Explore Less-Popular Options for Learning About Medicine

It's common for people interested in medicine to shadow a doctor before applying to medical school, but this kind of experience may not always impress an admissions team

It's considered to be one of the most passive forms of clinical experience, says Alicia McNease Nimonkar, a medical school admissions consultant for Accepted, which helps people get into college and graduate school "You're not actively involved," says Nimonkar.

While applicants may glean some things as a fly on the wall, they're limited in how much they can do to really learn about medicine, experts say.

Clinical care opportunities that require training and allow applicants to share responsibility for the well-being of a patient is more impressive, experts say. Admissions officers know that when premed students explore medicine by becoming scribes or emergency medical technicians, two less-popular paths, they're learning about the nitty-gritty side.

[Bolster a medical school application with volunteer work.]

"You're actively playing a role in patient care. You're gaining a hands-on experience," says Nimonkar, who once worked in the postbaccalaureate program at University of California--Davis School of Medicine .

Below are three less-popular jobs that premed students can do to stand out as applicants and learn about medicine.

-- Emergency Medical Technician: Before Lance Stuke went to medical school he was an EMT-basic and then, as he advanced his training as an emergency medical professional, became a paramedic. He says it's not common for premed students to work these jobs before medical school, but he strongly encourages them to consider it.

"It gives you confidence in interacting with sick patients," says Stuke, who is now an associate medical director for the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. "It gives you a good medical background."

An EMT can provide basic emergency care, such as giving oxygen or assessing patients, while paramedics have more responsibilities, such as starting an IV or administering drugs, Stuke says.

These jobs are very intense, says Stuke. EMTs are working in the back of an ambulance -- traveling quickly -- and trying to deliver lifesaving care.

"It's a very rewarding way to help people," he says.

-- Scribe: Scribing is documenting, says Michael Murphy, co-founder and CEO of ScribeAmerica, which recruits, trains, hires and manages scribes who work in health care settings. A scribe takes notes during a doctor's encounter with a patient, writing down assessments and treatment plans, and might assist in other ways. Scribes are often aspiring doctors, nurses or physician assistants.

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This role allows premed students to learn what's involved in treating patients.

"You're learning what, you're just not learning why," says Murphy, who previously practiced emergency medicine. Applicants who've been working as scribes for a few months may eventually learn what medicine is usually prescribed to treat pneumonia, for example. But in this role they might not learn why that medicine is best or what's happening to the body during pneumonia.

Training can take several weeks, says Murphy, and learning how to speak the language of medicine with a doctor can be difficult.

There's probably a 50 percent attrition rate during the ScribeAmerica training process, he says. "It's such a steep learning curve." He encourages anyone interested in this job to take it seriously.

-- Care Extender: One way to go beyond a typical hospital volunteer experience is to find an in-depth program. Care extender volunteers at UCLA Health, for example, work with patients as an extension of the health care team. They might assist with transporting patients, bathing them, feeding them or -- if they're working in the pediatrics department -- playing with them, as they rotate through a hospital.

"The basic thing is for them to just really get their feet wet," says Silva Thomas, director of the care extender program for the hospital system.

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The process for becoming one of their care extenders is competitive. "We only take about 30 percent of the applicants," says Thomas. Anyone 18 and up, who is in college or has graduated from college can apply to be a volunteer in the program . Depending on the time of year, anywhere between 500 to 800 people may apply.

Participants learn how a hospital functions and the different roles of the health care team, says Thomas.

It's not enough to get hands-on experience as a care extender, or as another clinical care health care worker, to shine in a medical school application, says Nimonkar. Admissions committees like to see applicants in these roles for a long period, such as a year, she says. Premeds must also know how to effectively translate why these experiences were so beneficial to them in their applications.

One mistake applicants sometimes make is spending too much time writing about the doctors they worked with instead of themselves, she says.

Nimonkar suggests they "focus on sharing the details or the interactions with patients, where they have effectively served to help the patient."

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Delece Smith-Barrow is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering graduate schools. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dsmithbarrow@usnews.com.