What I want to do vs What I need to do

[acha9349]

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Hi. I am applying next cycle, 2022-2023. I just graduated undergrad so have a gap year. I will be taking MCAT in Jan 2022, so I am studying and volunteering (hospice and food bank) little bit on the side right now. In addition, I am currently working as a Behavior Technician (15-20 hours/week) since I thought I could do something more than full time MCAT studying for 5 months.

I got the Behavior Technician position because I love working with children and thought I would learn a lot from interacting with children with autism and communicating with their parents. I've been wanting to do this job for awhile and got this opportunity after I graduated.

However, I currently have about 150 hours of clinical hours and was wondering if I need to look for a job that is more clinical (like in a hospital). I have about 60 hours of shadowing and plan to do a clinical research with a cardiologist starting this winter (after MCAT) that would add to my clinical hour.

I do not have much clinical hours currently. I will be adding more in the future, but it will be not too much if I keep my part time job as BT. My question is: should I focus on increasing my clinical hours since I lack little bit, or am I safe to do what I want to do in my gap year? I also have other experiences with children already, including tutoring and volunteering, so I was worried I have too many hours with similar population.

Someone even told me I might have to apply in 2023-2024 cycle because I lack clinical hours.. What do you guys recommend?

Thank you so much!!

 

[LizzyM]

You can make a coherent narrative related to your interest in pediatrics. While most people will tell you not to choose a specialty at this point, in my experience expressing an interest in pediatrics, geriatrics or women's health (OB-GYN) goes over well, particularly if one has worked extensively with that population. In that regard, having done some shadowing, tutoring, and volunteering with kids and working as a behavioral tech all hangs together nicely and working with the dying shows that you have some experience in a different realm that might be out of your comfort zone.

A few things:
Behavioral Technician might not be seen as "clinical" if the people being served are not "patients". (see my tag line)
Hospice is certainly work with "patients".
Clinical research is neither fish nor fowl... depending on the type of research, it usually does not involve bench skills and it might not involve direct engagement with patients (e.g. just charts/data or just engagement with control group or healthy adults). If you put a "research" tag on it when you submit your application it won't count as clinical but it doesn't seem like "clinical volunteering" or clinical employment either.

When you say 150 clinical hours, what does that entail?

 

[acha9349]

You can make a coherent narrative related to your interest in pediatrics. While most people will tell you not to choose a specialty at this point, in my experience expressing an interest in pediatrics, geriatrics or women's health (OB-GYN) goes over well, particularly if one has worked extensively with that population. In that regard, having done some shadowing, tutoring, and volunteering with kids and working as a behavioral tech all hangs together nicely and working with the dying shows that you have some experience in a different realm that might be out of your comfort zone.

A few things:
Behavioral Technician might not be seen as "clinical" if the people being served are not "patients". (see my tag line)
Hospice is certainly work with "patients".
Clinical research is neither fish nor fowl... depending on the type of research, it usually does not involve bench skills and it might not involve direct engagement with patients (e.g. just charts/data or just engagement with control group or healthy adults). If you put a "research" tag on it when you submit your application it won't count as clinical but it doesn't seem like "clinical volunteering" or clinical employment either.

When you say 150 clinical hours, what does that entail?

Thank you for the response! I have 50 hours of volunteering at Cardiac Rehabilitation department and 100 hours of volunteering at Outpatient Surgery department. They involved talking to patients, asking if they need help, cleaning, discharging patients, preparing rooms, etc.

I understand that BT hours will not count towards clinical hours because we also call children "clients" rather than patients. I would be adding about 120 hours before I apply from hospice volunteering. Would that be "enough" for me to not look for another clinical opportunity?

For the research, I am meeting with the doctor soon to discuss more about my role, but last time I talked to him he offered me to have an additional position for more patient interaction for my benefits. He was very willing to help, and the research is just launching this winter, so he said I might be able to help him more than just with charts.

 

[LizzyM]

50 hours of cardiac rehab and 100 hours of outpatient surgery plus 120 hours of hospice seems good to excellent.
BT is good employment, non-clinical and ties into your volunteer service with kids.

Have you had any bench research? What is the nature of the research the physician is doing? Is it looking back at records or will it be collecting information in real time? It is single site or multi-site? Does it involve drugs or devices? Depending on how "clinical" it is, it might be clinical volunteering... will you be contributing to hypothesis testing or otherwise engaged in the science? I have been involved in clinical research myself and it felt like neither clinical nor research in some instances. In other instances, it can feel clinical (collecting responses to questions on a screening instrument for depression or dementia, for example) and can be used to test hypotheses (is approach A better than approach B for the management of X).

 

[acha9349]

50 hours of cardiac rehab and 100 hours of outpatient surgery plus 120 hours of hospice seems good to excellent.
BT is good employment, non-clinical and ties into your volunteer service with kids.

Have you had any bench research? What is the nature of the research the physician is doing? Is it looking back at records or will it be collecting information in real time? It is single site or multi-site? Does it involve drugs or devices? Depending on how "clinical" it is, it might be clinical volunteering... will you be contributing to hypothesis testing or otherwise engaged in the science? I have been involved in clinical research myself and it felt like neither clinical nor research in some instances. In other instances, it can feel clinical (collecting responses to questions on a screening instrument for depression or dementia, for example) and can be used to test hypotheses (is approach A better than approach B for the management of X).

That's nice to hear that my clinical hours are okay. I have about 2 years of lab research experience, performing behavior assays of rats. I am not sure of the details of the research, but what I know is that they are inserting an instrument/device(?) into an artery of patients and seeing how it helps them with their blood circulation. So we will be collecting information in real time. I should definitely ask these other questions to know what I will be doing though!

I am happy to hear that I do not need to look for a clinical job and that I can keep working as a BT. I am interested in pediatrics, so I will emphasize on my interest in working with children as you mentioned. Thank you so much!!