What defines clinical experience?

[JulianCrane]

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Does this include shadowing, research, volunteering stuff? Just wanted to clarify because I read someone's profile that said they did 4 years of research and a little shadowing and when she went on interviews, the schools said she had no clinical experience. What gives?

 

[jtheater]

Originally posted by ColoradoCCT
Research is not clinical experience.

Research can be clinical experience if it is hands-on clinical research. I had many friends who interviewed both inpatients and outpatients for research projects on cancer. Personally, I enrolled patients into a study out of the Emergency Department at Stanford. I had a great experience both interacting with patients and the doctors. So I think research can be great and looks much more interesting than being a tech. It demonstrates dedication, motivation, and critical thinking skills. Clinical research can be hard to find but it is well worth the effort, even if research isn't your thing. Volunteering or being a tech is good clinical experience, but should really be seen as a prereq for a strong application rather than something to differentiate yourself by.

 

[sunflower79]

some other ideas:

volunteering at a free clinic (don't just look at hospitals!)
being an EMT
being a medical interpreter (loved doing this, you're a fly on the wall and you get to see the ENTIRE pt encounter)

just my 2 cents,
sunflower79