<p>I'm in my first semster of undergrad with a pretty flexible course schedule. On top of volunteering and shadowing, I have the opportunity to possibly get certified as a phlebotomy tech and work for Carter Blood Care for a little while just to get the experience. Would something like this give me a sense of distinction or note-worthy recognition, if any at all, on my med school apps and adcomms and future residency interviews????? Considering the fact that I would be introduced to some of the basic essential skills and procedures in the medical field, such as; venipuncture involving use of syringes, blood culture, smears, skin punctures, drawing blood, needle vein insertion?????</p>
<p>residency interviews? won’t even get acknowledged - EVERYONE learns how to do that stuff in med school and in actual clinical practice the technicians do it, not the physicians.</p>
<p>med school? it’s definitely not anything impressive - if you want to do it there’s nothing wrong with it but I would certainly not do it “for med school.” There’s a reason phlebotomy doesn’t require an MD.</p>
<p>^^ I concur with brown. </p>
<p>D1 was an EMT-I and had done multiple intubations and carotid artery draws–no one interviewing her for med school cared in the slightest.</p>
<p>And heck D2 does all of the things you mentioned (plus other stuff) and she’s not even a CPT. And not once has it come up during her med school interviews.</p>
<p>Ok thank you!! Just needed some clarification!</p>
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<p>A carotid artery stick by any student would get an MD interviewer’s attention.</p>
<p>Maybe, but the real point is that it’s much easier to teach people technical skills than the intangibles they are looking for. The fact is, EMT’s don’t need MDs to do carotid artery draws so sure, maybe they’re a bit intrigued, but ultimately they’re looking for much more than a set of hands. They’ll be more impressed by someone volunteering to teach asthmatic kids how to use their inhalers than someone getting a job to draw blood.</p>
<p>Like WOWmom’s D2, I was drawing blood and using various rapid test machines (blood glucose, lipid panels) without any sort of certification when I volunteered at a free clinic for the uninsured - the latter part of that sentence surely being what they truly were impressed by, not the first part.</p>
<p>I think brown’s point is worth reiterating. It’s not the skill that is important, it’s all the intangible stuff. It sounds appealing to high schoolers and young undergrads to learn how to do all the “clinical skills” stuff that comes along with being a CNA or a phlebotomist or an EMT or going on a medical service trip or whatever, but that doesn’t matter to adcoms because those skills aren’t necessary for you to be a good medical student and good doctor in the future. </p>
<p>In med school, I’ve learned plenty of interesting clinical skills–IVs, lines, tubes, drains, airways, sutures, injections, EKG leads, ultrasound, etc etc etc. I rarely do some of those though because they’re almost always done by techs. If you can learn how to do something in a few hours/weeks/months of certification class, it’s probably not something that you need an MD to do. Thus, it’s probably not that useful/distinguishing for a future med student.</p>
<p>Point being: if you want to be a phlebotomist, be a phlebotomist. Don’t do it (or anything, for that matter) simply to “look good” for med schools. They’ll probably see right through it and you’ll probably be bored doing it anyway.</p>
<p>I have to say that since schools want X number of hours of clinical experience, getting paid to be a phlebotomist would not be a bad way to get that experience, especially if the candidate is going to work in school anyway. It would give someone exposure to patients after all. It isn’t going to be a unique experience, but so much of getting into medical school isn’t unique. The baseline seems to be great grades and MCAT, non-clinical volunteering, clinic hours, shadowing and research. If the phlebotomy class is more enjoyable or convenient than volunteering at a hospice or nursing home then there is no harm, right?</p>
<p>the only potential “drawback” to a job vs. volunteering is that one earns money and the other doesn’t. If you need the money or you have other volunteering - there’s nothing wrong with phlebotomy. </p>
<p>The other issue with phlebotomy specifically is that you could easily be a successful phlebotomist while essentially not having any substantive interpersonal interactions. If you’re spending time at a nursing home, presumably you are conversing or engaging with the residents. A phlebotomy tech could easily never go beyond “arm here…hold…you can go.”</p>
<p>As Kristin and I both said, if OP wants to be a phlebotomist because that’s something he/she has an interest in doing and can articulate the reasons behind that interest, that’s fine, but OP was asking if it would give him/her “any sort of distinction” to be a “certified phlebotomist” and the answer to that is a resounding no.</p>
<p>There are virtually no right or wrong activities if the reasons for doing them are to satisfy your passions - the issue here was that it doesn’t sound like OP has a passion for phlebotomy but instead thought maybe getting certified would be seen as an impressive accomplishment, improving his/her chances at admission, and for those reasons I would say it’s the wrong activity to do - and any activity for which those are the reasons would be the wrong activity to do.</p>
<p>Very, very good arguments all around! This definitely answers my question! Thank you all!</p>
<p>NB: a carotid artery stick would only occur as a complication of central line placement or as a result of very poor judgment in selecting an ABG site. A student claiming in an interview to have done a “carotid draw” would need to answer some pointed questions about technique and indications. It would get attention - in a bad way.</p>
<p>D1 did it under close supervision and direction (an EM physician and a experienced paramedic instructor) in the ER in the middle of the night. The site was used because the patient was long time drug abuser whose veins and arteries were so sclerosed, another draw site couldn’t be found. </p>
<p>She never mentioned the draw anywhere in her application, nor during any interview. She had other more relevant and important things to talk about. </p>
<p>(She mentioned it to me in the course of “weird things that happened at the psych hospital when they brought in all these guys from the State Pen” conversation.)</p>
<p>In that case, it would make an interesting anecdote to share.</p>
<p>Oh–she had lots of great stories from the night at the psych hospital when they brought all those guys in from the [maximum security] State Pen. </p>
<p>And had more from her summer rotation through the only ER in a 60+ sq mi region that has the highest per capita heroin use in the US (according to the DEA).</p>
<p>She’s like her dad–they both have very black senses of humor.</p>