I did my shadowing for a month, which in my opinion was a tad too long. I should have done 2-week rotations with different doctors instead. The doctor I was attached to is from National Cancer Centre in SGH.
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Realistically speaking, I think it is quite impossible to shadow during the weekends. Firstly because most of the senior consultants do not work on weekends, and even if they do, they're trying to clear as many patients as possible without having an over-zealous student in the room to whom they have to explain medical ethics/patient Hx to. The doctor I was attached to usually do not take in non-medical students but I was sort of lucky because one med student cancelled in the last minute. There is a application form that you can get (either on the website or from the hospital's general office).
Nonetheless, I think clinical shadowing was an eye-opener for me. But also, made me depressed for quite a while (oncology dept). I dont know if Duke-NUS places much emphasis on shadowing in your application though, as compared to other US schools..
You should try to shadow in a dept that you're interested in. My first choice was oncology and I spent a few weeks before that reading up on the different GI cancers. But seriously, i still had no clue what was going on during the ward rounds!
It was kinda cheap thrill though, because those old patients thought I was a doctor. HAHAHHA. Sorry. PM me if you have any more questions!
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