What is better for medical school application- Working In Fashion Retail or Medical Scribe?

[prettybaby73]

Hi everyone,

I am currently working at a relatively upscale fashion chain for the summer. However, I was also recently offered an ED medial scribe position at my local hospital. I really like my retail job as a stylist/part time associate because it lets me build my leadership skills as well as customer service proficiency. I feel like turning down the scribe job would be a difficult thing to do, but I also know it will be stressful on top of studying for the mcat over the summer (Im taking the test next march but I want to review a bit over the summer then go hardcore from Dec-March). What would look better on my application- Something different and nontraditional or something rather cookie-cutter but pragmatic? Please let me know thank you

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[nimbus]

Depends how much other medical experience and exposure you have.

 

[7331poas]

move to pre-allo pls

 

[prettybaby73]

Depends how much other medical experience and exposure you have.

I have over +600 shadowing hours through internships plus more on the way with private practice physicians + research

 

[LebronManning]

Is this a serious question? Medical scribe is clearly much more relevant and will help you in your future career as a physician. Retail job is irrelevant and I doubt you're getting any useful "leadership" experience there. Scribing in the ER for 2 years was by far the best experience any future physician could get short of medical school.

 

[Sleepingdoc]

If you are serious about this question, please note that decision making capability and ability to decide between these two options is a better indicator of your success in med school than either experience by itself.

 

[ricksimmonsrafowens]

Hi everyone,

I am currently working at a relatively upscale fashion chain for the summer. However, I was also recently offered an ED medial scribe position at my local hospital. I really like my retail job as a stylist/part time associate because it lets me build my leadership skills as well as customer service proficiency. I feel like turning down the scribe job would be a difficult thing to do, but I also know it will be stressful on top of studying for the mcat over the summer (Im taking the test next march but I want to review a bit over the summer then go hardcore from Dec-March). What would look better on my application- Something different and nontraditional or something rather cookie-cutter but pragmatic? Please let me know thank you

If you have enough healthcare experience elsewhere, I would pursue the stylist/associate position. ED scribing isn't something that'll make or break your app. I honestly wish I had more experience in fashion/cosmetics/etc as that's a very useful life skill! Pursue something you're passionate about now, since when you get into med school itll be all about smashing that space bar and coming in at 4AM to ask somnolent patients if they've had a BM.

 

[mistafab]

ER scribing sounds boring. Your current job seems cooler. If you already have the clinical hours then have at it.

I have classmates that interned at beer gardens and breweries. We’ll both become doctors - might as well live your life how you want to as long as you’ve checked all the boxes. Plus, you could always volunteer a few hours a week here and there while you work just to show you’re still the same person.

 

[theKingLT]

I have over +600 shadowing hours through internships plus more on the way with private practice physicians + research

That is an excessive amount of shadowing. Get a hands on job working with patients. Scribe can be good depending on what exactly the hospital allows. Some aren't even allowed to talk to patients and others do the pt history and vitals before the physician enters the room. If you want to keep your retail job I don't think it's necessarily bad but you would need to get a good clinical volunteer gig on the side working directly with patients

 

[mehc012]

I still maintain that I learned more in my 2yrs of scribing than the first 2yrs of medical school. I wouldn't pass up the chance to actually WORK in a clinical setting, instead of just shadowing. Having done both, they're not remotely the same.

 

[getdown]

Sometimes I feel the questions asked on this site have to be trolls. But then I'm always surprised that they're legit questions.

 

[7331poas]

I still maintain that I learned more in my 2yrs of scribing than the first 2yrs of medical school. I wouldn't pass up the chance to actually WORK in a clinical setting, instead of just shadowing. Having done both, they're not remotely the same.

this is straight up ridiculous. What kind of med school are you going to where they dont teach you basic disease processes?

I can honestly say I had a great scribe experience at a "top" EM program. Even then I was just watching docs and I had no "real" clue what was going on. Just knowledge that doctors did certain things at certain times. Didnt really know why.

 

[raiderette]

It sounds like you need either clinical volunteering or a clinical job if shadowing is your only medical experience. If you can increase your volunteering in a clinical setting, then keep your current job. I found that my service jobs were mentioned positively interviews and helped me handle stress in a way that scribing couldn't.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I have over +600 shadowing hours through internships plus more on the way with private practice physicians + research

This is a big problem. Shadowing /= clinical experience

 

[ellenarcher]

Is this a real post? I am very sure that anyone person on here telling you to keep your fashion job is a highly competitive closet psychopath hoping to play on your insecurities... listening to this post to me sounds like crazy town. I'm leaving a highly lucrative film/ tv career in LA with an education / credentials from the top places. If someone applied to be my unpaid intern (not even an assistant) when I was working in tv and was medical scribing over a terrible low pay film/tv job- I would have thrown them out of my office in a second- saying go work in medical and being very upset that you wasted my precious time ... I could have been .. on the internet.... at Equinox... anything... seriously, women have enough problems today in the workforce... writing this post.. not good. I love clothes, I love fashion design... but you are not a doctor yet- and if you want something- you need to be all in. I would also think I was in crazy town- if a guy wrote- I could be a medical scribe this summer or go race cars outside of Rome with my friends all summer.. CRAYZEEE.... life, you will find is about choices, and the choices you make eventually denote who you are

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Is this a real post? I am very sure that anyone person on here telling you to keep your fashion job is a highly competitive closet psychopath hoping to play on your insecurities... listening to this post to me sounds like crazy town. I'm leaving a highly lucrative film/ tv career in LA with an education / credentials from the top places. If someone applied to be my unpaid intern (not even an assistant) when I was working in tv and was medical scribing over a terrible low pay film/tv job- I would have thrown them out of my office in a second- saying go work in medical and being very upset that you wasted my precious time ... I could have been .. on the internet.... at Equinox... anything... seriously, women have enough problems today in the workforce... writing this post.. not good. I love clothes, I love fashion design... but you are not a doctor yet- and if you want something- you need to be all in. I would also think I was in crazy town- if a guy wrote- I could be a medical scribe this summer or go race cars outside of Rome with my friends all summer.. CRAYZEEE.... life, you will find is about choices, and the choices you make eventually denote who you are

Is this a real post?

 

[ellenarcher]

Yes. I've lived a colorful life. Average age of death in my family = 92. Average age of retirement in my family= 80+. If no one decides to shoot me- I know I have that to look forward to. My mother is an ex-nun who ran a cancer research hospital, and for many reasons (mostly moral) for my second half of life I am switching professions. I take my prerequisites inconspicuously at a community college with no Valentino handbags. When I got my MFA in film production at US*C film school (min. 4 years commitment of every minute you were awake and breathing)-and more competitive than any program in any discipline at the time... there was more than one extraordinary person in the class ( like self-made already on the Forbes list- but in other industries people) - I could give an old person lecture here- but it would defeat the purpose of my putting so much botox in my face and dressing like a college kid every day.

 

[On_The_Way_Up]

Do you actually have clinical experience? Volunteering or another clinical job? Shadowing is good but you need volunteering or work experience.

 

[catnip12]

Scribing is what you make it!

Like @mehc012 I’ve also been a scribe for two years and I have learned a tremendous amount. But I was also very intentional about that. When we have downtime, I usually asked the doc I was working with what their thoughts were especially with complex patients; what, if any, the important findings of the physical exam were, why certain labs were drawn or interventions given; why do one image vs another (why CT contrast vs no contrast) and why to test for kidney function before giving that, etc. Also it’s really cool to sort of come up with your own limited differential and then compare that with what the doctor’s differential is. Some of my favourite things to do is to look at imaging after reading the radiologist impression and see whether I can see anything on there.

Once we had someone come in with a really high blood pressure and some odd neuro deficits in the setting of an unclear history. I had hypertensive ICH on my little differential and sure enough, when radiology called back after having a look at the image, my measly scribe experience was enough to see the bleed in the Thalamus, one of the places I’d been told they tend to happen most frequently. It was a small victory (for me) but it was a victory nonetheless. Unfortunately this patient also had acquired hemophilia so figuring out how to stop this bleed was also very interesting from a learning perspective.

Or another interesting experience was when we had a very hypothermic patient come in and the doctor explained that the EKG would have weird Osbourne waves, and after he explained why that happens and again, these were clear on the EKG once we got it.

Point is that I have learned something new almost each day, but certainly each week, that I’ve been scribing in the ED. There is a lot to learn and there is a lot of opportunity to do that learning but of course the majority of the time you don’t know what you don’t know. Additionally, this is a super busy community ED so many times you’re just typing away. Plus some docs couldn’t care less about your learning and just want you to do your job and leave them to do theirs. That’s fine too.

My overall advice would be get very good at what you’re being paid to do, which for me took almost a year to get very comfortable with, then after you’ve become thorough and efficient with your charting, use your down time to google things and talk with your provider if it’s feasible to do so.

Otherwise you’ll become a secretary which for me was never my intention.

 

[LizzyM]

Scribes are a dime a dozen on the interview trail. People with customer service experience in retail much less common. Is it that scribes are more likely to apply to med school than people with retail experience? I think that is the reason and not that scribes are more likely to be interviewed than retail workers.
If you spin your description of retail sales work in the right way, it can be a positive on an application provided that you have had some clinical experience (volunteer or paid) as well.

 

[IlDestriero]

What is door number 3? Go with that one.

 

[mehc012]

this is straight up ridiculous. What kind of med school are you going to where they dont teach you basic disease processes?

I can honestly say I had a great scribe experience at a "top" EM program. Even then I was just watching docs and I had no "real" clue what was going on. Just knowledge that doctors did certain things at certain times. Didnt really know why.

I always took the time to figure out the 'why'. Most disease processes are fairly straightforward, and most hospital computers have access to UpToDate. I was already taking the Anatomy and Physiology courses, so it really was just a matter of figuring out the 'why'.

Medicine is a lot more intuitive than people like to pretend. And if you have helpful docs (and Google) where you scribe, you can go far.