Confused between shadowing and clinical hours

[futuredoctor1995]

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I am so confused about what is shadowing and what counts as clinical and direct patient hours? I have shadowed this one doctor over winter and summer break and I was so confused to what this counts as. I am also going to Peru for a 2-week trip and it says that it will count as "direct patient contact". I am just so confused about these terms. I shadowed for 120 hours total in Winter and Summer break for the same doctor. Are those hours less? Also, is it a bad idea to always shadow the same doctor each time? Should I not include the summer break shadowing on my application then? Thanks!

 

[Xenith]

Think of it this way: med schools are concerned about non- clinical work experience, teaching experience, research experience, non-clinical volunteering, and clinical experience. The last category is actually divided further into shadowing, clinical work experience, and clinical volunteering. Most people don't have clinical work experience so shadowing and clinical volunteering are enough. Shadowing is basically following a doctor around and observing the practice of medicine. However, shadowing is not enough because it does not show meaningful interaction with patients. You have to do some long term (6+ months) of volunteer work in a clinical environment to show that you know what medicine is about, that you are a compassionate person, that you can interact with patients, and have taken the time to explore your career choice.

International trips are good for exposure (I guess), but they don't matter too much. I personally think it's too much money for a resume booster and med schools also see it that way. Why? Because they are too short in duration, involve minimal interaction with patient populations that you may be serving, and require the "volunteer" to pay for the "experience." This is known as volunTOURISM. Nevertheless, it is fine for exposure and good stories if you can afford it. That would fit into clinical or non-clinical volunteering based on what you actually end up doing.

Also, AMCAS requires you to list your activities, describe them, and categorize them into types. You can read more about that on the AMCAS guides in the AAMC's website.

Any questions?

 

[Dandine]

To paraphrase @Xenith...

-Schools want to see that you've been in a long-term (aka over a few months) setting where you have interacted and spoken with patients directly...clinical volunteering allows you to do so

-Schools want to see that you have an idea of what career you're getting yourself into...shadowing helps you see the day-to-day life of a physician so you are aware of how one practices; shadowing one doctor is great for long-term exposure but you still need to keep the above bullet point in mind

-There was a thread recently about international volunteering that maybe you've seen already; it goes over the pros/cons/how schools perceive it
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/why-your-two-week-trip-to-haiti-doesnt-matter.1177995/

-You list all your activities through AMCAS; each volunteering opp is one activity; shadowing is also one activity (most people list all the doctors they shadowed together).

 

[NickNaylor]

Shadowing is simply one way of getting clinical experience. There are many other ways; the most common ways you see here on SDN are shadowing, volunteering, and working in a clinical setting (e.g., scribing seems to be a relatively popular activity). At the end of the day, you should be less concerned about your absolute number of hours and more focused on what you actually get out of the experience. Remember, you should get clinical experience not to check off boxes but to determine whether medicine is something you're interested in and could do for the rest of your life. Because of that goal, I think shadowing is the best thing you can do (moreso than volunteering in a hospital setting as that in and of itself doesn't really tell you much about what a doctor does - it just gets you exposure to "healthcare" generally). I think there is value in working with a variety of different physicians in different specialties and practice settings (e.g., academics, private practice, community health, etc.) so that you can see what all is possible in medicine. Depending upon where you are and the opportunities available to you, this may be more or less possible.

Again, my advice is to focus less on the absolute number of hours you have listed on your application and more about learning as much as you possibly can about medicine and being a physician. Ultimately, the latter is what you're going to talk about in interviews, and by coming across as someone that seems to have actually learned something through their experiences you are more likely to be taken seriously and seen as someone that as thought significantly amount your decision to enter the profession. That will be infinitely more valuable than being able to say you have 200, 300, or however many hours of clinical experience.