What's the point of clinical experience?

[ltdanp21]

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Why do we bother with clinical experience? I'm working at a hospital in Long Beach, CA and the experience, though much more hands-on and autonomous than at other hospitals I've volunteered at, fails to do what it's supposed to: help me figure out whether or not I want to spend my life in medicine. How is making beds, running for supplies, transporting patients, and occasionally wiping a rear remotely close to what I'll be doing as a doctor? I'm not going to learn that I can't stand sick patients by working 4 hours a week. That's the sort of gut aversion you build up after working in a hospital day in and day out for at least a couple of weeks. What's more, what turns people off from medicine isn't hospitals or patients but the brutal hours and stress. Volunteering takes four hours a week and involves little stress.

Can someone please tell me, what's the point? Why do others here volunteer? What do you get out of it?

If you have your own gripes about clinical experience please list them below as it'd be nice to know I'm not alone.

Dan

 

[constructor]

you have very good points... to be honest, you're only doing it because everyone else is doing it and it's supposed to demonstrate your interest and initiative to pursue medicine.

every doctor i've spoken to tells me that every next stage along the process will turn out to be vastly different from your expectations even if you have observed people and think you know how it might feel (premeds don't know what they're getting into in med school, med students don't know what they're getting into in residency, residents don't really know what they're getting into in practice). you can expect struggles and sacrifices along with moments of great satisfaction but this we all know... the real details are something you will only discover as you go through it, and it's also a very individual thing. people who love helping people often times are unhappy with their choice of a career in medicine. anti-social people sometimes change in remarkable ways and really end up enjoying what they do as physicians.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Perhaps there are other paths you can follow as far as involvement. i actually got to work with doctors and assist in their treatment. Work in smaller clinics or specifically for one department and there's a greater chance to be able to do more patient care tasks. Another thing you should consider is shadowing a doctor, then you get to follow him/her around and get totally involved. That's probably the best way to ascertain what it's really like. I've gotten to be in the OR, treatment rooms, counseling sessions, physical exams to mention just a few but then again i volunteered about 40 hrs a week this summer and have also been volunteering for years in various capacities.

And believe it or not some pre-med students fins they really can't hack even being in a hospital, whether it brings back traumatic memories for them or just seeing so many sick patients or procedures make sthem realize they really can't do it.

While doing volunteer work, it's your opportunity to seek information from doctors to learn what their life is really like as a physician...ask them about their long hours and the stress. Being in a hospital allow syou to explore different departments and see what is invoklved in different specialties. Sometimes you have to go beyond what you are assigned to do to learn everything you possibly can about different aspects of patient care and the medical atmosphere.

 

[fpr85]

Perhaps you should volunteer more than four hours a week?

 

[liverotcod]

I got a lot more out of shadowing than I did emergency room volunteering. For one thing, it was 9-14 hour shifts - I really experienced the work day the way the doc did, from first patient through final paperwork duties. And I saw the actual daily activities, from consulting on the phone, to paperwork and dictation, to the lack of bathroom breaks, etc.

Volunteering at the hospital did make me a lot more comfortable being at the hospital, and also helped me understand the different roles people there play.

Does any of this mean that I am completely aware of what I'm getting myself into? Of course not, but it's better than nothing. Probably working as a tech would be the best a pre-med could do.

 

[BobA]

I think the decision to become a doctor involves a really big leap of faith, because you'll never know what it's like to be a doctor until you're a doctor.

That said: while they can't give you the whole picture, I hope that all of the standard pre-med experiences can give you little pieces to the puzzle. Like other's have said: being in a hospital, being around sick people, things like that. And there are other ways to get clinical experiences outside of volunteering in a hospital. Maybe you could find a job where you somehow assist a physician? Getting your hands "dirtier" - not through cleaning more arses, but through working 40+ a week at it - might make you feel like you're getting the experience you want.

 

[Mumpu]

There's been about a dozen threads on this exact subject... 😛

You will be a stronger applicant if you can tell people that you have some idea of what you are getting into. Premeds are notorious for being idealistic, and while I would advise against becoming a jaded asshat (or pretending to be one), you should strive to come across as having a realistic, if, understandably limited, view of medicine. Any experience that gets your hands dirty is a bonus -- you need to know that you can deal with blood/vomit/stool/mystery fluid on your (gloved!) hands, the smell of dirty, disheveled sick people, the emotional stress, etc. I think every pre-med should spend time working in a nursing-type job (tech, CNA) or in 9-1-1 EMS setting.

 

[leechy]

There's been about a dozen threads on this exact subject... 😛

You will be a stronger applicant if you can tell people that you have some idea of what you are getting into. Premeds are notorious for being idealistic, and while I would advise against becoming a jaded asshat (or pretending to be one), you should strive to come across as having a realistic, if, understandably limited, view of medicine. Any experience that gets your hands dirty is a bonus -- you need to know that you can deal with blood/vomit/stool/mystery fluid on your (gloved!) hands, the smell of dirty, disheveled sick people, the emotional stress, etc. I think every pre-med should spend time working in a nursing-type job (tech, CNA) or in 9-1-1 EMS setting.

This is a really good point... I'd like to get stronger clinical experience, but the two places I was trying to volunteer at only have clerical things for me to do (one's a hospital, the other is a clinic). I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to get a good clinical volunteer experience - I call up volunteer directors a bunch of times to remind them of my interest, and finally they tell me the most they have to offer are filing positions. 🙁 I don't know if I should go for these anyway, just so I can say "i volunteered at a hospital"... It just doesn't seem worth it to me, and I'm not the type of person who does things just for my application.

 

[samenewme]

This is a really good point... I'd like to get stronger clinical experience, but the two places I was trying to volunteer at only have clerical things for me to do (one's a hospital, the other is a clinic). I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to get a good clinical volunteer experience - I call up volunteer directors a bunch of times to remind them of my interest, and finally they tell me the most they have to offer are filing positions. 🙁 I don't know if I should go for these anyway, just so I can say "i volunteered at a hospital"... It just doesn't seem worth it to me, and I'm not the type of person who does things just for my application.

Try some other options: Hospice organizations sometimes use volunteers either in the hospice, or as respite care for families (you watch over a patient while the family gets out of the house for a few hours). Crisis lines give you contact with upset people, and though it's not face to face contact, it's something. See if your Red Cross or blood center uses trained volunteers to help out on blood drives. And finally, stop by your library to see if the reference librarian can help you find other opportunities to volunteer in your community. Reference librarians love getting questions other than "Where's the bathroom?" and the ones that start, "My paper's due tomorrow, and I haven't started yet..."

 

[Fermata]

The whole point is to get you to see what the average day of a doctor is and to see if you can picture yourself doing it.

Isn't this obvious?

 

[roja]

The best thing you can do is chuck the advice of most people. Or at least treat it with a serious grain of salt.

Yes, volunteering is important on your CV, but only if you can talk about it in a significant manner. When I interviewed premeds for our school, if someone couldn't tell me a valid experience about thier volunteering, I immediately discounted it as a 'check the box' activity.

What is MUCH more important is SHADOWING a doctor. You need to get your tail into a clinic or practice and watch what someone is doing. Or figure out a way to make your hospital volunteering more valuable.

One of the most impressive applicants I had told me a story about his volunteering: all he did was scut, and he sat and TALKED to the patients he cared for. He told me a story about an elderly man and his life and how much it had affected him. And here's the kicker. It had NOTHING directly to do with medicine. But the applicants sincerity in helping, his honesty was MUCH more impressive...

So grab a better perspective and figure out how to get a good experience out of your volunteering.. adn figure out if you can find someone to shadow

 

[gildas]

Why do we bother with clinical experience? I'm working at a hospital in Long Beach, CA and the experience, though much more hands-on and autonomous than at other hospitals I've volunteered at, fails to do what it's supposed to: help me figure out whether or not I want to spend my life in medicine. How is making beds, running for supplies, transporting patients, and occasionally wiping an arse remotely close to what I'll be doing as a doctor? What's more, what turns people off from medicine isn't being in a hospital or patients but the brutal hours and stress. Volunteering takes four hours a week and involves little stress. I'm not going to learn that I can't stand sick patients by working 4 hours a week. That's the sort of gut aversion you build up after working in a hospital day in and day out for at least a couple of weeks.

Can someone please tell me, what's the point? Why do others here volunteer? What do you get out of it?

If you have your own gripes about clinical experience please list them below as it'd be nice to know I'm not alone.

Dan

It depends on where you volunteer. If you volunteer in a Supply processing Department like I did instead of ER , you won't get any insight about what being a doctor is like. Try to volunteer in a ER.

 

[tupac_don]

Why do we bother with clinical experience? I'm working at a hospital in Long Beach, CA and the experience, though much more hands-on and autonomous than at other hospitals I've volunteered at, fails to do what it's supposed to: help me figure out whether or not I want to spend my life in medicine. How is making beds, running for supplies, transporting patients, and occasionally wiping a rear remotely close to what I'll be doing as a doctor? I'm not going to learn that I can't stand sick patients by working 4 hours a week. That's the sort of gut aversion you build up after working in a hospital day in and day out for at least a couple of weeks. What's more, what turns people off from medicine isn't hospitals or patients but the brutal hours and stress. Volunteering takes four hours a week and involves little stress.

Can someone please tell me, what's the point? Why do others here volunteer? What do you get out of it?

If you have your own gripes about clinical experience please list them below as it'd be nice to know I'm not alone.

Dan

Several reasons why you are doing it.

1) They have to weed out people somehow
2) Gives you something to talk about at the interview
3) Everyone has it, so if you don't you will look dumb, plus they can ask, well you never had any clinical experience how do you know you want to be in the hospital
4) See if you can find a paying job, doing something more advanced than just a patient care gopher
5) See if you can do EMT, that would be beneficial and you would get useful experience

Best of luck.

 

[Super Rob]

The most important question you will be asked this year is: why do you want to be a doctor?

The admissions committee member who asks you this undoubtedly realizes that you are not a doctor yet, and so you probably cannot fully appreciate what it is like to be a doctor.

However, they still want to know why you believe that medicine is right for you. They usually want to hear about things that you have done to convince yourself that you know at least a little bit about what you are getting into. If your shadowing experience has sucked and you have not gotten anything out of it, then it is probably time to look into another experience.

Paid work is sometimes superior to volunteer work. I took a job a few years ago where I worked as part of a team, spent all day long looking after and caring for patients, and actually accompanied physicians on rounds. It gave me a little bit of insight into what a career might be like for a particular type of doctor. That and I got a lot out of the experience. I still didn't know fully what it was like to be a doc, but I had a better idea and the sort of things I encountered on the job compelled me to head in this direction.

When I was in college, a lot of my classmates took volunteer jobs that sucked. I used to wonder how they could learn anything about themselves or medicine while changing bedpans and fetching supplies from cabinets. I suppose you just answered my question.

If I felt the way you did, I would quit my volunteer experience and find a job where I have more resonsibility with patients, longer hours, and an opportunity to work with doctors and other professionals. Phlebotomy, EMT, Orderly, Counselor, and CNA sort of fit into this category. If you're interested in science, there are plenty of opportunities available in labs (ones I wish I knew about before I applied). Virtually every department of the hospital has room for a college-level worker. I had a person in my mcat class working fulltime in the or, and he wasn't even a licensed tech. It depends on the hospital, the team working in the appartment to which you apply, and how well you hit it off with the person to whom you beg for a position.

Good Luck!

 

[dmoney41]

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