Residency Advisor
Virtual and telehealth volunteering absolutely can be worth listing – but not all of it, and not in the same way as in‑person clinical work.
If you treat every Zoom session like it’s the same as bedside experience, admissions committees will see right through that. If you’re strategic and honest about what you actually did, virtual volunteering can strengthen your application rather than weaken it.
Let’s walk through exactly when it counts, when it doesn’t, and how to list it so it helps instead of hurts you.
(See also: Should I Prioritize Depth or Variety in Clinical Volunteering Experiences? for more insights.)
1. Does Virtual or Telehealth Volunteering “Count” as Clinical?
The core question isn’t “Is it virtual?”
The core question is: Did you meaningfully interact with patients about their health care?
Clinical experience — whether virtual or in-person — typically involves at least one of these:
- Direct interaction with patients or families about health-related concerns
- Exposure to clinical decision-making or workflows
- Participation in the delivery of care (even peripherally), not just logistics
- Understanding how illness affects real people, not just theory
Virtual or telehealth volunteering is most likely to “count” as clinical when:
- You’re on telehealth calls where real patients are present
- You assist with intake, history, scheduling specific to medical visits, or follow-up instructions
- You help patients navigate remote care (e.g., logging onto a platform, filling out forms, understanding visit process)
- You observe how clinicians counsel, diagnose, and manage patients in a virtual setting
Examples that usually do qualify as clinical (if done with real patients):
- Serving as a virtual patient navigator for a community health center’s telehealth clinic
- Helping patients complete pre-visit questionnaires or social determinants of health screenings over video/phone
- Scribing in a telehealth clinic where you’re present in real time during the visit
- Staffing a supervised nurse triage line or health hotline (with clear medical context and patient interactions)
Where it stops being “clinical”:
- Content moderation on a health site with no live patient interaction
- Answering general administrative phone calls (fax confirmations, insurance updates not tied to care episodes)
- Data entry, chart abstraction, or back-end telehealth workflow support only
- Running a health awareness Instagram page or Discord server (that’s outreach or leadership, not clinical)
Bottom line: Admissions committees care more about the substance of what you did than the medium you used. Virtual can absolutely be real clinical experience, but you must be honest about what you actually did.
2. How Admissions Committees See Virtual Volunteering
Most committees now recognize that:
- Telehealth is a permanent part of medicine
- Many students had limited in-person options (especially during COVID restrictions)
- Virtual roles can show initiative, adaptability, and interest in underserved or remote populations
But they’re also wary of applications that are:
- 100% virtual clinical with no in-person exposure at all, especially if you’re applying in 2025 or later
- Inflating “telehealth volunteer” roles that were essentially remote admin or tutoring
- Using virtual roles to avoid the discomfort and messiness of in-person patient contact
Here’s how virtual volunteering usually lands with committees:
Positive signals:
- You can articulate what you observed about patient care in a virtual setting
- You clearly understand the limitations and advantages of telehealth
- You used virtual access to serve hard-to-reach or rural communities
- Your role shows reliability (regular shifts, significant hours, consistent responsibilities)
Red flags:
- You call a remote admin role “telehealth clinical volunteer” without patient-facing detail
- You have hundreds of hours of virtual stuff but almost nothing in person and no plan to change that
- You talk more about “working from home” than about patient stories and learning about health care
You don’t need to hide that something was virtual; you just need to show that you engaged with it deeply and honestly.
3. When Virtual Volunteering Is Worth Listing — And Where
A. Good candidates for your “top” clinical experiences
Virtual volunteering can absolutely be one of your primary experiences (AMCAS) or main entries (AACOMAS/TMDSAS) if:
- You had ongoing, direct patient interaction (video or phone)
- You regularly attended real-time telehealth visits with clinicians
- You had at least 50–75 hours in a substantial, consistent role
Strong examples:
- “Telehealth Medical Scribe – Internal Medicine”
- “Virtual Patient Navigator – Community Health Center”
- “Volunteer, Telehealth Women’s Health Clinic”
In your description, you should be able to say things like:
- “Greeted patients on video, verified symptoms and medications, and entered information into the EMR before virtual visits.”
- “Observed over 200 telehealth primary care visits, documenting HPI, ROS, and plan in real time.”
- “Assisted Spanish-speaking patients in connecting to telehealth platforms and understanding provider recommendations.”
B. Good to list, but probably not a main clinical pillar
Some experiences are valuable, but not strong enough to be your main “I understand clinical medicine” evidence. These might be listed as:
- Additional volunteering
- Non-clinical community service
- Employment (if paid)
- Leadership / advocacy
Examples:
- Remote health education workshops for high school students
- Running social media for a nonprofit health organization
- Creating and facilitating virtual support groups (e.g., for caregivers, chronic disease)
- Remote administrative volunteering for a free clinic (scheduling, reminders)
These show commitment, service, and initiative. They’re worth listing. They’re just not a substitute for true clinical time.
4. How to Describe Virtual Clinical Volunteering on Your Application
If you want your virtual or telehealth volunteering to be taken seriously, the description matters a lot.
Do:
- Clearly label it: “Virtual” or “Telehealth” in the title or first line
- Specify the population and setting (e.g., “rural patients,” “safety-net clinic,” “behavioral health”)
- Describe your role in concrete terms (verbs: “counseled,” “assisted,” “screened,” “documented,” “observed”)
- Include what you learned about patient care, access, or the health system
Do NOT:
- Overstate your role (“provided medical advice,” “treated patients” – you didn’t)
- Vaguely say “helped with telehealth” without describing tasks
- Make it sound like you were passive on a Zoom call with your camera off
Example of a strong description (AMCAS-style):
Title: Telehealth Patient Navigator – Federally Qualified Health Center (Virtual)
Description: Volunteered weekly in a primary care telehealth clinic serving mostly uninsured and underinsured adults. Called patients before visits to review medications, clarify chief complaints, and screen for social needs (food, transportation, housing). Assisted patients with connecting to the video platform and troubleshooting tech barriers. Observed 75+ telehealth visits with family physicians and APRNs, documenting key history elements in the EMR and witnessing management of diabetes, hypertension, and depression. Learned how telehealth can improve access while also highlighting digital literacy and connectivity gaps.
Read that again and notice: it’s obviously virtual, but it’s clearly meaningful clinical exposure.
5. How Much Virtual vs In-Person Clinical Is “Enough”?
Here’s the straightforward guidance most applicants need:
Aim for:
- Total clinical hours (all formats): 150–300+ hours as a baseline, more is better if quality is good
- In-person clinical hours: Truly important. Try to get at least 50–100 hours in person, even if you have a lot of virtual
- Variety: One or two main consistent roles > many scattered, one-off virtual events
If your situation has been constrained (rural area, transportation, family responsibilities, late-career applicant, public health emergencies), you can explain context in:
- Secondary essays (“adversity,” “challenge,” “COVID impact”)
- Update letters
- Interviews
Still, if you have the option now, fix the gap going forward. Use virtual to complement in-person, not replace it.
A few sample profiles:
Strong use of virtual:
- 120 hours in-person hospital volunteering (ED or inpatient)
- 80 hours telehealth scribing in a primary care clinic
- 50 hours virtual patient navigator for a free clinic
This looks very solid. You see both sides of modern care.
Borderline: mostly virtual, little in-person:
- 200 hours telehealth hotline volunteer
- 30 hours shadowing in person
You should try to increase in-person clinical hours if timing allows. If not, you need excellent reflection on what you learned and why you still need medical school to deepen your exposure.
Weak: mostly nonclinical virtual labeled as “clinical”:
- 150 hours remote admin for a clinic (answering phones, scheduling)
- 100 hours creating social media health content
Both are worth listing, but they do not replace true clinical exposure. You’d want to fix this before applying.
6. When Virtual Volunteering Is Not Worth Listing as Clinical
Some roles belong on your application, but in the correct category. Virtual volunteering is not clinical when:
- You had no patient interaction and no direct connection to actual care visits
- The focus was education, logistics, or advocacy rather than health care delivery
- Your contact was entirely with other volunteers, staff, or the general public
Examples that are valuable, but not clinical:
- Running a remote college health peer-education program
- Organizing telehealth outreach events but never actually interacting with patients
- Doing virtual fundraising or graphic design for a nonprofit clinic
- Acting as a tech assistant for a telehealth platform with no patient contact
You should list these as:
- Non-clinical volunteering
- Leadership
- Teaching
- Work experience
They still strengthen your application — just in different domains.
7. Strategic Takeaways: How to Use Virtual Volunteering Wisely
If you’re trying to decide whether to start or continue virtual telehealth volunteering, use this framework:
Good reasons to pursue virtual/telehealth roles:
- You want exposure to modern care delivery models
- You’re serving populations where telehealth is the main access point
- You have constraints that limit travel or in-person time, but you still want to help
- The role clearly puts you in contact with patients or families
Bad reasons (that will show):
- You want “easy” hours from home
- You’re avoiding uncomfortable or emotionally intense in-person experiences
- You think all virtual work automatically looks innovative or impressive
If you’re already doing virtual volunteering, ask yourself:
- “Do I actually talk to patients or observe real visits?”
- “Can I describe at least 2–3 specific patient encounters or clinics that changed how I see medicine?”
- “Have I complemented this with at least some in-person exposure?”
If the answer is no, adjust now. You still have time to rebalance your experiences before you apply.
FAQ: Virtual & Telehealth Volunteering on Applications
1. Can virtual clinical experience replace in-person shadowing entirely?
No. Even high-quality virtual experience should not fully replace in-person exposure unless you had extreme constraints. Committees expect you to have seen real patients in real physical spaces at some point. Virtual work can supplement and enrich your exposure but shouldn’t be your only window into medicine if you can avoid it.
2. Is remote crisis line or mental health hotline volunteering considered clinical?
Often yes, or at least “clinical-adjacent,” because you’re speaking directly with people about health-related crises. Whether you label it clinical or nonclinical can vary by school and nuance. The safest approach is to describe exactly what you did, who supervised you, and what type of issues you handled, then let committees interpret it. It’s definitely meaningful experience.
3. Do telehealth scribing hours count as clinical experience or just employment?
They typically count as both. You can list them as “clinical employment” or “clinical experience – paid.” Scribing (in person or virtual) gives deep exposure to history-taking, medical decision-making, and documentation. Just be sure your description emphasizes the clinical context, not just typing.
4. How should I label virtual experiences in my activity titles?
Be transparent. Examples: “Telehealth Volunteer – Primary Care (Virtual)”, “Remote Mental Health Hotline Volunteer”, “Virtual Patient Navigator – Community Clinic.” That transparency builds trust and sets accurate expectations for what you’ll describe.
5. I started virtual volunteering during COVID and now do in-person work. Do I still list the virtual part?
Yes, if it was substantive. Briefly indicate dates and hours for the virtual phase and then note the transition to in-person if applicable. You can say, “Role began as virtual patient outreach during COVID restrictions and transitioned to in-person clinic support once on-site volunteering resumed.”
6. What if my virtual role was mainly administrative but I learned a lot about how clinics run?
List it, but likely as non-clinical or administrative experience. Emphasize what you learned about operations, insurance issues, scheduling, access barriers, and coordination of care. It still shows commitment and insight into health systems, even if it doesn’t qualify as direct clinical exposure.
7. I have mostly virtual clinical hours right now but I’m applying in a year. What should I prioritize next?
Make in-person clinical experience your top priority going forward. Aim for at least 50–100 solid in-person hours before you apply, ideally more. Keep your strong virtual role, but actively seek positions where you’re physically present with patients — hospital volunteering, free clinic work, in-person scribing, or hospice volunteering.
Key points to remember:
- Virtual and telehealth volunteering can absolutely be worth listing — and can be true clinical experience — when you have real, meaningful patient interaction.
- You still need some in-person clinical exposure; virtual is a complement, not a total replacement.
- Be precise, honest, and concrete in how you describe your role so committees can see exactly what you did and what you learned.
