Premedical students become well acquainted with the competitiveness of the medical school admissions process. Between strong academic achievements and well-rounded extracurricular activities, standing out in a sea of qualified applicants can be challenging.
However, one area that can set you apart is a strong, unique clinical volunteer experience.
Volunteering in a clinical setting allows you to demonstrate commitment to health care, showing admissions committees that you have a genuine passion for helping others. Perhaps more importantly, you will gain personal experience in your chosen career, hopefully confirming that becoming a doctor is worth the lengthy time and financial commitment.
[Related:How Long Is Medical School and What Is it Like?]
Here are some tips on how to approach clinical volunteer work, attain valuable skills and ultimately stand out in the med school admissions process. They will help you make the most of your volunteer experience, which is all about creating opportunities and advocating for yourself.
This advice is most helpful if you have already found a clinical volunteer experience and are preparing to start.
Get Familiar Broadly With the Health Care System
Utilize time in the hospital to familiarize yourself broadly with the health care system, including the different roles of health care professionals.
Many premeds have parents or other role models in medicine, but for those without personal experience in the medical arena, this may be your first and best opportunity to experience your future career firsthand. Learning how the hospital system works and how each health care professional contributes to patient care will not only provide dividends during the application process, but also throughout medical school.
Look for Diverse Learning Opportunities
Exercise initiative by proactively seeking out diverse learning opportunities while volunteering, such as shadowing experiences or involvement in different clinical departments. This is your opportunity to interface directly with medical professionals, including physicians and medical students.
Seek these individuals out — without hindering their productivity — and pick their brains about possible opportunities for you to enhance your clinical experience. There are manifold ways this may go. Perhaps an attending needs assistance with a clinical research project, or a resident physician will allow you to shadow them.
[Read: How to Become a Doctor: A Step-by Step Guide.]
Unique opportunities like these aren’t listed online — they can be found only by networking and putting yourself out there. This type of learning opportunity not only strengthens your skillset but also helps give you a more nuanced understanding of the health care ecosystem, which stands out to admissions committees. Therefore, be sure to highlight any leadership roles or special projects you participate in as a volunteer, and don’t be afraid to hype yourself up.
Cultivate Meaningful Relationships
Along these same lines, attempt to create meaningful relationships with health care professionals and other volunteers. These individuals can help guide you in your career trajectory and provide rare and extremely helpful insight into med school and clinical residencies.
Soak up as much knowledge as possible. The more knowledgeable you are of the medical field, the better decisions you can make about your future and the more impressive you will be to admissions committees.
Document Your Experiences in Detail
Keep an up-to-date journal of your volunteer experiences, including each unique patient encounter. This will be particularly helpful for remembering experiences that may serve as valuable content for your personal statement, in which personal experiences with patients can be strong components.
Be sure to reflect on your experiences after each volunteer shift and critically examine what you’ve learned. If you heard medical conditions that you were unfamiliar with, research them at home. If you made a new connection, reach out by email if they are open to working with you further.
This journal will be a valuable resource when preparing your med school application, writing your personal statements and preparing for your interviews.
Hone Soft Skills Into Power Skills
Leverage clinical volunteering as an opportunity to develop crucial skills in communication, teamwork and time management. You will learn sooner rather than later that all of health care is done as a team. Patient care is effective only when every team member communicates and works well with others.
[Read: How to Become a Doctor: A Step-by Step Guide.]
Admissions committees look for applicants with these competencies, and beyond admission, you as a future physician should want to excel in this arena.
Time management skills are critical. You may find it difficult to balance coursework, research, volunteering, extracurriculars and a healthy personal life, but trust that this will only become more difficult the further you progress in your medical career. Putting a lot on your plate right now can be an effective strategy, forcing you to develop solid habits and manage your time effectively.
Begin by organizing your day-to-day tasks with an agenda. Start scheduling your time with something like Google Calendar, and keep all of your notes in the same place, if possible.Evernote is a helpful app for this. These proficiencies are integral to success in medical school, residency and the rest of your career in health care.
Reflect on the Experience
Finally, take time to self-reflect and derive some personal satisfaction and fulfillment from helping others in the clinic. The moments may seem small, but making someone’s day just a bit easier or a patient’s stay just a bit more pleasant is a worthy goal.
Understand that this is a meaningful steppingstone in your career, stay eager to help and allow the experience to fuel you through the seemingly endless hoops you will need to jump through on your journey into medicine. This eagerness and dedication to the profession will be evident to patients, doctors and admissions committees and will serve as a testament to the character of the physician you hope to become.
It should go without saying, but ensure that you maintain professional behavior at all times while volunteering. This includes adhering to hospital policies, particularly those that pertain to respect for patient privacy and confidentiality.
While the hospital is an excellent resource for you to get valuable clinical volunteer experience, remember that, first and foremost, the goal is to prevent and treat illness. Act with such an ethos in mind and always maintain the utmost respect for providers and patients.
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How Premed Students Can Develop Critical Skills Through Clinical Volunteer Experiences originally appeared on usnews.com
