What is considered clinical experience?

[OneLove]

I'm a little confused on what is considered clinical experience. I currently voluteer at the NYS DDSO which is an organization for developementally challenged individuals. I go once a week to work with some of them, but am hoping to get more involved. Is this considered "clinical experience"? Thanks a bunch guys.

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[MedicineBird]

I'm a little confused on what is considered clinical experience. I currently voluteer at the NYS DDSO which is an organization for developementally challenged individuals. I go once a week to work with some of them, but am hoping to get more involved. Is this considered "clinical experience"? Thanks a bunch guys.

pretty much anything that involves patient contact.

 

[Blue Scrub]

yeah i agree with patient contact....if you are a pre-med though, even volunteering at a hospital or shadowing a doc is good enough experience for you to have when applying....they dont expect many premeds to be having much patient contact anyway

 

[45408]

for the OP - no, that's not really clinical experience. It's probably a worthwhile endeavor, but I wouldn't label it "clinical experience."

 

[OneLove]

for the OP - no, that's not really clinical experience. It's probably a worthwhile endeavor, but I wouldn't label it "clinical experience."

just out of curiosity, why isn't it classified as direct patient contact?

 

[MedicineBird]

just out of curiosity, why isn't it classified as direct patient contact?

I think we'd have to know more about the organization and your role within it in order to determine if it's legit. pt contact.

 

[OneLove]

I work with various individuals ( all age sets, both male and female) who have varying degrees of developemental disabilities. As of now, I help in the physical aspect. I help a few of them through work outs, interact with them on a personal level , basically give them a grand ole time.

 

[cheapdate]

I work with various individuals ( all age sets, both male and female) who have varying degrees of developemental disabilities. As of now, I help in the physical aspect. I help a few of them through work outs, interact with them on a personal level , basically give them a grand ole time.

I'm not sure if this is the same, but some places focus on whether or not you have shadowed a doctor. It's weird b/c pt. contact could be with anyone at anytime, I think it has to be in a clinical environment where you get the opportunity to observe health workers and physicians interact with the pt. who knows...

 

[moofdaddy]

good to know

 

[OneLove]

I plan on volunteering at a hospital and shadowing a do and an md in the years coming up, but it sucks that working with developementally challeneged people does not consitutute clinical experience. Oh well, I'll still continue doing it.

 

[beep]

just out of curiosity, why isn't it classified as direct patient contact?

disabled person != patient

 

[Scarletbegonias]

I plan on volunteering at a hospital and shadowing a do and an md in the years coming up, but it sucks that working with developementally challeneged people does not consitutute clinical experience. Oh well, I'll still continue doing it.

I would consider it clinical experience.

 

[veeolist]

I have a similiar question: I'm currently working for New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, a non-profit that serves rescue workers from 9/11 who still have a lot of dehabilitating side effects by putting them through a 30-60 day regimen of exersize, sauna (sweating the bad stuff out), and high dosages of dietary supplements (vitamins, etc.) and all the while monitoring their symptoms, progress, and blood work. My role consists of putting together their vitamins and supplements for each day, taking their vital signs at the beginning and end of day, and all sorts of miscellaneous duties (i.e. washing their sweaty towels)....

Does this constitute clinical experience? Or at least some kind of positive experience which will earn me points towards med school?

 

[45408]

just out of curiosity, why isn't it classified as direct patient contact?

would working at a day care count as clinical experience? your job seems to be an adult care kind of situation. I'm not trying to demean what you're doing, but just make sure that you're doing what you want to be doing. If you enjoy it, and you feel like you're doing something worthwhile, by all means, keep doing that. It would be stupid to give up something you like just so that you can do "what everyone else is doing."

 

[wendywellesley]

I'm a little confused on what is considered clinical experience. I currently voluteer at the NYS DDSO which is an organization for developementally challenged individuals. I go once a week to work with some of them, but am hoping to get more involved. Is this considered "clinical experience"? Thanks a bunch guys.

yeah, i would agree with what people have said so far about this not really being clinical experience. It's still great and med schools like to see community service, so i think it would fall into that catagory.

I'm also working with developmentally challenged people but i'm also doing other volunteer work in a clinical setting. i would suggest you continue working there once a week and try to find something where you are interacting with MDs, DOs, nurses, etc. in a more health care related environment.

 

[antissa]

I volunteer at a hospital but it's in a classroom that they've set up for kids with sickle cell anemia or epilepsy. Is this clinical experience? They are patients of the hospital, but I'm mostly teaching them, not performing medically-related services

 

[ZAZA67401]

I think working with adults and children with developmental disabilities is clinical experience. I was wondering how you found your job working with individuals with disabilities. Since we have BS degrees how to you even begin working in a clinical setting or with individuals with disabilities, becuase we don't have the degree or schooling? Where did you that have jobs in a clinical setting find out about your jobs and get the necessary skills and experience or schooling to do it? Do you have to go back to community college? If so how do medical schools look upon going to community college to get clinical experience, if you know or what your opinion is?

 

[MedicineBird]

I work with various individuals ( all age sets, both male and female) who have varying degrees of developemental disabilities. As of now, I help in the physical aspect. I help a few of them through work outs, interact with them on a personal level , basically give them a grand ole time.

This is def. pt contact -- a helluva lot better than just tagging along w/ a doc. Shadows are merely observational. What you are doing is hands on which is what ADCOMS really want to see. Do make sure you spend time in an actual traditional medical facility though.

 

[beep]

again i say, disabled people are not the same thing as patients. some patients are disabled, and some disabled people are patients some of the time, but well disabled people are not the same thing as patients. now, if they have chronic illnesses, that's different...

 

[wendywellesley]

I think working with adults and children with developmental disabilities is clinical experience. I was wondering how you found your job working with individuals with disabilities. Since we have BS degrees how to you even begin working in a clinical setting or with individuals with disabilities, becuase we don't have the degree or schooling? Where did you that have jobs in a clinical setting find out about your jobs and get the necessary skills and experience or schooling to do it? Do you have to go back to community college? If so how do medical schools look upon going to community college to get clinical experience, if you know or what your opinion is?

I think the OP is just volunteering. It's really not so difficult to get a volunteer position with developmentally delayed individuals. if you are interested i would suggest looking into any local organization that has programs in your area, call them up and see if they take volunteers. where i go, there is a large staff and what i do is really easy, no formal training involved if you just want to help out. i don't give meds, i just help them out with their community service projects, meals on wheels, teach them about nutrition and help them out with BINGO (amoung other things). if you want to work there, they will probably train you for the job. this is why i wouldn't consider what i do as clinical experience, there is no health care aspect to it. i'm not talking to anyone about a certain pathology, development of a certain disease, or learning what to ask during a physical examination.

 

[ZAZA67401]

I think the OP is just volunteering. It's really not so difficult to get a volunteer position with developmentally delayed individuals. if you are interested i would suggest looking into any local organization that has programs in your area, call them up and see if they take volunteers. where i go, there is a large staff and what i do is really easy, no formal training involved if you just want to help out. i don't give meds, i just help them out with their community service projects, meals on wheels, teach them about nutrition and help them out with BINGO (amoung other things). if you want to work there, they will probably train you for the job. this is why i wouldn't consider what i do as clinical experience, there is no health care aspect to it. i'm not talking to anyone about a certain pathology, development of a certain disease, or learning what to ask during a physical examination.

True, but your not a doctor yet either...I think medical schools are more concerned whether you have genuine interest and concern for patients and evidence that you know what a doctors job is about and your cool with that. Again working with individuals with developmental disabilities is pt contact. Think about it, these individuals all have conditions that are medically based or remain unknown because medicine has yet to be able to help them. The level of maturity and leadership and concern you are displaying to medical schools is awesome and no following a doctor or working in the hospital doing paperwork can ever compare.

 

[45408]

This is def. pt contact -- a helluva lot better than just tagging along w/ a doc. Shadows are merely observational. What you are doing is hands on which is what ADCOMS really want to see.

I disagree. Shadowing a doctor shows you what a doctor actually does. Befriending the disabled is not quite that. Both is better than one, but I'd rather have the shadowing than this particular volunteering opportunity.

True, but your not a doctor yet either...I think medical schools are more concerned whether you have genuine interest and concern for patients and evidence that you know what a doctors job is about and your cool with that. Again working with individuals with developmental disabilities is pt contact. Think about it, these individuals all have conditions that are medically based or remain unknown because medicine has yet to be able to help them. The level of maturity and leadership and concern you are displaying to medical schools is awesome and no following a doctor or working in the hospital doing paperwork can ever compare.

I disagree again. Except in rare circumstances, you don't really need to do anything special to land a volunteer position. You MIGHT show these traits, but you don't need to be mature, concerned or a good leader to accumulate volunteer hours, so assuming that your doing volunteering will demonstrate these traits is a pretty long shot. You're also not demonstrating in the least that you have any idea what a doctor's life is about. So would you consider working with (healthy) children to be patient contact? I wouldn't.