Career Services

Getting Experience

Clinical exposure – time spent interacting with patients and health professionals – is important to understand the career you are pursuing, and to determine how you will use your unique strengths in this space.

Clinical exposure can be viewed as Professional-Facing Time and Patient-Facing Time.

Professional-FacingPatient-Facing
Shadowing: Following healthcare practitioners during their day. It is highly recommended that all Pre-Health students at UWB seek as much shadowing experience as needed to gain exposure and build your confidence in healthcare settings.Volunteering: in a hospital, clinic, pharmacy, or nursing home. It is highly recommended that all Pre-Health students at UWB complete volunteer activities that develop and deepen your skills and demonstrate your passion for healthcare.
Medical Scribing: work with a doctor or team of doctors to take notes for them.Paid Employment: common jobs include CNA, EMT, Medical Assistant, Phlebotomist, Pharm Tech, PT Aid (Some of these require specific certifications which you can obtain through local community colleges and private institutions such as www.HealthCareerCerts.org.)
A chart displaying the difference between professional- and patient-facing experiences with examples.

You can find opportunities using the following list of some local hospitals and clinics that have volunteer and shadowing programs. Keep in mind this list is only a starting place. There are many other facilities that will allow students to participate in clinical experience.

Some organizations require up-to-date vaccines, including for COVID-19. Many require background checks before you can begin working with patients. Keep in mind that these basic requirements for working in healthcare are meant to prioritize the health and safety of everyone in the environment.

  • Atlantis University Study Abroad – observe physicians and learn about healthcare outside the US
    • Atlantis is a hospital shadowing program that runs in Europe for Pre-Health students during school breaks. Atlantis offers significant partial need-based scholarships to attend their programs and will provide information about those scholarships during their application and enrollment process. If you are interested, you can learn more by completing an application here.
  • Clinical Education Network – Free Virtual Clinical Shadowing
  • Pre-Health Shadowing – Featuring live virtual shadowing sessions where you can interact with and learn directly from professionals across a wide range of healthcare fields; free resources such as access to recorded sessions, certificates of completion, and educational materials; and networking opportunities where you’ll gain exposure to a global network of peers and mentors in healthcare.
  • Hearts for Health – Virtual Shadowing
  • Swedish Hospital – Nursing & Allied Health Job Shadows
  • UW Medical Center Observations

Apply to be Pharmacy Assistant in Washington state – This is one of the best ways to gain pharmacy experience.

Find volunteering, shadowing and working opportunities in Washington State at the Career & Internship Center website and use Handshake to find current job and internship opportunities.