Can I count volunteering hours as shadowing hours too?

[grindtime1]

My job title at the hospital is "volunteer" and that is what I interviewed for. I am not EMT trained or anything so obviously due to liability issues they can't allow me to do anything significant. I was shown how to stock linen, clean beds, replace sheets, run errands to other places and other useless stuff, but I don't feel that these are meaningful duties that I could expand on in an interview.

So what I normally do is ask the attending ER doctor if I could shadow him for the 5 hours that I'm there and they normally never have a problem with it. I've logged 200 hours, so am I allowed to put down 200 hours volunteering in the ER and 200 hours shadowing ER doctor?

It is a clinical experience because I CAN smell the patients and doctors, and it is also shadowing since I am following the docs around while they diagnose the patients.

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[sector9]

My job title at the hospital is "volunteer" and that is what I interviewed for. I am not EMT trained or anything so obviously due to liability issues they can't allow me to do anything significant. I was shown how to stock linen, clean beds, replace sheets, run errands to other places and other useless stuff, but I don't feel that these are meaningful duties that I could expand on in an interview.

So what I normally do is ask the attending ER doctor if I could shadow him for the 5 hours that I'm there and they normally never have a problem with it. I've logged 200 hours, so am I allowed to put down 200 hours volunteering in the ER and 200 hours shadowing ER doctor?

It is a clinical experience because I CAN smell the patients and doctors, and it is also shadowing since I am following the docs around while they diagnose the patients.

No you can't double dip your hours.

Put it down as volunteering, but mention in the title and in the description that you spent your downtime shadowing. It could be helpful to say what percent of your time was spent shadowing.

Also, find additional shadowing opportunities (if you haven't already) in other specialties.

 

[Person0715]

I agree with the poster above. You are misrepresenting your hours. The way you want to put it, it seems that you did 200 hours of volunteering AND 200 hours of shadowing, which you didn't. You should definitely specify how much of that 200 hours of volunteering was spend shadowing.

 

[necoli]

No. It is kind of a BS move IMHO.

 

[jdok]

OP put 180rs volunteering and like 20hrs shadowing ER doc

Kill two birds with one stone

 

[Mattabet]

OP put 180rs volunteering and like 20hrs shadowing ER doc

Kill two birds with one stone

^This.

Contrary to what this board would have you believe; they really don't care so much about the absolute number of hours that you do. They're looking for people that have a good idea of what they're getting into, and didn't seed their expectations of what a career in medicine is like from ER and House. So don't sweat the absolute quantity overmuch, and definitely don't bend the truth to overstate your hours.

'Cuz then you're a truth-bender. People distrust truth-benders.

 

[Morsetlis]

And Scrubs! Don't forget Scrubs!

 

[UnclePhil]

My job title at the hospital is "volunteer" and that is what I interviewed for. I am not EMT trained or anything so obviously due to liability issues they can't allow me to do anything significant. I was shown how to stock linen, clean beds, replace sheets, run errands to other places and other useless stuff, but I don't feel that these are meaningful duties that I could expand on in an interview.

So what I normally do is ask the attending ER doctor if I could shadow him for the 5 hours that I'm there and they normally never have a problem with it. I've logged 200 hours, so am I allowed to put down 200 hours volunteering in the ER and 200 hours shadowing ER doctor?

It is a clinical experience because I CAN smell the patients and doctors, and it is also shadowing since I am following the docs around while they diagnose the patients.

Why would you put ANY hours of volunteering? How is shadowing a doctor "volunteering" at all? The point of volunteering isn't to show med schools that you're checking an activity off a list, it's to show that you're willing to give a helping hand. How are you helping out the operations of the ER in the slightest by following a doctor around and watching him on the job?

It's funny when pre-meds think that things like stock-room, cleaning beds, running errands, etc. when volunteering is somehow below them. That "useless" stuff has to be done, and if you, the "volunteer" isn't doing it, someone else has to do it. You're not supposed to be doing it so that you can talk about it at an interview, you're supposed to be doing it so that you are helping others.

 

[Doctor246853]

Why would you put ANY hours of volunteering? How is shadowing a doctor "volunteering" at all? The point of volunteering isn't to show med schools that you're checking an activity off a list, it's to show that you're willing to give a helping hand. How are you helping out the operations of the ER in the slightest by following a doctor around and watching him on the job?

It's funny when pre-meds think that things like stock-room, cleaning beds, running errands, etc. when volunteering is somehow below them. That "useless" stuff has to be done, and if you, the "volunteer" isn't doing it, someone else has to do it. You're not supposed to be doing it so that you can talk about it at an interview, you're supposed to be doing it so that you are helping others.[/QUOTE]

 

[UnclePhil]

Why would you put ANY hours of volunteering? How is shadowing a doctor "volunteering" at all? The point of volunteering isn't to show med schools that you're checking an activity off a list, it's to show that you're willing to give a helping hand. How are you helping out the operations of the ER in the slightest by following a doctor around and watching him on the job?

It's funny when pre-meds think that things like stock-room, cleaning beds, running errands, etc. when volunteering is somehow below them. That "useless" stuff has to be done, and if you, the "volunteer" isn't doing it, someone else has to do it. You're not supposed to be doing it so that you can talk about it at an interview, you're supposed to be doing it so that you are helping others.[/QUOTE]

I expect that your AMCAS reads...

Activity: volunteering, xxxx hours.
Description: If I don't do it, I won't get into med school.

Yes?

I'm not trying to be preachy here about altruism. I don't really care why he or she decides to volunteer. I'm just pointing out (what should be obvious), that there IS a reason why adcoms like seeing it on an application. And I'm just a little tickled at how one thinks he/she should claim 200 hours of volunteering... when (implied by the original post) very little (if any) actual volunteering was actually done.