United States Clinical Experience (USCE ):

This is really important part of steps journey . I will try best to explain it in simplest way
Those days are over when people with triple 99 only used to get residencies . USA hospitals now require some clinical experience inside USA before you apply . Students work under supervision in hospitals and get LORs.
There are 3 forms of USCE ;(research is not part of USCE -a big misconception ):...

1 electives
2 externship
3 observership

1 Electives :
doing clinical work in USA while you are not graduated is called elective . Most people do it in 4 th yr final Yr vacation or immediately after final year . Each ejectors comprises of 4 week rotation in which you get one Lor . It is the best form of USCE . Some universities offer it free while other have some fees . People who have done step 1 are very likely to get electives for free in good universities . Elective also solves visa problem as you get 5  year visa on basis of electives which helps you later as well. www.americancompendium . Com is website that has list of universities offering electives with requirements
https://www.aamc.org/students/medstudents/electives/

2 Externship :

It's same as elective except that it is after final year . If you do clinical rotation as undergrad it is called elective and if u do it after being grad is called externship ( I did externships
) . It is less valuable than elective but more than observership. 3  4 months are Enough

3 Observership;
3rd form of USCE that is less valuable than externship. Difference is that you see the patients same way as in externship but you don't touch the patient ( in externship you physically examine patient ). You act as observer and you observe how your mentor examines him . Most of hospitals provide either electives or observership rare hospitals provide externship

Research : it is not clinical experience . It is scholarly activity that takes at least 1 year and should be followed by publication in order to be effective . Will have separate discussion on it

USCE of 3 months is enough . It us very likely that in 3 months you may have 5 lors as well .

Article By: Waqas Nawaz MD

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