Volunteering Advice

[Pici12]

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I am (another) practicing lawyer considering the eventual pursuit of medical school. I’d like to volunteer in a clinical setting for a year or two to evaluate whether or not this is something I’d really like to pursue. I work ~80 hours a week so don’t have a lot of flexibility, but I do plan to spend 4 hours each week volunteering. I currently have two options: 1. to volunteer in the ED of a local hospital or 2. to volunteer on the geriatric floor of another. Would one option be materially better for providing me with a real sense of what a medical career entails? In the event that I do apply to medical school, would either option viewed as more favorable from an adcom perspective, particularly given my nontrad background? Thanks in advance!

 

[Crayola227]

I find it hard to say which is better for determining if you have the stomach for medicine, the ED experience is probably more varied, but the elderly floor smacks to me of more altruism and less "tourist sensationalist wow isn't medicine so exciting" type experience as far as what I think adcom might think

plus if you legitimately want to still go into medicine because you enjoyed your work on the geriatric unit, I'm confident you'll find something you like in medicine, but shadowing in the ED as a pre-med I don't find to have the same positive predictive value

just my two cents, the truth is that one probably gives you a more varied taste of reality, but the other, while more limited, may be a better way to test if you truly have the altruism needed in any branch of a medical career, and that each has a pro/con for preparing you and maybe how it might look to adcom (tourist vs a more narrow experience)

can you do both? That would be ideal. Eventually you will need more than one experience. Try the old folk. No point shadowing in the ED if the old folk put you off imho.

 

[Mike Bagwell]

ED shadowing is a complete waste of time. You will probably end up sitting around most of the time because you're not allowed to do as it relates to the actual patients due to HIPAA policies.

I'd actually recommend you shadow in an office setting. You can get a better idea of what a day in the life of a doctor is and then you can branch out to different areas.

If you only had the two options you mentioned, I would go with the geriatric ward. I don't think either of those two experiences would impress any adcom member as they are pretty standard shadowing/volunteering gigs. In this case, the idea shouldn't be to impress an adcom but instead should be more about figuring out if you really want to change careers.

 

[futuremdforme]

I would do the geriatric ward. So much of medicine is older patients with chronic illness. Another option is hospice which can be more flexible around your schedule.

 

[Goro]

I am (another) practicing lawyer considering the eventual pursuit of medical school. I’d like to volunteer in a clinical setting for a year or two to evaluate whether or not this is something I’d really like to pursue. I work ~80 hours a week so don’t have a lot of flexibility, but I do plan to spend 4 hours each week volunteering. I currently have two options: 1. to volunteer in the ED of a local hospital or 2. to volunteer on the geriatric floor of another. Would one option be materially better for providing me with a real sense of what a medical career entails? In the event that I do apply to medical school, would either option viewed as more favorable from an adcom perspective, particularly given my nontrad background? Thanks in advance!

Both are fine. I lean to the geriatric ward because it puts you up front with our mortality, something not everyone is comfortable with.

 

[Pici12]

Thanks to each of you for the responses. I really appreciate your insights. I think I’m going to pursue the Geriatric ward at this time with plans to diversify in the future (to the extent that this doesn’t change my mind!).