Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Thank you for watching this Prehealth video. I will be talking about what outside the classroom experiences professional health schools are looking for and how to tell if the medical profession is the right one for you.
The Prehealth office advises students that are interested in the medical field, both allopathic and osteopathic, dentistry, chiropractic, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, and physician assistant.
The Prehealth office does not advise for pharmacy, nursing, exercise science, occupational therapy or physical therapy. This presentation contains information for only the areas the office advises for.
Two questions that you will be asked by many people, including the professional health schools are why do you want to be a doctor, dentist, vet, etc? And how do you know you want be an optometrist, podiatrist, PA, etc?
We will be talking throughout this video on questions and experiences that will help you to answer these two questions. While you are thinking about why you want to go into the health field keep in mind the 10 minute rule.
The 10 minute rule is if you cannot talk about the career you are interested in for 10 minutes you should do more research on what the career involves and why you want to go into that career.
Some additional questions you should ask yourself to see if the field of health care is the right one for you are:
1) Do you care deeply about other people, their problems, and their pain? Do you enjoy serving others?
Most health care professionals see people or animals when they are sick and in pain. Will you be able to see people who are sick or in pain for the majority of your shift and be able to go home and enjoy your time with your friends and family?
2) Do you enjoy learning and gaining new understanding in the sciences and are you intrigued by the way medicine can be used to improve life?
Health careers are life careers. Meaning that you will continually need to keep up with the newest technologies, research, and treatments, to best serve your patients.
To do this you will need to read journals, attend conferences, and talk to colleagues. The field of health care also requires you to be both a science person and a people person.
If you find that you love working with people but do not like the sciences there are careers that you can help others without having to take courses like Organic Chemistry, such as academic advisor or social worker.
If you find you love the sciences but do not like working with people, then there is a need for people in the labs doing research to find the cures for cancer and aids.
While you are thinking about why you want to go into a health career you should also ask yourself, “how can I be the best, dr., dentist, vet, chiro, etc that I can be?”
Think about the characteristics you want to have as a professional and the experiences you will need to be the best dr, dentist, vet, etc that you can be.
One question I get often from students is “How do I know that I have what it takes to get into a professional health school?”
Two things that will allow you to see if you have what it takes and will enjoy the profession as a career are take some of the science prerequisite courses
which you can learn about in the Prerequisite video, and spend time shadowing and volunteering in relevant settings for the career you want.
All Professional health schools expect you have clinical experience, either volunteering or shadowing, and to have variety in your experiences.
For those interested in becoming a physician look at experiences in settings like primary care, hospitals, and different medical specialties.
For dental school try to gain experience in clinics, privately owned business, and specialties.
For vet, experiences with traditional family pets, large animals, and check at the zoo and aquarium for internships.
If you pursuing a career as a Physician Assistant each school has their own requirements for clinical experience.
It is important to check what the schools you plan on applying to on their requirements for clinical experience. Some Physician Assistant programs want patient contact while other programs want patient care.
Patient contact is shadowing and volunteering but not directly caring for the patient. Patient Care is directly caring for the patient in positions like EMT, phlebotomist, and certified nurse’s aide.
You can find a listing of suggested volunteering and shadowing sites for all of the professions we advise for by going to the Prehealth web page and clicking on the getting started tab.
If you scroll about half way down the page you will see a Local volunteering link.
Professional Health schools see research as a bonus. To find research opportunities at the University at Buffalo you can look at CURCA’s website-curca.buffalo.edu.
Research does not have to be health related but you should be able to tie the skills you learned during your time on the research project back to the profession you are interested in.
An example is students working on a liberal arts research project that involves interviewing community members, they can relate the skill of interviewing back to being in the health profession and interview patients.
Prehealth students should start to gain a strong and sustained pattern of clinical experience as soon as they know they want a health career.
Some dental schools have expressed preference for at least 100 hours of clinical observation. Medical schools do not have a minimum number of hours but encourage a strong and sustained record over time.
For veterinary schools you normally need between 1,000 and 1,500 clinical hours.
If you are pursuing a career as a Physician Assistant each school has their own requirements on the number of clinical hours an applicant needs. The hours range from 100-1000 clinical hours.
There are over 300 different health care professions in the United States so while you are gaining clinical experiences keep your eyes open to what other members of the health community are doing.
You may find that while you thought you wanted to be a doctor you really love the responsibilities of a Respiratory Therapist.
Thank you for watching this Prehealth video. If you have additional questions or want more information, you can make an appointment with a Prehealth advisor, watch additional Prehealth videos, read the handbooks, or attend Prehealth workshops.