Hello!!
Are paid clinical hours acceptable or so they need to be strictly volunteer? Also, what are your thoughts and experiences with apply with hours as an EMT and/or a phlebotomist? Should I volunteer as an EMT? Please let me know! Thank you!
My understanding of this is that there are several types of boxes to check for applications: 1) To verify you know what you are getting into, as far as experience (as an SDN adcom member says “seeing and smelling the patients”). Your EMT/phlebotomist experience will be a clear indication of that. 2) To show that you really care about serving your community with, in Christian terms, “A servant’s heart.” This is where they will be looking for volunteer experiences, which can be in healthcare, like hospital/hospice volunteer work, but can also be in soup kitchens, Sunday school teaching, Hands on Housing, tutoring/mentoring students in public schools, community theater (those are on my app)… Anything where you show you want to serve other people, even when you don’t get paid. Hope that helps!
As I noted in another post, it’s important to get hospital-based experience since that’s where your clinical training takes place in medical school (in large part). I agree with the “seeing and smelling the patients” reference above. EMT experience is good but you would also want to get within the walls of a hospital to experience that setting and show that you’re accustomed to and comfortable in it.
Liza Thompson