Clinical experience is an opportunity to gain firsthand exposure to the care of patients and the environments in which healthcare is delivered. These experiences allow you to see how healthcare professionals interact with patients, work as part of a team, make decisions, communicate, and navigate the day-to-day realities of providing care.

Depending on the profession and setting, clinical experience may involve direct interaction with patients, supporting their care, observing healthcare delivery, or working alongside healthcare professionals. Experiences can take place in many settings, including hospitals, clinics, private practices, rehabilitation facilities, long-term care settings, community health organizations, and other environments where health services are provided.

Clinical experience can help you:

• Develop a realistic understanding of the profession and healthcare environment.
• Learn what it means to work with patients from different backgrounds and in different circumstances.
• Observe communication, teamwork, professionalism, and ethical decision-making in healthcare.
• Better understand the rewards and challenges associated with caring for others.
• Reflect on whether a particular profession or type of healthcare work is a good fit for your interests and goals.
• Build experiences that you can thoughtfully discuss when applying to professional school.

Clinical experience can look different across the health professions. What is expected, and what an individual professional program considers “clinical experience,” may vary considerably. For example, some programs emphasize direct hands-on patient care, while others may value broader exposure to a particular healthcare setting or profession. Always review the expectations and admissions requirements of the programs you are considering.

The terms clinical experience and patient-care experience are sometimes used interchangeably, but programs may use them to describe different levels of involvement in patient care. Understanding the distinction is especially important because individual professional programs may define and evaluate these experiences differently.

Clinical experience is a broad term for experiences that provide exposure to patients, healthcare professionals, and the delivery of care. You may interact directly with patients without being personally responsible for providing their care. For example, some hospital volunteer roles, medical scribing, or clinical research positions may provide meaningful clinical exposure even when your responsibilities are not hands-on.

Patient-care experience generally refers to roles in which you are directly involved in providing or supporting a patient’s care. Depending on the position, this might include taking vital signs, assisting with activities of daily living, administering treatments within your scope of practice, transporting or positioning patients, collecting specimens, providing rehabilitation exercises, or performing other hands-on responsibilities.

Keep in mind:

• Not every clinical experience involves direct patient care. An experience can still provide valuable exposure to healthcare even if you are not physically providing care.
• Job titles alone do not determine how an experience is classified. Two students with the same job title may have very different responsibilities depending on the employer or setting.
• Programs may classify the same experience differently. A role considered direct patient care by one program may be categorized differently by another.
• Your actual responsibilities matter. When researching programs, compare what you do in your role with how each program defines its experience requirements.

When a program specifies a particular type or amount of clinical or patient-care experience, review that program’s admissions requirements carefully rather than assuming your experience will qualify.

Clinical experience does not have to be unpaid. Both paid employment and volunteer experiences can provide meaningful exposure to patients, healthcare professionals, and the delivery of care.

Paid clinical roles may offer consistent, sustained involvement in a healthcare setting and opportunities to take on greater responsibility over time. Depending on the position, paid roles may also provide significant direct patient-care experience. Examples might include working as an EMT, CNA, medical assistant, patient care technician, scribe, rehabilitation aide, or other healthcare support professional.

Volunteer clinical experiences can also provide valuable exposure to healthcare and patient populations. Students may volunteer in hospitals, clinics, hospice programs, rehabilitation settings, community health organizations, or other environments where they can interact with patients and observe the delivery of care.

When considering an opportunity, ask yourself:

• Will I have meaningful interaction with patients or those receiving care?
• Will I gain exposure to healthcare professionals and the delivery of care?
• What responsibilities will I have?
• Will I have opportunities to learn, grow, and take on additional responsibility?
• Can I realistically sustain this experience alongside my academic and other commitments?

Professional schools will consider what you learned from your experiences and how they contributed to your understanding of healthcare and your chosen profession. Both paid and volunteer roles can provide valuable preparation.

Clinical experience can take many forms, and there is no single position that every pre-health student needs to pursue. The right opportunities will depend on your interests, the profession you are exploring, your level of training, and the types of experiences available to you.

Experiences that may provide clinical or patient-care exposure include:

• Emergency medical technician (EMT) or paramedic
• Certified nursing assistant (CNA) or patient care technician
• Medical assistant
• Medical scribe
• Hospital, clinic, or hospice volunteer with meaningful patient interaction
• Rehabilitation or physical therapy aide
• Behavioral health or mental health technician
• Home health or direct-care worker
• Pharmacy technician in settings that provide meaningful exposure to patient care and medication management
• Dental assistant or other dental clinical support role
• Optometric or ophthalmic technician/assistant
• Veterinary assistant, veterinary technician, or animal-care role involving veterinary patients and clinical care
• Clinical research involving meaningful interaction with patients or research participants
• Community health experiences that involve direct interaction with individuals receiving health services
• Other healthcare roles that provide meaningful exposure to patients, practitioners, and the delivery of care

For example, a hospital volunteer who regularly interacts with patients may gain substantial clinical exposure, while another hospital volunteer whose responsibilities are primarily administrative may have very little. Similarly, a clinical research position involving regular interaction with patients may provide clinical exposure, while laboratory-based research without patient interaction generally would not.

Always consider the context of the experience. Professional schools and individual programs may classify the same role differently, particularly when they have specific requirements for direct patient-care hours. Review the expectations of the profession and programs you are considering rather than choosing an experience based solely on its job title.

There is no single number of clinical hours that makes an experience “good enough.” While some professional programs have specific experience requirements, the quality, consistency, and depth of your involvement matter alongside the number of hours you complete.

Meaningful clinical experiences give you opportunities to learn about patients, healthcare delivery, and the realities of working in a health profession. Over time, you should be developing a more informed understanding of both the rewarding and challenging aspects of caring for others.

Consider whether an experience allows you to:

• Interact meaningfully with patients or those receiving care. Regular interaction can help you become more comfortable communicating with people across different backgrounds, circumstances, and levels of health.
• Understand how healthcare is delivered. Pay attention to how healthcare professionals communicate, make decisions, collaborate across disciplines, and navigate the responsibilities of patient care.
• Develop over time. Sustained involvement often allows you to build relationships, strengthen skills, assume greater responsibility, and understand a setting more deeply than a brief experience might.
• Learn about your chosen profession. Your experiences should help you better understand what attracts you to a particular career and whether the day-to-day realities of that work align with your goals.
• Reflect on what you are experiencing. Consider what surprised you, challenged you, changed your perspective, or helped you better understand patients and healthcare.
• Grow personally and professionally. Clinical environments can help you develop communication, teamwork, reliability, professionalism, adaptability, and comfort working with people during difficult or vulnerable moments.

Aim to build experiences that are sustained, meaningful, and appropriate for the profession you are pursuing. Long-term involvement can give you time to become more engaged, take on responsibility, and develop a deeper understanding of the work.

Difficult, uncomfortable, or disappointing experiences can also be useful. They may give you a more realistic understanding of healthcare and help clarify what you want in your future career.

Clinical experience is valuable across the health professions, but the type and amount of experience expected can vary significantly by profession and by individual program. As you explore opportunities, consider whether your experiences are helping you understand the particular profession you hope to enter as well as healthcare more broadly.

Medicine (MD & DO)
Medical schools generally value meaningful exposure to patients and clinical environments that demonstrates an informed understanding of medicine and patient care. Clinical experience may be paid or volunteer and can take many forms. Shadowing can also be valuable for learning about the physician’s role, but it is generally considered observational and distinct from clinical experience.

Physician Assistant (PA)
Direct patient-care experience is particularly important for PA applicants. Many PA programs require or strongly prefer a specific number of patient-care hours, and programs may define qualifying experiences differently. Students considering PA should research individual program requirements early, particularly before choosing employment intended to fulfill patient-care expectations.

Dentistry (DDS & DMD)
Dental applicants should gain exposure to dental practice and the work of dentists. Shadowing is a common and important component of this exploration, while employment or volunteering in dental settings can provide additional clinical exposure. Expectations for dental experience and shadowing vary by school.

Physical Therapy (DPT) & Occupational Therapy (OT)
Experience in rehabilitation and therapeutic settings can help students understand how PTs and OTs work with patients over time to improve function, independence, and quality of life. Some programs may require or recommend observation or experience hours, sometimes across multiple practice settings or patient populations.

Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) & Audiology (AuD)
Exposure to speech-language pathology or audiology can help students understand the range of populations, conditions, and settings within these professions. Opportunities may include observation, employment, volunteering, research involving patients or clients, or experiences in clinical, educational, or rehabilitation environments.

Veterinary Medicine (DVM)
Veterinary schools may distinguish between animal experience and veterinary experience completed under the supervision of a veterinarian. Students should seek opportunities that help them understand veterinary medicine as well as animal care more broadly. Expectations vary considerably among veterinary schools.

Optometry (OD), Pharmacy (PharmD), Podiatric Medicine (DPM), and Other Health Professions
Students pursuing these professions should seek meaningful exposure to their intended field whenever possible. This might include shadowing, employment, volunteering, or other experiences in relevant clinical or practice settings. Individual programs may have specific expectations regarding experience, observation, or documented hours.

Always review the admissions requirements and recommendations of individual professional programs, as expectations can vary even within the same health profession.

Finding your first clinical experience can feel challenging, especially if you do not already have connections in healthcare. There is no single place where all opportunities are posted, so plan to use several strategies and resources as you search.

Start with Villanova resources.

• Handshake – Search for internships, part-time and full-time jobs, volunteer opportunities, and other healthcare-related positions.
• Career Connections – Explore events, opportunities, employer information, and resources related to the health professions.
• Faculty and academic departments – Faculty members may know about clinical research, community partnerships, alumni connections, or other opportunities related to your interests.
• Student organizations and campus programs – Pre-health and service organizations can be useful sources of information about local opportunities and experiences pursued by other students.

Look beyond campus.

Hospitals and health systems, private practices, rehabilitation facilities, hospice organizations, community health centers, nonprofit organizations, veterinary practices, and other healthcare organizations may offer employment, volunteer, internship, or observational opportunities.

Check organizations’ websites directly, and consider reaching out professionally when no formal opportunity is advertised. A concise email introducing yourself, explaining your interest, and asking whether opportunities are available can sometimes open doors.

Use your existing network.

Professors, supervisors, classmates, alumni, family, friends, and healthcare professionals you have met may know of opportunities or people you can contact. Networking should focus on letting people know what you are interested in and asking for information, advice, or introductions when appropriate.

Start looking before you urgently need the experience. Building meaningful clinical exposure gradually throughout college is generally much more manageable than trying to accumulate significant experience immediately before applying to professional school.

Smaller community organizations, local practices, rehabilitation facilities, hospice programs, and other settings can provide meaningful patient interaction and clinical exposure. Consider the responsibilities and learning opportunities available rather than focusing on the name of the institution.

Keeping track of your experiences as you complete them will make your life significantly easier when it is time to apply to professional school. Applications may ask you to report dates, total hours, supervisors, responsibilities, and other details for activities that took place several years earlier.

You do not need an elaborate system. A spreadsheet, document, or other method that you will consistently maintain is enough.

For each clinical experience, consider recording:

• Organization and location
• Position or role title
• Start and end dates
• Approximate hours per week and total hours
• Supervisor name, title, and contact information
• Your primary responsibilities
• Patient populations or healthcare settings you encountered
• Training, certifications, or additional responsibilities you completed
• Changes in your role or responsibilities over time

Track more than your hours.

Your hours and dates are important, but they are often the easiest details to reconstruct. The experiences themselves can be much harder to remember several semesters or years later.

Periodically take a few minutes to record observations such as:

• A meaningful interaction or experience
• Something that surprised or challenged you
• A situation that changed your understanding of healthcare or patient care
• Skills you developed or areas where you grew
• Examples of teamwork, communication, problem-solving, or professionalism
• Questions the experience raised for you
• Ways the experience influenced your interest in a particular profession

A few informal sentences written while an experience is still fresh can give you useful material to revisit when preparing activity descriptions, personal statements, secondary essays, or interviews.

It is also a good idea to maintain current contact information for supervisors when possible. Professional school applications may ask for a contact person associated with an experience, and tracking that information now is much easier than trying to locate a former supervisor years later.

Keep your records current throughout college. A simple tracking habit can save considerable time when you begin your professional school applications.

Research, shadowing, service, leadership, and other activities can all strengthen your preparation for a health profession. Programs may not classify these activities as clinical experience, depending on your responsibilities and level of patient exposure.

An experience is not automatically clinical simply because it takes place in a hospital, clinic, laboratory, or other healthcare environment. What you actually do and the type of exposure you receive matter more than the setting or title.

Experiences that may not provide significant clinical exposure include:

• Shadowing or observation – Shadowing provides valuable insight into a healthcare professional’s daily work, but your role is primarily observational rather than actively participating in patient care.
• Laboratory or basic science research – Research can develop important scientific, analytical, and problem-solving skills, but work that does not involve patients or clinical environments generally is not considered clinical experience.
• Clinical research without patient interaction – A project may be classified as clinical research while your individual responsibilities involve data analysis, chart review, laboratory work, or other activities with little or no direct exposure to patients.
• Administrative work in a healthcare setting – Scheduling, filing, reception, billing, data entry, and other administrative responsibilities can provide insight into healthcare operations but may offer limited exposure to patient care.
• Service without a healthcare component – Community service is an important way to engage with others and understand the communities you may eventually serve, but service does not need to be healthcare-related and should not automatically be classified as clinical experience.
• Healthcare-related clubs, organizations, and events – Participation in a pre-health organization, attending healthcare lectures, or helping organize health-related programming can be valuable but generally does not constitute clinical experience on its own.

Shadowing can help you understand a profession. Research can teach you how knowledge is created and evaluated. Community service can deepen your understanding of people and communities. Leadership can teach you how to work with and support others. Clinical experience provides something different: firsthand exposure to patients and the delivery of healthcare.

Consider what each experience is helping you learn and how your experiences complement one another. Research, service, leadership, shadowing, and clinical work can each contribute something different to your preparation.

When you are unsure whether a particular role meets an admissions requirement, review the guidance provided by the individual professional program. Programs may classify the same experience differently, especially when specific clinical or direct patient-care hours are required.