how important is shadowing?

[coralfangs]

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just wondering

or any other health related EC could do?
for instance, volunteer at local hospital, work at non-allopathic clinic, etc?

 

[Pkboi24]

just wondering

or any other health related EC could do?
for instance, volunteer at local hospital, work at non-allopathic clinic, etc?

I hope shadowing isn't too important because I don't have it yet. I will have it after this summer but it won't be on my application. I have plenty of clinical experience and have been told that this is fine.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

shadowing is good since it shows a directed interest in the actual routine of a physician (as opposed to pure clinical work which may have plenty of patient contact, but little exposure to see how a physician actually spends his or her day), but it is by no means necessary. it is also a good opportunity to speak to a physician about your decision to enter medicine.

 

[DrBowtie]

just wondering

or any other health related EC could do?
for instance, volunteer at local hospital, work at non-allopathic clinic, etc?

You 100% need clinical experience. Be it shadowing, volunteering, working as an emt/rn etc.

 

[nekrogg]

in my opinion, its just to prove you know what you are getting yourself into. i personally have done shadowing / volunteer work.. not oodles and oodles of it like i see on some md applicants (Those crazy folk who have 2 years of both) but i feel like i have gotten what i needed from the experiences, and definently enough to talk about. so as long as you do some kind of clinical work to truely prove that you know what a doctor does i think you'll be fine.

 

[jdc5]

I don't know if it's 100% necessary in terms of putting it on your AMCAS or whatever, but I think it's good for your own benefit more than anything. It's hard to say you know you want to go into medicine if you've never actually seen what goes on (no...watching ER and House doesn't count). And really, it takes very little effort to get a shadowing experience...so go do it.

 

[g3pro]

Do something that will allow you to understand clinical medicine. You need to understand what a physician's day looks like, you need to know how they approach diagnosis, treatment, and maintenance.

I'm of the persuasion which recommends shadowing, which is hopefully a full-time, long-term internship which has you involved in the above aspects of a physician's work.

Some people claim that volunteering shows you that. That's a tough call, especially since the experiences vary so much.

Understanding clinical medicine is what counts.

 

[R.P. McMurphy]

You 100% need clinical experience. Be it shadowing, volunteering, working as an emt/rn etc.

You are almost correct, but I would say more like 95% I know someone who got into an MD school with no clinical experience. Very very high MCAT and GPA, research, but absolutely no clinical experience (scary, i know). I think he was an exception, however, due to high high stats, and maybe they saw his research potential? Or he could have lied, who knows...

 

[ND2005]

You are almost correct, but I would say more like 95% I know someone who got into an MD school with no clinical experience. Very very high MCAT and GPA, research, but absolutely no clinical experience (scary, i know). I think he was an exception, however, due to high high stats, and maybe they saw his research potential? Or he could have lied, who knows...

I had pretty much zero clinical experience. The first medical-volunteering/shadowing I did was this spring.

I wouldn't recommend it though. If I could re-do one thing in my preparations for med school, it would be starting that stuff sooner (and not b/c it would have helped my app, but b/c I think it is a good idea).

 

[humuhumu]

Adcoms like to see shadowing experience, and shadowing gives you something to talk about during interviews, but the best reason to do it (IMHO) is for your own good. Are you sure you know what doctors actually do every day? Is that really what you want to do? Shadowing is a great way to find out. And don't just shadow physicians in competitive "lifestyle" specialties; make sure you shadow someone in primary care, too, because primary care is an essential part of medicine (and there's a chance you'll end up there).