The Clerical Side of Medicine

[halcyonpage]

Hi all,

I have been training as (among other things) a part-time hospice clerk for a while now, and will eventually leave the CNA side to take it on full-time. I have learned a lot about insurance, finances, corporate compliance, and the maintenance of medical records. However, these clerical tasks are neither patient care nor research related.

I have a lot of those other experiences to talk about, but I'm wondering how to spin the clerical stuff in my PS such that it makes me look like a more capable doctor/scientist, and less like someone interested in administration or business. I'm willing to leave my cushy desk and get my hands dirty!

Does anyone else with a similar experience have advice on how to best spin it? I'm imagining a lot of you have been scribes, secretaries, personal assistants, and such.

So far I've got:
-Awareness of clerical stuff will help keep me out of legal trouble
-Understanding the financial side will help make my experiments more cost-effective
-I have seen how medicine is more complicated than just dealing with patients and bench work

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[Banco]

No need to really "spin" it, this all seems like great knowledge to have if you're going into healthcare. It makes you more informed about the realities of different aspects of medicine. Since you already have hands-on clinical experience you're perfectly fine.


I don't think the "legal trouble" point sounds good. For your second point instead of taking it to experiments, talk about understanding the complex financial aspects of medicine and how it affects patients/physicians alike. Last point is good. Overall I don't think this needs to be a major part of your PS unless it really shaped you somehow.

 

[LizzyM]

If there is a way to spin it, I would say that you understand the roles of other members of the health care team and the importance of documentation and the business side of medicine without which the medical side cannot be sustained.

 

[hoihaie]

you understand patients also have tons of paperwork to work through and how these paperwork and bureaucracy can keep patients who need the care/services away from them?

 

[DokterMom]

Cleric? You mean "clerk" ?
A cleric is a clergy-person or pastor, not an administrator.

 

[halcyonpage]

@DokterMom OMG derp!

 

[Longshot6]

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[halcyonpage]

Thanks everyone!

I want to also talk about how having a job like this developed my professional skills. As an undergrad, I didn't have much exposure to medicine in a business setting. It was all class, clubs, labs, and inpatient units. Compared to this job, I felt those experiences were a bit ... sheltered in terms of professionalism.

@hoihaie I definitely have seen some of that, but since I don't really work with the underserved or disadvantaged (most people on hospice have insurance), I don't want to seem pretentious and say I'm an expert on the foibles of the healthcare system.

 

[M12B]

I agree with all of the advice above. There is no need to "spin it." Ultimately you have seen a side of the healthcare system that other pre-meds haven't.

As for my experience, I have worked full-time in the business office/billing department of a large practice for 3 years. I deal daily with EHR, documentation, medical coding, insurance companies, and policies etc. and I got asked a lot about it in my interviews. The general feeling I got from the adcoms was that they saw my background as beneficial.

 

[halcyonpage]

I guess I kinda want this job to sound like it inspired me to be in medicine, when really it grounds me to the reality of its complexity.

For other experiences, you can say stuff like "volunteering awoke my passion for the human condition" and "research opened my mind to creative solutions". You know, really make an activity transcendent of its tasks.