them is as a Respiratory assistant. I give breathing treatments to (non critical) patients that have already had an initial evaluation by a Respiratory therapist. I make 18.5 an hour. I check vitals, breath sounds, and adjust O2 (In addition to giving treatments, and doing stat EKGs). Good money, great patient contact, and I am actually doing something other than cleaning up poo. Most of you wouldn’t qualify for this position. You usually have to be in a Respiratory therapy program to get the job (which I am).
I got a degree in Human Bio with not the best grades (3.0). So I started towards a career in Health care administration, which I hated. I decided I needed to do something with patient contact so I started a RRT program. All my courses other then labs and clinical are online, and I already had all the prereq’s covered. Two semesters (and 12 total credits in) and I have a great job. After I started working as a Resp tech I knew I would never be satisfied with the role of a technician, and am now applying to med school. (I am also in a MPH program and have 3.9 in both the MPH and RRT program.)
If your grades or EC’s are lacking, consider getting an allied health certificate. Patient care techs, EMT’s, phlebotomists, Unit coordinators, EKG techs, surgical techs, and NA’s all make 10-20$/hour (with only 1 class, to a couple semesters of training). You’ll meet tons of physicians for LOR, and get plenty of patient contact. It is also possible to use your credentials to participate in more fulfilling volunteering experiences (i.e. I volunteer at a flu shot clinic with the health department, and as a medical assistant in a free clinic).
FYI I am at work (bored out of my mind) getting paid to write this email. I hope this has helped someone or at least made them laugh.

I am a ED RN and I will say that I never delegate code browns to techs unless I have a critical patient or something more important that needs doing. I will get a tech to help me from time to time, but mostly I just grab another nurse. I work in a Lvl 1 trauma center with 71 beds, and we are ALWAYS short techs. So, our techs are mostly too busy doing minor procedures or taking patients off the unit to inpatient beds to be around long enough to get roped into cleaning up patients. Plus, the hospital that I work in is fairly large, so patients don't, for the most part, stay in our unit long enough to poo.

 

[keregg228]

I am a ED RN and I will say that I never delegate code browns to techs unless I have a critical patient or something more important that needs doing. I will get a tech to help me from time to time, but mostly I just grab another nurse. I work in a Lvl 1 trauma center with 71 beds, and we are ALWAYS short techs. So, our techs are mostly too busy doing minor procedures or taking patients off the unit to inpatient beds to be around long enough to get roped into cleaning up patients. Plus, the hospital that I work in is fairly large, so patients don't, for the most part, stay in our unit long enough to poo.

Our techs are always the ones forced to clean up their patients. I don't have a large amount of respect for the nurses in the ED where I work. (my family is full of nurses and I have tremendous respect for the profession in general). The nurses spend a large amount of their time avoiding their patients by sitting at the nursing station while the techs do almost everything. It is actually bad enough that if I were ever sick enough to go to the ED I would go to the hospital across town rather than where I work. I was not putting down nurses. Obviously the situation in every health care institution is unique.

 

[Grey Wind]

Our techs are always the ones forced to clean up their patients. I don't have a large amount of respect for the nurses in the ED where I work. (my family is full of nurses and I have tremendous respect for the profession in general). The nurses spend a large amount of their time avoiding their patients by sitting at the nursing station while the techs do almost everything. It is actually bad enough that if I were ever sick enough to go to the ED I would go to the hospital across town rather than where I work. I was not putting down nurses. Obviously the situation in every health care institution is unique.

Yea, but these type of people permeate every profession, including healthcare. You're always gonna have people who look to do the least amount of work - add a very small bit of power over techs and you get some lazy ***** nurses. Sounds like your ED has too many of these people.

 

[tndoc12]

I would say the best "job" before applying to med school would be something closely related to the field of medicine you want to go into (if you have a general idea that is). For example, if you want to go into Emergency Medicine, working as an EMT would look great and would provide with a great basis.

 

[Emerald84]

Stick with it for a bit longer....the economy is really really terrible....
it doesn't hurt to put out apps though

 

[cbaird26]

I'm currently employed as a "Physician Recruiter" as I just graduated with my Psychology B.S.

I find I love the job because I get to speak with Doctors all day while saving money for grad school.

I love it.🙂

 

[OBK]

er tech is great - tons of exposure to clinical care as well as all the BS that goes on between the different roles that people play - my favorite parts of my shifts are either when specialists are called in for certain procedures or codes - sounds macabre but its true

whoever made the obs. about the turnover on patients and thus the reduced need for bathing and cleaning is spot on - my job on a medsurge floor or something similar could easily be the most disgusting nightmare i could imagine