<p>I recently started volunteering at a free health clinic that only offers BP testing and consults with physicians, and the other night the number of patients was kind of low so one of the RNs offered to let me "see" a few patients while she stood behind me and supervised me. I want to write about the experience for an essay, and so I obviously want to make it sound like I had to operate as independently as possible, but I don't want to make it look like anything illegal happened. If all I did (and all I mention in the essay) was take people's blood pressure with a sphygmo and ask them if they wanted to discuss anything with the licensed physician at the clinic, would it be illegal to make it sound like the RN wasn't standing right behind me?</p>
<p>it has nothing to do with being ashamed, it just makes for a much better story if I can omit the fact that the nurse was right behind me, and if you think people don’t often “misrepresent” things in their essays than you’re in for quite a wakeup call.</p>
<p>shadeschildren has been awake for awhile. He’s been there , done that. ;)</p>
<p>And anyway, he’s right. Just preface that vignette with “Under supervision, I inserted the catheter…” or whatever. There is absolutely no negative associated with the supervision. Just mention the supervision once and then what YOU did. It will still “sing”. Un-supervised…well… there could be a negative in some folks’ minds. And anyway, it’s not true. That should count for something, huh?</p>
<p>Don’t base your ethics on what you perceive that others do in their essays. IMO, your “slice of medical life” story can be just as impacting …and it has the added benefit of being true.</p>
<p>Anyone reading your essay will know you should have been supervised. Anyone who is impressed by the unsupervised actions of an untrained person is not worth impressing.</p>
<p>Think of it this way - even residents (fully licensed physicians) are supervised by their attendings. I was actually seen by a resident the other day to get a simple strep test, and she still had to say “hey just hang on a second i have to grab my attending before letting you go”. </p>
<p>So being supervised is nothing to be ashamed of in healthcare. That being said, you didn’t do anything that actually legally needed supervision. Maybe the nurse felt she should watch you because you were new or because of the clinic’s policy, but anyone can legally take someone’s bp and get a chief complaint.</p>
<p>But I would cation you not to think that you were actually “providing healthcare”. You weren’t doing an assessment or physical exam, determining or providing a course of treatment, etc. You were volunteering at a free clinic and doing the initial information gathering from patients… which is great. Volunteering at a free clinic is a great experience and a great way to get exposure to medicine and the work of a physician. But you didn’t actually “see a patient” - if thats how you want to make it sound, people will wonder certification or license you have.</p>
<p>So talk about how cool it was to help out in a clinic that is providing free healthcare to those who need it, and to talk with people who came in, etc.</p>
There is absolutely no negative associated with the supervision. Just mention the supervision once and then what YOU did. It will still “sing”. Un-supervised…well… there could be a negative in some folks’ minds. And anyway, it’s not true. That should count for something, huh?</p>![http://www.luds.net/galeries/Dr%20Riviera.gif[/url]](http://www.luds.net/galeries/Dr%20Riviera.gif%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
