What department of a hospital offers most clinical experience.

[fastfingers]

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I'm looking for clinical experience and since I'm new to the pre-med process, I'm not too sure what counts as clinical experience. There seems to be a lot of departments where all I do is escort patients in wheelchairs. Does escort count as clinical experience? Theres also other jobs where I work with nurses or maybe ER.

How should I ask for clinical experience? I'm not too sure what type of work truly count as clinical experience. I heard med schools want clinical experience so I'm trying to get some during this summer.

 

[mongrel]

Well, the LizzyM rule of thumb (from our friendly neighborhood adcom advisor) is that "it counts as a clinical exp if you're close enough to smell patients". I think escorting would count, but make sure you're getting the most out of it. Talk with the patients, strike up an uplifting conversation, and generally make them comfortable. If they're going to get a test done you might be able to talk with them for awhile while they're waiting.

Just generally be a friendly face. That can mean A LOT to someone in their position.

 

[fastfingers]

well, I did escort before, but even though I'm talking to patients, I don't see how it'll relate to experiences that medical schools would look for. So I'm shaky as to whether it counts or not.

 

[mongrel]

well, I did escort before, but even though I'm talking to patients, I don't see how it'll relate to experiences that medical schools would look for. So I'm shaky as to whether it counts or not.

I think it's a great place to start. Maybe you can use it as a stepping stone to volunteer at other places in the hospital. If you're not totally satisfied with escorting patients, maybe you can land a volunteer position in another department. Diversified clinical experiences can only help.

 

[fastfingers]

well, the point is, I already started with escort so its not a stepping stone anymore. I'm looking for more engaging volunteer and I'm not sure which department is good for that.

 

[bioteach]

I'd say that the emergency room may be your best bet. I escort patients to/from triage, help them into gowns, get them blankets. Its the closest to a true clinical experience I'll get at my hospital. Volunteers are not allowed to check vitals (liability, I guess, if we do it wrong) and their motto is "if it requires a glove, a volunteer can't do it". Kinda lame, but I am getting familiar with how and ED works and I genuinely make everything run faster because the triage nurse doesn't have to escort patients or scout beds.

 

[meowkat444]

i work on a medical ward, and it's great. i check vitals, send samples, pass out water, answer patient calls, check urine output and food consumption, and i get to observe and pass nurses things for catheterizations, dressing changes, and other simple procedures.

the people who volunteer early get to see rounds and clean the patients. i think it depends on the hospital and the nursing staff how hands on you get to be, but i'm happy with it.

 

[alesdu1]

provided you dont have enough time to get any certification, which would enable you to be an emt, phleb, nurse aide, EKG tech, etc , i would say go for hospice. at least where i live they are short on volunteers, so people who volunt with them get a lot of pt pt interaction. but assuming you aren tinterested in the ¨psych¨side of med, and want to see instead more of the toys, id recommend getting a cert and working somewhere.

 

[fastfingers]

how long does it usually take to get an EMT cert. How long does the cert last for after I receive it. Oh, does med schools also ask for certs i have?

 

[leftmid]

As long as you are assigned duty within a hospital, all experiences should count as clinical. You always have a chance to know how those sick patients and their care providers feel even when you take a time out in a rest room for personal interest. Have this opinion confirmed by some adcoms though.

 

[Quix]

ER and critical care units would probably get you the most patient contact, IMO.

 

[montessori2md]

Trauma/EMS/ED volunteering involving "contact" depends a lot on your situation and how much they'll let you do. Personally, if you've already escorted, I'd go to your volunteer director/supervisor/coordinator, tell them what you want, and ask how to get it. EMS could mean spending a lot of time sitting around, ED could mean a lot of time staying out of the way, and trauma could be a lot of errand running (take these films, samples, etc.....).

I literally dickered w/ an admissions rep over this for awhile (I was polite, but really) because I failed to see the difference between sitting at an info desk in a hospital and teaching (she actually suggested info desk as a "clinical" experience). Either way, you're only dealing with people who are well enough to get over to you and ask a question, and actually, in my classroom, I'm Way more likely to get barfed on, or to escort someone to the bathroom, than I am in the hospital. I have to decide all the time whether someone is sick enough to merit a phone call to mom, or enough to require mom to take the kid home, or hurt enough to need a squad. At the hospital, I just get to ask/tell a nurse who is right there, and poof, I've passed the buck.

That said, I'm on med/surg, and sometimes renal, and I get a lot of pt. interaction. Inpatient is great, because the pts are typically happy to have people come and check in who aren't going to try to take blood or "work on them", I've found it more interesting that the outpatient stuff I've done because the patients talk to you more....read, lots of things I could talk about in an interview.

I think the same would be true of hospice, or of geriatric work in general, or of a service where you checked in on people in their homes, or were somehow required to interview patients (there are some agencies in our area that have volunteers do this, and some paid research jobs). Older pts are pretty likely to tell me what I think I should do with myself, and to be highly opinionated about health care, as well as experienced with "the system" -they compare/contrast different floors, doctors, hospitals.