Would hospital work as part of a class count towards clinical experience?

[nm825]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I took a clinical research class at my school. I worked in GWU's ER wing 8 hours a week enrolling people in a variety of clinical studies; this, however, was a part of a class where I received a grade. Would this still count towards experience?

 

[NickNaylor]

Yes.

 

[Catalystik]

I took a clinical research class at my school. I worked in GWU's ER wing 8 hours a week enrolling people in a variety of clinical studies; this, however, was a part of a class where I received a grade. Would this still count towards experience?

It counts for both Research (which is the designation I'd give it) and as clinical experience, since you had direct patient contact. Be sure the name you give the activity reflects both categories. It is not a volunteer activity.

 

[stoutt]

This seems contradictory to what I've heard in the past. I spent ~30hrs in a clinical environment during my EMT-B training, however I heard that including this as clinical experience/shadowing was not warranted as it was required for a class. Any thoughts? I'm applying this year and since I'm listing all my shadowing together under one activity slot, would it be okay to include this (sorry for the hijack)?

 

[armybound]

This seems contradictory to what I've heard in the past. I spent ~30hrs in a clinical environment during my EMT-B training, however I heard that including this as clinical experience/shadowing was not warranted as it was required for a class. Any thoughts? I'm applying this year and since I'm listing all my shadowing together under one activity slot, would it be okay to include this (sorry for the hijack)?

It's absolutely clinical experience if it was spent in the presence of real patients.

 

[LizzyM]

An experience is an experience. You could get college credit for a research project and still list 15 hrs/wk of research. You could be required to volunteer in a homeless shelter as part of a class in sociology of poverty and list it as volunteer, non-clinical for 4 hrs/wk. Same goes for "shadowing" (other) with real patients in a "ride along" situation for EMT certification.
The fact that you got college credit for it does not make it unworthy of listing in the experience section.

 

[drdoom12]

This is beneficial information. I have right around 1500 hours of clinical experience with direct patient contact from my coursework, yet I was told previously that I couldn't count it because it isn't extracurricular.

 

[LizzyM]

This is beneficial information. I have right around 1500 hours of clinical experience with direct patient contact from my coursework, yet I was told previously that I couldn't count it because it isn't extracurricular.

Most likely, you'll need to label it "other" as it is neither "volunteer, clinical" because you were doing it as an educational experience and not as a service to the patients/institution and "employment, non-military" isn't accurate either.

 

[drdoom12]

I'll keep that in mind. Initially, I had planned on adding those 1500 hours onto the total patient contact hours I'll have from working (paid) in a healthcare setting for the next year. I wasn't going to do it in an attempt to falsify my activities, although I see now that there are probably more accurate ways to list the hours from my curriculum. Really, I had wanted to preserve as many of the 15 or 16 spaces for activities as possible.

 

[LizzyM]

I'll keep that in mind. Initially, I had planned on adding those 1500 hours onto the total patient contact hours I'll have from working (paid) in a healthcare setting for the next year. I wasn't going to do it in an attempt to falsify my activities, although I see now that there are probably more accurate ways to list the hours from my curriculum. Really, I had wanted to preserve as many of the 15 or 16 spaces for activities as possible.

If you have some paid clinical experience in a role that required 1500 hours of clinical exposure, that exposure will be assumed when one reads your application listing employment as ___.

 

[nm825]

An experience is an experience. You could get college credit for a research project and still list 15 hrs/wk of research. You could be required to volunteer in a homeless shelter as part of a class in sociology of poverty and list it as volunteer, non-clinical for 4 hrs/wk. Same goes for "shadowing" (other) with real patients in a "ride along" situation for EMT certification.
The fact that you got college credit for it does not make it unworthy of listing in the experience section.

I know I'm bumping an old thread here, and I understand I can classify this as clinical experience, but I can also classify this as research, despite the fact it is clinical research and not traditional bench research?

 

[LizzyM]

I know I'm bumping an old thread here, and I understand I can classify this as clinical experience, but I can also classify this as research, despite the fact it is clinical research and not traditional bench research?

When you list your experiences on the AMCAS application, each experience can have only one tag. "Research" is a tag. "Volunteer, clinical/medical" is a tag. "employment, non-military" is a tag. Pick one.

When it comes to research, the question is, "are you following a protocol that has been developed by others, or did you have a hand in developing the protocol to test a hypothesis that you generated yourself, and if you had some hand in developing the protocol did you take it to its logical conclusion and publish or otherwise publicize the results of the research?"

If the research involves interactions with people who are obtaining medical care concurrent with their research participation, then you have a situation with "patients". If these are healthy controls or if clinical services are not going hand in hand with the research, then it is human subjects research but the people involved aren't "patients".