Work and Volunteer Experience

[SkullCrusher90]

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Of course extra cirriculars are important, but I'm confused as to what kind of paid work or volunteer things I should do.

Research is the most common one I hear, but is there any other sort of work that would also be beneficial and reasonable to get into?

Also, would volunteering at a walk in clinic be a good substitute instead of volunteering at a hospital, or is volunteering at the hospital pretty important?

Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[apumic]

Work in a clinical setting is most valuable but anything can be helpful. I would choose service-oriented jobs (esp. those w/ customer service elements) over other options.
As far as volunteering goes, anything you're passionate about is good. Research (RA) experience is helpful but not necessary at anything but the most competitive institutions. You can volunteer at a hospital or a clinic, both are good. Some shadowing and patient care experience is important as well (200-500 hours is probably about right for total clinical experience in addition to a good 50-100 hrs shadowing).

 

[mvenus929]

Don't volunteer in a hospital if you don't want to. You'll do next to nothing important; at my hospital, the volunteers deliver flowers and newspapers and sit at the information desk. That's it. Some larger hospitals have more clinically appropriate duties, like patient transport or cuddling in the NICU, but they'll be tough to find. So volunteering in a walk-in clinic is just as good, if not better, than volunteering in a hospital. Or, you know, you could just not volunteer in a medical setting at all.

 

[apumic]

Get paid vs volunteer. Why do something for free when you can get paid. That simple.

Volunteering shows a service mindset, which is invaluable to physicians. Also, the money you'd make w/ a paid experience at this point is petty cash (not to say it's not nice to have, just keeping things in perspective). You may get more opportunities out of volunteer positions since you're more likely to get a volunteer job doing "clinical" things than you are a paid position unless you have some add'l training to help get a paid clinical job. All in all, they're helpful for different reasons and ideally you have both paid clinical and volunteer experiences to show at the end of the day.

 

[JonathanMD]

Volunteering shows a service mindset, which is invaluable to physicians. Also, the money you'd make w/ a paid experience at this point is petty cash (not to say it's not nice to have, just keeping things in perspective). You may get more opportunities out of volunteer positions since you're more likely to get a volunteer job doing "clinical" things than you are a paid position unless you have some add'l training to help get a paid clinical job. All in all, they're helpful for different reasons and ideally you have both paid clinical and volunteer experiences to show at the end of the day.

I think that (the bold) was implied.

Get yourself an EMT, CNA, EKG, or Phlebotomy license and apply for a low level position involved with acute patient care. You'll get to do a lot more "clinical" things, more so than volunteering.

You could always volunteer at other places (homeless shelters, blood drives, medically related rallies/marches, etc) to display a "service mindset."