Medical Experience as an Undergrad?

[alex3930]

I'm majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders and the internship opportunities I am presented with deal mostly with children with hearing disabilities (obviously) and Autism. I'm pretty sure this is not the medical experience PA schools consider competitive... Any advice on how to obtain true MEDICAL EXPERIENCE? In a hospital? With patients? Would it be wise to pursue an EKG/EEG/CMA/CNA Technician Certification, and work part time? Would that even be possible to obtain concurrently with my undergrad major?

[Friction]

This kind of depends on where you intend to apply. Some schools 1000 hrs HCE is going to be sufficient and competitive, however, at others it will not be even close to other applicants experience. That being said, I would focus on programs that will give you the most versatility in the job market (ie CNA, EMT, MA) and will allow you to experience various aspects of healthcare. While EEG is direct patient care, it is somewhat limiting in what you're going to learn and be able to practice.

 

I work as an ED Tech, and while I feel like the "grunt" so to speak, I have learned an unbelievable amount being in this role. Wouldn't change it for anything. Don't think you can go wrong with back office medical assisting either. They get lots of patient contact and are able to see a lot of general practice type stuff. CNA will let you work the floors and get into more critical care aspects of healthcare, at least here in AZ.

 

As far as obtaining one of these certs, you should be able to find a summer program for any of these that is accelerated. Most wouldn't be more than 8 weeks with the exception of MA.

[flyingsquirrel]

Does your school have a student EMS organization? If so, start riding along with them while you get your EMT.

[EMEDPA]

I did an emt course while a senior in high school then worked as an er tech throughout college 26 hrs/week and full time(60 hrs/week) summers.

emt training is only 120 hrs long and can be done in several formats so as to interfere minimally with the rest of your life. There are weekend only courses, courses that meet in the evenings, accelerated courses if you have a block of time to commit, etc