what's good ECs that I can start today?

[skazyjae]

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I wondered what I can do right now. I have no clinical experience at this point (junior at undergrad). and I just realized that I have to have some clinical experience. What are some examples of ecs..

 

[Teppil]

volunteer at hospitals around where u live
shadow some docs
join/lead clubs at your school

 

[Morsetlis]

If it's already your junior year I think you will need to take a gap year unless your stats are great.

You need clinical experience: you need to be able to smell and touch the patients (but perhaps not perform any medical interventions).

Taking a CNA / EMT course and then getting a job or multiple ride-alongs and externships could be useful.

Hospital volunteering is useful: identify the closest hospital that lets you do the most and start.

Shadowing is limited: while it offers familiarity with the US medical system and lets you know how things work, you are often unable to interact.

 

[tn4596]

i just use google map and look up any local hospital where i can volunteer...then i find their website and apply/or call them
same methods if u wanna shadow.
start finding a research project if you are interested in doing that.

 

[AymAyzing]

Volunteer EMT at your local fire house. They usually pay for your EMT and CPR certs. At my house I volunteer one night a week from 6pm to 6am. You're not awake all night though; You go to sleep your regular time, get up in the morning and go to school/work. Only difference is you get up if you have a call. Great EC, very rewarding AND great experience.

 

[Tigrar]

Orderly in the surgery department at a local hospital. You have to do some gross stuff and clean rooms; but you get paid, get patient interaction when you gather patients to transport to surgery, experience in helping position patients for surgery, and interacting with doctors and nurses all day. Plus, I've gotten permission to watch a few surgeries with different doctors when there wasn't much going on. All I needed was CPR certification.

 

[Morsetlis]

The above two comments will not work if you're in any kind of metropolitan city where the fear of malpractice/insurance runs deeper than a need for an untrained volunteer ;p

 

[Tigrar]

The above two comments will not work if you're in any kind of metropolitan city where the fear of malpractice/insurance runs deeper than a need for an untrained volunteer ;p

How so? Orderlies are trained on the job. There is no risk of malpractice or anything unless there is fault of the supervisor who is supposed to make sure that positioning is correct.

 

[Morsetlis]

How so? Orderlies are trained on the job. There is no risk of malpractice or anything unless there is fault of the supervisor who is supposed to make sure that positioning is correct.

The only entry-level orderly jobs available in San Diego are at nursing homes / adult day cares. Most require previous experience.

The big hospitals will not let anybody in without 1+ year experience and a CNA / EMT (unless you have connections, but that applies to everything).

I have found the same to be true in LA.

 

[Tigrar]

The only entry-level orderly jobs available in San Diego are at nursing homes / adult day cares. Most require previous experience.

The big hospitals will not let anybody in without 1+ year experience and a CNA / EMT (unless you have connections, but that applies to everything).

I have found the same to be true in LA.

I can only speak for Louisiana, but I know at two of the largest hospitals in New Orleans that this isn't the case.

 

[Frazier]

I wondered what I can do right now. I have no clinical experience at this point (junior at undergrad). and I just realized that I have to have some clinical experience. What are some examples of ecs..

You can commence cold calls for research opportunities during the upcoming year, this is if you suddenly have the sincere urge for scholarly pursuits. 😀

 

[Morsetlis]

Clinical experience is much more important than research experience to get into ANY med school.

The OP did not ask about research experience... I assumed he had some.

 

[Frazier]

Clinical experience is much more important than research experience to get into ANY med school.

The OP did not ask about research experience... I assumed he had some.

Yea, I'm guilty of not reading the OP's actual post and flash responding to his rhetorical question-thread title. 😛

 

[goldenwest]

If you can afford it, go on a medical mission, preferably one where you get a lot of hands-on experience. This will show not only shadowing and hands-on experience but also compassion. It also makes for an interesting topic with your interviewers.

 

[Morsetlis]

If you can afford it, go on a medical mission, preferably one where you get a lot of hands-on experience. This will show not only shadowing and hands-on experience but also compassion. It also makes for an interesting topic with your interviewers.

"if you can afford it" medical missions, especially the one-shot kinds, are seen as pretention by most people. After all, how much did you learn about compassion living for a week in Kenya in an air-conditioned hotel while your patients were starving?

If you are in a US border state, consider medical missions into Mexico or caring for the homeless in your own city.

 

[johnwalldance]

I wouldn't listen to whoever told you to take a gap year, but definitely find any hospitals in the vicinity that you can volunteer in, try to find some department in the hospital where the volunteers are allowed to get as close as possible to patients, and if you do this make sure you are committed to volunteering a certain number of hours per week, (3 a week is good, maybe more cause you're just catching on right now?).

Also maybe try to keep a medical journal to write down thoughts and observations so you will be able to tell and show in interviews how such an experience has affected you and your attitude toward medicine

 

[goldenwest]

"if you can afford it" medical missions, especially the one-shot kinds, are seen as pretention by most people. After all, how much did you learn about compassion living for a week in Kenya in an air-conditioned hotel while your patients were starving?

If you are in a US border state, consider medical missions into Mexico or caring for the homeless in your own city.

I see this post as pretention. I'm positive there are people who go on medical missions to pat themselves on the back, but that doesn't mean that everyone that goes does. For the ones I've been on in the African bush there isn't much by the way of air-conditioned hotels. We stayed in tents and we handed out food to our patients if they were starving. I don't believe I'm a superior human being for doing this. I'm rather all too often disappointed in my own discipline and compassion, but I think judgmental posts like this are unfair and unwarranted without provocation. I also don't understand how you finished up saying that people should do medical missions. I never said the word international.

 

[goldenwest]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=739170

A little long, but it addresses a lot of what you're talking about. Also, when the phrase "medical mission" is used, most people think of those short-term international trips.

True, my original post probably needed some clarifications. As LizzyM says in that thread, "there are right ways and wrong ways to help the needy". There are right ways and wrong ways to do medical missions. My experience from medical missions has helped me to better differentiate between the two. I'm sure part of what helped me in interviews was that I went on several and to the same places (and often places that people wouldn't go for tourism). I didn't do procedures that would require a license in the US (I anesthesized and pulled some teeth), but I did learn to take vitals, take a patient history, learn some basic drugs, do some laboratory tests, and form relationships with a lot of physicians. More than anything, though, I believe they helped me become a more mature and caring person. LizzyM obviously has a strong opinion about this, but that doesn't mean all adcoms feel that way.

 

[FunnyCurrent]

CPR Instructor

Training typically takes 2-3 days

Tutoring?

 

[FunnyCurrent]

are you pre-pharm? Maybe get the advice of pharmacy students. Which might be better tailored to your needs.

 

[Gut Shot]

I wondered what I can do right now. I have no clinical experience at this point (junior at undergrad). and I just realized that I have to have some clinical experience. What are some examples of ecs..

Grammar rodeo.

 

[isoquin]

I agree that one-shot missions are not a good move. Clearly goldenwest disagrees due to the personal nature of the advice, but the goal in ECs is to show that you have some basic understanding of the profession. You need to be able to answer "why medicine?" and won't be able to do that very well by observing an unrepresentative experience. That's not to say it's impossible. Sounds like goldenwest actually did hit that goal. It's just not as likely as solid experiences in a more representative environment.

So OP, perhaps you should start by asking yourself "why medicine?" and going from there. Challenge the answer to ensure it is still valid after directly experiencing it.

 

[Morsetlis]

It's good that a forum brings out different perspectives.

 

[13132]

The above two comments will not work if you're in any kind of metropolitan city where the fear of malpractice/insurance runs deeper than a need for an untrained volunteer ;p

Very true. Or a rural area outside a metro where all the hospitals have been bought by the large metro network 😉