Does this count as physician shadowing?

[FriendsTShirtFan]

I've been volunteering at a hospice for a while and have attended a bunch of the three-hour long meetings between the nurses and the doctor, mostly because I found it utterly fascinating. Does this count as shadowing? I never asked the doctor if I could shadow him, but he did ok me sitting in on the meetings, and the meetings make up the bulk of his hours at the hospice (or at least I think so). I've definitely sat in on more than a dozen meetings, so this would help out a lot.

EDIT: It's an at home hospice, if that makes any difference.

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[cj_cregg]

I would say it potentially could assuming these are family meetings or essentially table rounding with the care team, BUT it should probably not make up the majority of your shadowing experience. It's important to get a sense of the stuff that happens beyond those meetings as well. Unless you are really desperate for shadowing hours on your application I think it would probably make more sense to just include this activity in the description under your hospice entry.

 

[FriendsTShirtFan]

I would say it potentially could assuming these are family meetings or essentially table rounding with the care team, BUT it should probably not make up the majority of your shadowing experience. It's important to get a sense of the stuff that happens beyond those meetings as well. Unless you are really desperate for shadowing hours on your application I think it would probably make more sense to just include this activity in the description under your hospice entry.

I think it is a round table with the care team, but no family are present -although their comments and concerns are relayed to the doctor in this meeting. The chaplain, the nurses, the social worker, and the volunteer coordinator are all there; they go into a lot of detail about each patient and make adjustments to their treatment. I was still planning on doing some more shadowing beyond this but thought that the ton of hours would help fill out my application. Plus, I can rack up many more of these hours pretty easily. But is this something I need to discuss with the doctor before putting it on an application?

 

[cj_cregg]

I think it is a round table with the care team, but no family are present -although their comments and concerns are relayed to the doctor in this meeting. The chaplain, the nurses, the social worker, and the volunteer coordinator are all there; they go into a lot of detail about each patient and make adjustments to their treatment. I was still planning on doing some more shadowing beyond this but thought that the ton of hours would help fill out my application. Plus, I can rack up many more of these hours pretty easily. But is this something I need to discuss with the doctor before putting it on an application?

Listing the ton of hours as shadowing specifically vs just part of your hospice volunteering I don't think would make a big difference in the strength of your application either way. You really don't need more than 50 hrs of shadowing and it's diminishing returns beyond that point in terms of application benefit. If you're planning on getting other shadowing I would just roll it into the hospice volunteering and mention that the team discussions were part of it rather than calling it shadowing - I think that's more accurate. "As part of my hospice volunteering, I also had the opportunity to observe team meetings with the physician, nursing team, chaplain, social worker, and volunteer coordinator to discuss patient care" or something along those lines.

However, it sounds like this doc could be a good connection for you to shadow for a day or two and list separately.

 

[LizzyM]

It is better to get a feel for a physician's entire day of which these meetings are only a small fraction. See if you can get a physician to allow you to shadow from dawn until dusk including meetings, hospital rounds, outpatient clinic, nursing home visits, Continuing Education such as grand rounds, and whatever else the doctor does during the workday.

 

[SahilMehtaMD]

While this technically can count as shadowing if you need the hours, I would recommend classifying this as part of the hospice entry and shadowing more doctors if you can. Shadowing is for YOU, not the admissions committees. You want to get a sense of a physician's daily life, working hours, and patient interactions. What you have described is a great start!