I just started looking into Med school, I initially was set on becoming a PA. I see so many forums that talk about working in healthcare setting to gain experience before applying. I currently am waiting to start volunteer positions in a COVID vaccine clinic and Hospice home care to gain some hours and get a feel for patient care. I am not qualified to do any direct patient care in either setting since I do not have any training or degree that qualifies me to treat patients in anyway. How do first year college students interested in pursuing Med school gain hands on patient care hours?
Volunteering while working on a BS no experience
- Thread starter ZoeHart
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You don’t get hands on patient care hours. You get face to face patient care hours. Hours where you interact, talk to, etc. with patients. You aren’t qualified at this point to even take vitals so volunteer at a hospital or hospice center or a free clinic. Later you could get a paid job as a scribe or NA if you want.
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This is why I say that you need to be close enough "to smell patients"; it is not necessary to touch them but you need to be in the same room. You may need to wait until after you've been vaccinated against Covid. Then you might be welcomed into a volunteer position playing with sick kids in a children's hospital, being a volunteer in an emergency department, greeting patients and directing them to treatment rooms in a free clinic, Those might be three of the most common volunteer positions.
It is interesting that you have moved to MD from PA; the PA program I know of requires the equivalent of a year of full-time experience for admission. Most people get an EMT-B certificate or othewise train as a patient care technician (nurse's aide) and then work f/t for a year to get the requisite experience. You don't need to go that far for med school but you should have some "bedside" experience in a health care setting and, if feasilble, a second experience in patients' homes or a different setting than the first.
It is interesting that you have moved to MD from PA; the PA program I know of requires the equivalent of a year of full-time experience for admission. Most people get an EMT-B certificate or othewise train as a patient care technician (nurse's aide) and then work f/t for a year to get the requisite experience. You don't need to go that far for med school but you should have some "bedside" experience in a health care setting and, if feasilble, a second experience in patients' homes or a different setting than the first.
