Clinical/shadowing experience

[Tiredofbeinganurse]

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I have been an RN for a decade now. Worked inpatient and outpatient in multiple specialities. Do I need to "shadow" a doctor too? I kinda feel like what I have done has taught me more than I could ever learn tagging along with a doc for a week or 2, but idk what admissions will think.

Is volunteer work a must? I am single parent to child with ASD & ADHD with zero help from other parent. I can do volunteer work, just not enthusiastic to do so

 

[Fidelio17]

You need to shadow a doctor, because you're going to be asked an awful lot of times in interviews, "Why medicine? Why not nursing?" You need to be able to answer that, and your answers won't have a lot of credibility unless you've demonstrated that you know what a doctor does - by shadowing.

Yes. Volunteering is a must. That's a common theme in any of the multitude of threads here where people have asked the same question because of their 'unique' life circumstances. Every other applicant will have it. You need it too. No matter how inconvenient it might be, or how little time you have for it because of your finances or family commitments.

 

[seanm028]

I have been an RN for a decade now. Worked inpatient and outpatient in multiple specialities. Do I need to "shadow" a doctor too? I kinda feel like what I have done has taught me more than I could ever learn tagging along with a doc for a week or 2, but idk what admissions will think.

Is volunteer work a must? I am single parent to child with ASD & ADHD with zero help from other parent. I can do volunteer work, just not enthusiastic to do so

I was a tech for 5 years, and I still was really glad I shadowed. I thought I had a pretty good idea about how doctors operate, but there's something different about sitting over their shoulder, with no rooms to clean, no patients to discharge, no vitals to chart. I learned quite a bit. And even if you feel like you already know all that, it's a necessary box to check.

 

[Cornfed101]

Is volunteer work a must? I am single parent to child with ASD & ADHD with zero help from other parent. I can do volunteer work, just not enthusiastic to do so

As a parent myself I can say that being a parent is the most altruistic thing you can do, but it doesn’t hold a lot of weight for med school admissions. Luckily you don’t have to do 20 hours a week. Find something you can do just a few hours a week or every other week. Maybe there is something you can do with your child?

There are a lot of unique ways to serve. Find something you enjoy (even if it’s just a little) and do it consistently. If med school is something you want to pursue you can find a way. It might just be unorthodox. That’s ok, it will make it that much more unique.