Work/volunteer experience

[Coquette22]

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What kinds of positions would you recommend for someone who's pre-med? I know about job shadowing and whatnot. Specifically, my mother is after me to spend the summer working at the local elderly care facility, insisting that it'll look good on a resume. And all I can think is, "Yes, it would, if I was going into nursing or homecare." But I'm not, and I don't want to spend my summer miserable while vaccuuming and dishing up meals in the cafeteria. 😕

 

[jgauger]

Well, you are going to need some clinical experience. Honestly, working in a nursing home might not be a blast, but its better than a lot of things you could be doing. If you need a paying job, I would do something like that or perhaps get whatever sort of job you can find in a hospital or clinic somewhere. If you don't need to earn money over the summer (lucky) then maybe spend your time volunteering at a free clinic or something like that. If its still early in your pre-meddom you're lucky. You don't want to end up volunteering in a huge hospital stocking shelves for "clinical experience". A lot of us make that mistake and wish we hadn't. You'll figure something out. The nursing home wouldn't be as bad as you think.

 

[Catalystik]

Actually, your mom is right (and you can make her day by telling her I said so). Before you apply, you need clinical patient experience and clinical environment experience. You can gain both at a nursing home, hospice, hospital, rehabitlitation facility, or clinics of any type.

Instead of looking at such a job as "housekeeping duties," look at it as an opportunity to learn to interact with elderly people with a wide variety of interesting medical problems. You would be helping clients choose appropriate meals for their medical situation and likely would provide escort or transport, too. By interacting with the clients you help stimulate their mental faculties and may engage them in activities that improve/retain their fine motor and gross motor skills.

Face it, you aren't a trained worker and are likely to be assigned mundane duties in whichever venue you can find a job. Your purpose wherever you choose to go (besides making money or providing a community service) is to become comfortable engaging sick people and to learn about clinical environments.

 

[Planet Ocean]

Try out volunteering at an emergency department a local hospital. Pick one that doesnt require a long commitment that way you don't get stuck if you don't like it.