Volunteering/Clinical Experience Question

[meliora27]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm just starting out on the post-bacc track after being out of college for a couple of years and working in finance. Over the summer I took an EMT-B course hoping to use it to find a job where I could make a little money and get some clinical experience while I embark on my prereq's. I'm having a difficult time finding a paying ER tech job that either (a) works with my school schedule or (b) will hire me without a year or so of experience. So, I've thrown in the towel on finding a paying job at least for now and am going to go the volunteer route. A few places I've spoken too have been receptive to the fact that I have a current EMT-B license and would be more than just "dead weight" hanging around. I've been in touch with sever ED's as well as some free clinics. My thinking is that by working in a free clinic, I'd get more hands-on experience with direct patient care than I may get if I were just an ordinary ED volunteer; at least this is what I've been told by the people in the clinic. Would volunteering in a free clinic "look worse" on an application than volunteering in an ED? In both I'd be interacting with docs, nurses, and patients, and I feel that I may have an even better experience in the clinic.

 

[2008orbust]

Are there any volunteer EMT jobs with your local fire fighters squad? I was a volunteer Paramedic for years and I received just as much experience, I just wasn't paid. I was told this reflected well on my app also. Good luck!

 

[meliora27]

Unfortunately not. All departments around here are paid and you need to be a FF/EMT to get on the dept.

 

[lynxtigtab]

This is an area that I would also be weak in if I were applying today. I would like to start volunteering (I believe it is something that I should spend some time doing anyways) but I am at a loss for finding activites to participate in. Is there a good way to find community resources like this?

In terms of volunteering in an ED or free clinic...I guess my perspective on it has always been that nothing is going to look "better" than something else, but it is what you are able to make out of it and the way that you can "spin" it on an application. I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but I gave it a shot.

 

[Entrainment]

Is there a good way to find community resources like this?

There's:

http://www.volunteermatch.org/

A lot of cities also have a volunteer centre or bureau. You usually can set up an appointment with someone there who will help you find a volunteer position that will suit you. Googling the name of your city plus 'volunteer bureau' may turn something up.

 

[CultureDoc]

To the OP - this may just be my opinion, but I believe volunteering in a free clinic may look better than volunteering in an ED - particularly if, as in your case - you get to have more patient contact at the free clinic. I think the free clinic would give you a good handle on whether or not you enjoy being around patients - particularly those from underserved populations. The ED may give you greater exposure to a whole spectrum of patients - from poor to rich - but the free clinic may be the "tougher" experience (it all depends on the particular ED in question and what they have you doing, of course). The bottom line is to go where you think you'll enjoy the experience the most and get the most out of it. You have to want to be there, and I think it sounds like you want to be at the free clinic more right now.

Also realize that on your AMCAS primary application, you get 1325 characters to describe the experience, so you can explain what you did and what the experience did for you to the adcoms. Thus, as another post said, you can "spin" the experience to highlight what about it made it such a great experience for you. All of this stuff is highly individual, and there's no "checklist" that the adcoms have that would make a free clinic experience "count less" than an ED experience.

Best of luck!

 

[lynxtigtab]

Thanks for the site! I will check it out!

 

[meliora27]

Thanks to everyone that has replied. I think I'm going to go with the clinic route...I'm just waiting to hear back from them with the details all worked out. Not to derail this original point of this question BUT....hypothetically, lets say that I do start volunteering in the clinic and start getting some clinical experience and then once I have some experience under my belt an ED hires me to be a tech. Would being paid while obtaining clinical experience have a negative connotation. I couldn't imagine it would but I'm just checking.