Can you shadow a resident?

[bigballer27]

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question says it all...

i have a few weeks before June to submit my apps, and i still havent shadowed a doc, but i met a resident who said he might have some open time.

 

[sylvanthus]

I would imagine the resident has very very little time free, so would think the experience wouldn't be as good as shadowing an attending. Plus, if your looking for a letter, the odds are that the resident wouldn't have as much time to write you a good one. Plus, when he/she said "might have free time" that doesn't sound that promising to me.

 

[Kb041]

You need to do some shadowing ASAP. I'm not sure what othre exposure you've had to medicine, but if you have not had substantial exposure to clinicial medicine, the adcoms may find that to be a glaring hole in you app. It you haven't volunteered or shadowed in a hospital/healthcare you're gonna have a lot of trouble writing secondaries and answereing interview questions.

I've shadowed residents and all was fine. It depends what rotation they are on. At this point you just need to do something.

Even if you do shadow before you apply, you should continue to do so as you prepare for interviews. You'll need perspective and interesting things to talk about on interviews. In fact, on an interview I was asked about the most interesting patient interaction I ever had.

 

[bigballer27]

This guy is doing radiation oncology. He had enough free time to be playing basketball for a few hours, so I imagine i can follow him around for a few hours. Well, hopefully he has enough time while i keep looking for other docs

i have volunteered at the hospital for 250 hours, but its all been discharging patients, admitting them, lab work, etc...never really following doctors around


it would be great to have him write a letter, how many do we generally need? I should have 5 by the time i apply (3 from school, 1 volunteer, 1 research)

 

[Food]

What PGY resident is he? I've only ever heard of people shadowing attendings. The resident's going to have an attending, and the attending's going to have to be okay with you shadowing him. I find it pretty unusual that a resident would let someone shadow him, since he's not the boss of the operation...

 

[ThaliaNox]

Shadowing residents isn't all that unusual. It's a good taste of what you're getting yourself into in the future. If you'd like to shadow the resident, go for it. Nobody is going to hold it against you!

 

[Law2Doc]

Shadowing residents isn't all that unusual. It's a good taste of what you're getting yourself into in the future. If you'd like to shadow the resident, go for it. Nobody is going to hold it against you!

It's fine to shadow a resident to get some exposure for yourself, but if you are asking about it for LOR purposes, I would suggest that someone attending level is going to be the clout you really want.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

It's fine to shadow a resident to get some exposure for yourself, but if you are asking about it for LOR purposes, I would suggest that someone attending level is going to be the clout you really want.

👍

-12 days to go

 

[randombetch]

You shouldn't get a LOR from someone you're shadowing for a couple of days anyway.

 

[Bacchus]

Why? If you're shadowing a specialty you can very well learn, somewhat, what that specialty entails for that doctor. There is no reason to shadow for massive amounts of time. I shadowed for 65 hours. Was it worth it? I'm not entirely sure. After half the hours went by I knew pretty well how the FP office I was in worked. Of course there were intricacies that I didn't realize, but for the most part I knew what an FP did in that setting. I found myself, towards the end, wishing to see patients that were entertaining (funny) and people that needed office surgeries; I was getting bored.

 

[ziggydoc]

I think shadowing residents are fine, as long as you also shadow some attendings.

 

[flip26]

question says it all...

i have a few weeks before June to submit my apps, and i still havent shadowed a doc, but i met a resident who said he might have some open time.

Dude, get it in gear. Shadowing is expected. Kind of late...

I shadowed a resident.

Finally, you don't need to be getting LORs from docs you shadowed. There are maybe 2 schools that ask for one - Utah comes to mind - but you can count these schools on one hand.

 

[futureNCmed]

One of my best shadowing experiences was with a resident... I was actually shadowing a pediatric ER doctor but kind of bounced between following him and following the resident and got a lot out of it! She actually took me into a trauma room and I got to see a motorcyclist with his chest cracked open while they were manually pumping his heart... it was insane and I don't know if the doc would have offered to let me watch that but the resident was all about giving me the full experience

 

[bigballer27]

Dude, get it in gear. Shadowing is expected. Kind of late...

I shadowed a resident.

Finally, you don't need to be getting LORs from docs you shadowed. There are maybe 2 schools that ask for one - Utah comes to mind - but you can count these schools on one hand.

yeah i know flip,

i have almost everything lined up and ready except this one thing (and my mcat score comes out in 3 weeks)

i didnt know it was so difficult to find someone willing to let you shadow lol....

as for above, i don't know what a PGY is, so sorry i can't answer all i know is that hes a resident and told me its a small field but he will let me shadow him

 

[AH3]

My friend and I shadowed a new intern for a night of call on his first day ever. It was a cool experience and he had us help out more- running to get papers and stuff, nothing big- because he was still figuring some stuff out. I didn't learn as much as I did with other physicians, but it was a lot of fun.

 

[schrizto]

I never thought it was unusual to shadow a resident. Also, PGY just stands for postgraduate year so people are asking what year of residency he's in.

 

[Food]

I guess I've never seen it done where I'm at...but I suppose that's good! I would expect that if you were shadowing a resident it'd be someone who was later in their residency as opposed to earlier...

 

[Toadsworth]

Sure, shadow a resident. All that matters is exposing yourself to medicine somehow. Don't buy into all this crap that you need x-hours shadowing y different doctors.

I shadowed one doctor, a 4th year resident, for maybe 10 hours AFTER I submitted my primary. I just made sure to write about it briefly in some secondaries and be able to reference it in interviews. It worked out for me as I was accepted to multiple med schools.

I will say that asking for LOR from the resident may not be the best idea though.

Good luck 👍

 

[ThaliaNox]

Don't worry about LORs from physicians you've only shadowed a couple of days. They're meaningless! I'd only recommend such a letter if you worked with one physician over a decent period of time, perhaps six months or more shadowing weekly. What are they going to say after two days?

 

[EmpathMan]

Let's say I've been shadowing a doctor for 2 years now on and off (I've accumulated 150+ hours), but mainly have been following and learning from the resident. She knows me for someone beyond just an observer in the clinic since I've been following her around for two years now. When I began shadowing, she was a PGY-2, and will be in her first year as a full doctor (aka done with residency) by the time I apply. Would it be acceptable to ask her to write me a letter of recommendation? Thanks!