What is Clinical Experience?

[Dbate]

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So I know that medical schools want to see clinical experience, when we apply, but what counts as clinical experience?

From shadowing and taking patients blood glucose levels at the clinic where I worked, I have about 36 hours of direct patient contact.

In addition to that, I worked in a pediatric endocrinology clinic for 84 hours and a medical genetics clinic for 144 hours, for a combined total of 228 hours. However, my clinic work involved filing patient charts, mailing things to primary care physicians, and getting insurance company approval for procedures. Would those hours count as clinical hours?

And do I need more clinical hours?

 

[macsta]

So I know that medical schools want to see clinical experience, when we apply, but what counts as clinical experience?

From shadowing and taking patients blood glucose levels at the clinic where I worked, I have about 36 hours of direct patient contact.

In addition to that, I worked in a pediatric endocrinology clinic for 84 hours and a medical genetics clinic for 144 hours, for a combined total of 228 hours. However, my clinic work involved filing patient charts, mailing things to primary care physicians, and getting insurance company approval for procedures. Would those hours count as clinical hours?

And do I need more clinical hours?

Clinical experience= DIRECT contact with patients

You have 36 hrs of clinical experience and 228 hrs of hospital volunteering.

 

[the duck]

Clinical experience= DIRECT contact with patients

You have 36 hrs of clinical experience and 228 hrs of hospital volunteering.

Sadly I think I have to agree with this.

 

[deleted357625]

well during that hospital volunteer you could have patient contact.

I took patients temp, fed them, etc all the little things.

 

[isoquin]

I think a lot of pre-meds have these common misconceptions. When I interviewed applicants, I really didn't care how many hours were put in. What I wanted to know is what they got out of those experiences. If you can say you worked 1000 hours at the front desk of a local doctor's office (hopefully not a relative's), and the total extent of your time was phone calls and bringing people to the waiting room, you may as well be working any other job. What impressed me on clinical experience was an applicant who could remark on the nuanced lifestyle differences of specialties, or the best method of drawing blood, or a meaningful patient interaction.

If you're there to get hours to check off an unwritten requirement, you're doing it wrong. Clinical time should be a learning and growing experience that directly exposes you to medicine.

 

[Neurosis]

i needs to get me some of that 😛. Seriously though, I have like absolutely nothing right now, so be grateful you 228 hours of volunteering. Then again, I just left high school.

 

[deleted357625]

i needs to get me some of that 😛. Seriously though, I have like absolutely nothing right now, so be grateful you 228 hours of volunteering. Then again, I just left high school.

Best time to do it is your first two years in college

 

[gettheleadout]

OP, you've been here almost two years, and you really needed to create a new thread for this common question?

macsta is right, the majority of your time described doesn't sound like it really exposed you to patient interaction at all (though it sounds weird to separate clinical experience and hospital volunteering, since the latter usually qualifies as the former.)

As isoquin said, there is no requirement, and thus no one can determine whether you "need" more hours of clinical experience; the most important thing is to become comfortable interacting with sick people, and that means all the different flavors they come in. You have enough clinical experience when you can adequately explain what you've learned from the experience and how it changed your perspective or helped you become acclimated to the role of a caregiver. That said, users like Catalystik often give out applicant averages for others to gauge where they stand in terms of involvement or time span. If an applicant only has 10 hours of clinical experience (i.e. patient contact) on their entire application, it's unlikely they can meaningfully talk about their acclimation to the clinical setting from such a short-term experience. But as isoquin said, the gift shop volunteer with 1,000 hours (who may see a patient for 30 seconds every two weeks) isn't in a much better position.

 

[HH Holmes]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+clinical+experience

 

[Neurosis]

Best time to do it is your first two years in college

working on it 👍

 

[DrHouse579]

So, hospital volunteering is useless for med school apps? Or can you use it as part of your community service hours? And is volunteering in the ED considered clinical? (I never drew blood or anything like that, I didn't even know volunteers were allowed to do that.)

 

[gettheleadout]

So, hospital volunteering is useless for med school apps? Or can you use it as part of your community service hours? And is volunteering in the ED considered clinical? (I never drew blood or anything like that, I didn't even know volunteers were allowed to do that.)

No, hospital volunteering is in no way useless. If you get patient contact, it's a valuable clinical volunteer/community service activity. If you don't, it's still a non-clinical volunteer/community service activity.

Volunteering in any part of the hospital would be considered clinical if you had contact with patients.

Most volunteer programs do not allow volunteers to do things such as draw blood, for reasons related to liability insurance if not lack of training. Performance of medical techniques is not the point of clinical experience, however. It's more about exposure than anything.

 

[sln]

Sadly I think I have to agree with this.

Agree👍

 

[studmuffin]

Clinical experience is when you are directly caring for a patient. For example, every day I help old people out of bed, dress them, bathe them, etc. That is clinical experience.

 

[sector9]

Clinical experience is when you are directly caring for a patient. For example, every day I help old people out of bed, dress them, bathe them, etc. That is clinical experience.

Well if they're just old people and not old patients then no, that actually wouldn't count

 

[music2doc]

Well if they're just old people and not old patients then no, that actually wouldn't count

I would guess he was speaking of a nursing home or other residential care setting where other healthcare workers are present and the clients are called patients.

 

[LizzyM]

I would guess he was speaking of a nursing home or other residential care setting where other healthcare workers are present and the clients are called patients.

In a nursing home or residential care setting the clients are called "residents" not "patients".

If they are receiving custodial care, then what you do for them is not clinical just as babysitting is not pediatrics. This work can pique your interest in geriatrics (clinical care of the elderly) just has caring for children my help devleop your interest in pediatrics but it is not a substitute for being in a setting where people who can write prescriptions are present and being close enough to "smell patients" (meaning that you need not be engaged in putting your hands on them but you should be physically close to them).

 

[bandgeek0295]

Just out of curiosity...would volunteering in autopsy be considered clinical? 😕

I handle bodies and everything.

 

[FunnyCurrent]

So I know that medical schools want to see clinical experience, when we apply, but what counts as clinical experience?

From shadowing and taking patients blood glucose levels at the clinic where I worked, I have about 36 hours of direct patient contact.

In addition to that, I worked in a pediatric endocrinology clinic for 84 hours and a medical genetics clinic for 144 hours, for a combined total of 228 hours. However, my clinic work involved filing patient charts, mailing things to primary care physicians, and getting insurance company approval for procedures. Would those hours count as clinical hours?

And do I need more clinical hours?

You have 36 hours of clinical experience.

This made me giggle a little. Would you consider filing patient charts and mailing things clinical?

Personal Statement Reads: I was inspired to become a physician and truly pursue medical education after sending multiple files to primary care physicians. The way the manila envelopes fold together neatly and how they are secured by a metal clasp....

ADCOM: ???

 

[FunnyCurrent]

Would those hours count as clinical hours?

[YOUTUBE]WWaLxFIVX1s[/YOUTUBE]

And do I need more clinical hours?

[YOUTUBE]P3ALwKeSEYs[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Dbate]

I didn't volunteer at the medical clinic, I worked there. Also, it was a medical clinic, so I thought it might count as clinical experience. Oh well. I guess I will just have to go shadow some more doctors.

 

[FunnyCurrent]

I didn't volunteer at the medical clinic, I worked there. Also, it was a medical clinic, so I thought it might count as clinical experience. Oh well. I guess I will just have to go shadow some more doctors.

I had no volunteer clinical experience (well very minimal probably only 20 hours). However I had thousands of hours working (minimum wage or slightly more) in various capacities surgical tech, medical assistant, EKG tech, scribe. I attend a fairly competitive medical school. As an applicant, I think my major selling point besides MCAT and GPA was that I could more confidently state that I know what medicine is like when compared with my peers.

 

[LizzyM]

Just out of curiosity...would volunteering in autopsy be considered clinical? 😕

I handle bodies and everything.

Yes, but we'd also like to see you have some experience, paid or unpaid, that requires interactions with living patients or in a capacity that requires strong communications skills and social support. (demonstrating compassion, empathy, and so forth)

 

[Scherbatsky]

I didn't volunteer at the medical clinic, I worked there. Also, it was a medical clinic, so I thought it might count as clinical experience. Oh well. I guess I will just have to go shadow some more doctors.

If, while working there, you interacted with patients and physicians and observed their interactions, it could be considered shadowing.

 

[Dbate]

If, while working there, you interacted with patients and physicians and observed their interactions, it could be considered shadowing.

My interaction with patients was limited to calling them and setting up appointments, so I doubt it will count for much :/

 

[Morsetlis]

Yes, but we'd also like to see you have some experience, paid or unpaid, that requires interactions with living patients or in a capacity that requires strong communications skills and social support. (demonstrating compassion, empathy, and so forth)

Yes these are things we learn as pre-meds that will last with us throughout our medical career. Those interactions that illicit compassion, empathy, and so forth are the pillars of the art of medicine that you will draw upon in your clinicals and rotations.

Remember, before you learn physical diagnosis, you must caaaare for the patient 🙄

It certainly works that way in all those other countries in the world, doesn't it?

 

[FunnyCurrent]

Yes these are things we learn as pre-meds that will last with us throughout our medical career. Those interactions that illicit compassion, empathy, and so forth are the pillars of the art of medicine that you will draw upon in your clinicals and rotations.

Remember, before you learn physical diagnosis, you must caaaare for the patient 🙄

It certainly works that way in all those other countries in the world, doesn't it?

She never made that claim. Her statement stands. It IS what they want to see. Whether you think it is worthwhile or not, you should have it because they decide who gets in and they want to see the very things LizzyM listed (among other things).

 

[Morsetlis]

That is true.