Tag: Pre-Health

A Day in the Life: International Health Recruiter

Read Kate Theirs’s archived tweet feed here: Day 1 and Day 2

There are many opportunities for those of you interested in international and/or health-related careers.  If you find the right organization, you can apply a broad range of your talents and have a career that serves your passion for international relations and/or healthcare.  Our next alumni on @PennCareerDay will highlight one of these career paths on Tuesday, October 19th and Tuesday, October 26th.   These two days on @PennCareerDay are alongside a line-up of programs and events geared toward international opportunities.  For more information on these events, click here if you’re an undergraduate or here if you are a graduate student.  Read more below on Kate Thiers who will be posting for @PennCareerDay during these weeks, and don’t forget to follow to see what her day is like!

Kate Thiers (W ’00) is the Operations Manager for Africa Health Placements (www.ahp.org.za), a Johannesburg-based non-profit company that places foreign and local health workers in rural public hospitals in southern Africa. Since inception in 2005, AHP has placed over 1,750 doctors in southern Africa, over 900 of whom are foreign nationals. Kate’s team manages all finance, IT, HR, marketing, PR, website and orientation activities for all AHP offices, which include Johannesburg, Durban, Swaziland, Lesotho, the UK and the US.
Prior to moving to South Africa in November 2009, Kate was a Project Manager with Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics in London. There, she was a project administrator for a European-wide corporate merger project for one year and subsequently managed a new partnership initiative with National Health Service (NHS) hospitals for a second year. In the US, Kate worked as a project manager for a Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company and managed large-scale application and infrastructure initiatives. She also worked as a business consultant for two years with Andersen Business Consulting.

Kate has an MBA from the Said Business School at Oxford University in the UK and a Bachelor of Science in Economics (BSE) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Clinical Exposure: The Unwritten Requirement for Health Professions Applicants

Health professions schools expect applicants to have had some exposure to clinical situations before applying. I often advise applicants not to expect interviews or offers of admission without it. Why!? Because it isn’t hard enough to meet the official requirements? And what is clinical exposure? What are schools looking for and how much is enough?

Reading about dentistry on the outside of the dental school isn't clinical exposure for this Penn pre-dental gargoyle. http://www.philart.net

For starters, this pre-health advisor sympathizes with the puzzlement over the term “clinical exposure.” I don’t care for it much and it always makes me think of those paper dressing gowns at the doctor’s office. If you come to Career Services for an advising appointment (and we hope you do), you are likely to hear someone use an elegant description like, “getting around sick people and doctors.” Working in a lab is not clinical exposure.  Even if the lab is at the hospital.  Even if someone in your lab is sick.  Clinical research might be clinical exposure.  If you are reviewing patient charts (which is a fine research opportunity, by the way), then no. Administering tests to subjects or recruiting subjects in the ER, then yes.  Examples of ways to obtain clinical exposure include volunteering or working as a: hospital volunteer in a patient area, EMT, hospice volunteer, clinical researcher interacting with patients/subjects, or volunteer in a rehabilitation or mental health care facility. Shadowing a physician, yes; however, while shadowing is great, few applicants gain many hours shadowing and taking a more active role as an employee or volunteer is recommended in addition to shadowing. Volunteering in high school?  Super, but you will want more recent experiences to put on your application. Eating a cheeseburger at the hospital cafeteria…no. Measuring your roommate’s gum recession…no. Dating a third-year med student…nice, but no.

So, why do schools expect this? What is the best thing to do and how much clinical exposure should you have? Health professions schools invest a great deal in their students’ training and they want people who are committed and have a very good idea of what lies ahead. They want applicants who are thinking beyond “getting in” and have considered their motivations, abilities, and general “fit” for the field. By spending time around patients, you demonstrate your curiosity about the field and, hopefully, gain a sense of the real rewards and challenges of working in health care. Most likely, either you will confirm your interest in the field and gain insight into the aspects you like the most or you may find that health care is not for you. Certainly, there are people who, through their clinical volunteering, considered alternatives to a medical or dental degree and are now happily working both in and out of health care.

As for how much, I am not sure you can have too much clinical exposure and it’s a good idea to think about it early — not as you are filling out your application. It takes some time to arrange clinical opportunities. Every applicant is different and some people will have years of clinical exposure and some will have months and they may end up as classmates at the same graduate school. Truly, I think the best clinical exposure is one that reflects your interests and where you made the most of your opportunity to help others and learn about the field. Whether you are asking patients to step on a scale, restocking bandages, or administering a questionnaire to a study participant, you will want to take in everything going on around you and reflect upon what you do and see. Your level of mental and emotional engagement will contribute to your thinking about your career. Also, the more you take in, the more you can share in your application essay or interview in a truly personal and reflective way.  So, expose yourself!  (In a legal, professional, and medically relevant manner.)

411: Rural Medicine

You probably know that rural medicine isn’t all tomahawk lacerations and rabies cases unless you’ve viewed too many episodes of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (DQMW to fans), but you may wonder why you should think about it.  After all, many of you came to Penn to be in a big city and plan to stay in one.  But consider the following points:

  • You may have the option to do a clinical rotation in a rural area during medical or dental school.
  • You may speak too generally about the “projected physician shortage” and “underserved areas” in a medical school interview, revealing your lack of knowledge about current issues in the field.
  • You might apply to one or more rural medicine programs thinking, “Well, I wouldn’t mind living in the country (and the mean GPA looks promising)” — a less than compelling reason to apply.
  • Rural practice might be for you.  Dr. Quinn went to medical school in Philadelphia, but the frontier offered better opportunities.  Okay, she isn’t real (just real cool with her old-timey stethoscope); however, some people change their career plans after trying a rural rotation or residency.  And some of you may be interested in rural medicine programs, but should learn more about them before putting them on your application.

The AAMC’s January 2010 edition of Choices: The Careers in Medicine newsletter has a detailed profile of the field, from day-to-day life on the job to opportunities to train in a rural area in medical school.  Another excellent resource is the National Rural Health Association.

The Frontier Nursing Service’s Courier Program offers a clinical volunteering opportunity to spend six to twelve weeks in an eastern Kentucky community.  You can also find the program on Facebook and read blog entries written by a volunteer from Dartmouth.  Some Penn students have made their own arrangements to volunteer at rural hospitals and clinics close to home or near a relative.

Currently, the U.S. federal government’s National Health Service Corps offers up to $145k in medical school loan repayment in exchange for five years of service providing health care in an underserved area (not exclusively rural) and 50k for two years of service.  On Facebook?  You bet!

Sadly, the Bring-Back-Dr.-Quinn-Medicine-Woman movement on Facebook has burned itself out — choked on its own fervor — and will leave Facebook on October 1, but don’t let that stop you from checking out some of the links above!

Don’t…Don’t…Don’t Believe the Pre-health Hype

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinbrandt

I’m sitting in my office listening to a student and, after a brief pause,  am asked, “Um…I heard…are you applying to medical school this year?”  My response, as I recall, was something along the lines of, “[sputter, sputter, pick eyeballs up off floor] Who ME?  NO!  Good heavens, NO!”  The student, looking relieved and reassured, mentioned, “Well, I heard that…it didn’t seem right.”

Later in the afternoon, it occurred to me why someone may have thought I was making a major career change.  We had used my name as a “Jane Doe”-type place marker in a sample AMCAS application during a workshop.  I think a joke was even made at the time about my “application.”  But at least one person didn’t see the humor, which is perhaps understandable at the end of a busy semester.  It called to mind, though, the many times I’ve clarified other pre-health “rumors” in my office (as well as memories of hype man Flavor Flav, c. 1988).  For example:

“I heard you can go to medical school without taking science courses.”

“I heard that Penn Med doesn’t like to accept Penn students.”

“I heard you have to take the MCAT right after your sophomore year.”

“I heard that admissions is really only about your MCAT and grades.”

Admission to graduate school in the health professions is so competitive and the process so fraught with uncertainty, detailed information, and waiting, that it’s natural for people to talk.  To commiserate.  To worry.  To, er, suspend disbelief.

Gathering information is a vital part of pursuing a career in the health professions and going through the application process with confidence.  Be mindful, however, of the source of your information and consider whether it can be checked against another or more reliable source.   An internet forum for applicants can be a source of support and insight, but it can also be a breeding ground for false statements.  A family friend’s thoughts about admissions can be invaluable or, possibly, a little out of date.  A story about someone who surprisingly had ten interviews, or none at all, might say little about admissions in general or your particular application.  In fact, it may not be true.

Whether you’re starting out on your pre-health path or waiting for those secondary applications to arrive this summer, keep in mind that if something doesn’t sound right, it may not be correct.  Check your information.  Of course, your pre-health advisers are happy to point you to resources or share their perspective on those questions that don’t always have a right or wrong answer.  That is, if we aren’t busy filling out our own secondaries (don’t you believe it!).

Clinical Volunteering Abroad: Know Your Boundaries

As a pre-medical or pre-dental student, visiting another country to volunteer in a clinic can be a valuable, even life-changing experience that strengthens your commitment to medicine and teaches you about patient care in a different cultural or economic context.  If you are interested in serving communities abroad and learning more about global health issues, clinical volunteer work in another country is a great idea!  There are, however, some points to “know before you go.”
1.  It is not necessary to volunteer abroad to get into medical school; in fact, a week or two in a clinic abroad without medically-related service work in your local community or the U.S. can raise doubts about your commitment to serving others.

2.  Evaluate the organization or program carefully before you commit.  How long has it been in operation?  Have you talked to anyone who has participated in the past?  What plan is in place should you fall ill or are injured?

3. Consider your budget when looking at programs as well as less expensive ways to volunteer that might be equally interesting to you.  Some opportunities can be extremely expensive.

4. A good clinical volunteer experience is not the one where you are allowed to do the work of trained physicians and dentists.  When volunteering abroad, your level of training may be vastly overestimated by staff and patients.  Consider carefully whether you, as a patient, would want an untrained volunteer giving you medical advice or performing procedures such as pulling teeth or conducting hands-on exams.  Show respect for patients by knowing your limits before you go abroad and expect that you may be asked or invited to perform duties beyond what you might do at a clinic at home.

Read: An interesting ethical case study on the AMA’s website, “Limits on Student Participation in Patient Care in Foreign Medical Brigades,” profiles a third-year medical student who sutured incisions without supervision.

It may seem necessary to volunteer abroad to build a strong application, but it isn’t the case.  Also, you may despair that your clinical volunteer work will not impress admissions committees because you “didn’t get to do a lot of hands on stuff” that other students have reported from their experiences.  Know that professionals on admissions committees are troubled by applicants who appear to have put themselves before the patient by taking on care beyond their training.

Having the above in mind while searching for a clinical volunteer experience can help you find a “good fit” for what is sure to be a rewarding, exciting, and educational time in the field.