Volunteering in Physical Therapy or ER reception?

[HNH992]

Hello,
I just got back from a volunteering interview at a hospital. There were many opportunities available, but most of them were clerical or escorts, and I didn't think they would give me the experience I need as a pre-med student.
However, there were 2 positions that could somehow give me experience in patient contact. The first one is in physical therapy. The good thing about this one is that I get to help the patients to stand on their feet and move around, and then report the results to the nurse. So it involves direct patient contact and I could interact with the medical staff. The second position is ER receptionist, It was listed under patient contact but I thought of it as more of a clerical position since the only thing I could do is guiding visitors.
I preferred the first one, but I was told that in ER a new position I could transfer to will be opened soon that involves providing care and comfort to the patients, but I still think that physical therapy could give better experience.
So my question is...will volunteering in physical therapy look good on my med school application? and do you think it's better than the ER position?

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[tmn]

Just a heads up that no one really calls it ER unless you are referring to the show. EM (emergency medicine) is the specialty and ED (emergency department) is the place.

 

[tmn]

And to answer your question I would pick the physical therapy position for more patient contact.

 

[HNH992]

And to answer your question I would pick the physical therapy position for more patient contact.

Thanks for the heads up.
Yup that what I thought, but my concern is that does PT look good in my med application? is it considered medical/clinical experience?

 

[Laurenxxxx]

I preferred the first one, but I was told that in ER a new position I could transfer to will be opened soon that involves providing care and comfort to the patients, but I still think that physical therapy could give better experience.

This is what I did as a volunteer for cancer patients. It was absolutely an amazing experience. I've never been seriously injured or ill, so hearing what it's like to be a patient opened my eyes to a lot of aspects of medicine that I never thought about before. You learn about their journey, treatments, positives and negatives of medicine (good doctors and not so good doctors), and how to be more compassionate by thinking from the patient's perspective. They were so appreciative of my time to just talk to them and listen. It also helped my communication skills. And you'll get lots of fun stories in the ED.

Just my opinion 🙂

In all, I think it comes down to choosing what you would enjoy doing most. This way you won't want to quit soon.

As for if the PT position is clinical, I'm not sure.

 

[Catalystik]

does PT look good in my med application? is it considered medical/clinical experience?

From what you've described as your role, it sounds like you'll likely get excellent active clinical experience with patients having a variety of illness and injury issues.

 

[ndafife]

Do whichever you are going to enjoy more. Dont worry about which looks better on a resume or which is a better experience. If you like what you are doing you are going to be much more likely to work harder (aka get a better LOR) and much more likely to want to get more hours

 

[HNH992]

This is what I did as a volunteer for cancer patients. It was absolutely an amazing experience. I've never been seriously injured or ill, so hearing what it's like to be a patient opened my eyes to a lot of aspects of medicine that I never thought about before. You learn about their journey, treatments, positives and negatives of medicine (good doctors and not so good doctors), and how to be more compassionate by thinking from the patient's perspective. They were so appreciative of my time to just talk to them and listen. It also helped my communication skills. And you'll get lots of fun stories in the ED.

Just my opinion 🙂

In all, I think it comes down to choosing what you would enjoy doing most. This way you won't want to quit soon.

As for if the PT position is clinical, I'm not sure.

Thanks for sharing your experience! It sounds exciting, but as I said, this position is not available now and they'll open it soon.
If things didn't work out so well in PT, I'll ask to be transferred to ED when it opens.

From what you've described as your role, it sounds like you'll likely get excellent active clinical experience with patients having a variety of illness and injury issues.

You're right! It'll give me good opportunity to see different kinds of injures, and even better, help treating them and report to the medical staff.
Even though it's PT and not sure if it will be seen by medical school as medical experience, but we'll be trained by an actual therapist. So it's like shadowing with training which I think it's an excellent experience to be put in a resume or application.
They emailed me today and I got accepted into that position.
Hopefully, it'll be a good experience.

Do whichever you are going to enjoy more. Dont worry about which looks better on a resume or which is a better experience. If you like what you are doing you are going to be much more likely to work harder (aka get a better LOR) and much more likely to want to get more hours

You have a good point, and honestly they offered me other roles that I could enjoy, but they were neither clinical or patient-contact.
I've asked several med schools in my state and they said they favor medical/clinical experience. So even that I could enjoy the other roles more, I need something that med schools want.

 

[Catalystik]

You're right! It'll give me good opportunity to see different kinds of injures, and even better, help treating them and report to the medical staff.
1) Even though it's PT and not sure if it will be seen by medical school as medical experience, but we'll be trained by an actual therapist. So it's like shadowing with training which I think it's an excellent experience to be put in a resume or application.
2)They emailed me today and I got accepted into that position.
Hopefully, it'll be a good experience.

1) You aren't expected to get "medical" experience. You're expected to get experience interacting with people having medical problems, so you can demonstrate that you like being around such folks, that you can talk with them, that you can be supportive, that you can contribute to their care. To actually learn something useful is a huge additional side benefit. An advantage of this activity over many others is that you'll be talking more to the patient and less with their families. It's certainly far better experience than filling water jugs on a medical floor or feeding people, which is mainly what I did.

2) Congrats!

 

[ndafife]

You have a good point, and honestly they offered me other roles that I could enjoy, but they were neither clinical or patient-contact.
I've asked several med schools in my state and they said they favor medical/clinical experience. So even that I could enjoy the other roles more, I need something that med schools want.[/QUOTE]

Youre acting like 1 extracurricular activity is going to make or break your application. No one has ever been rejected solely because they didnt have medical/clinical experience, and no one has been accepted solely because that had a ton of it. Its important because it shows that you actually have an interest in medicine, but in the overall scope of your application with GPA/MCAT, LORs, your personal statement, research and other activities, secondary essays, etc... "favoring" that kind of experience probably counts for less than 5% of your application (and that is before the interview)

 

[Lamel]

Active clinical care (through employment) allowed me to interact with patients a lot more, and also gave me a ton of things to write/talk about in my primary and secondary applications. I'd take the PT position; plus it is actually fun/more rewarding to do something tangible for patients.

 

[Aerus]

Always go for the experience that allows for more patient contact, regardless of the flashy title.

 

[HNH992]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and helping me out with my decision.
Wish you all good luck.