How long is long enough for LOR

[nutritiontomed]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys I just started shadowing and the physician wants to know how long I want to shadow. The reason why I ask is because I dont want to be a late applicant but at the same time I want some time...would 2 weeks with 16 hours be enough?

 

[theone1979]

Hey guys I just started shadowing and the physician wants to know how long I want to shadow. The reason why I ask is because I dont want to be a late applicant but at the same time I want some time...would 2 weeks with 16 hours be enough?

Not to be a downer, but you already are quite late. Have you submitted your AACOMAS yet?

Also, 16 hours isn't much when it comes to shadowing.
What are your stats like?

 

[fiznat]

16 hours isn't a lot. Theres no official number out there as a minimum but I would think it would be somewhere around at least 40. I did about 100 and I wish I had a little more.

See if you can follow the doc for more hours throughout the week and get as much in as you can. You're going to need to leave time for him to write the letter, and like the other poster said you're starting to move toward the later side of things.

 

[angryazn88]

Not to be a downer, but you already are quite late. Have you submitted your AACOMAS yet?

Also, 16 hours isn't much when it comes to shadowing.
What are your stats like?

I don't agree with you about 16 hrs isn't much. The DO I shadowed told me its basically pointless to shadow more than a couple of hours because we aren't medically educated so most of the time, we have no clue whats going on. All you see if the doctor-patient interaction. I shadowed for about 40 hrs but I felt I didn't learn anything past the first 10 hrs. Plus, its called shadowing, all you're doing is standing by watching the doctor work. So I believe that the 16 hrs is enough.

Also I think you should ask the doctor to write you a letter after the first week and tell him/her your situation so they will understand why you need the letter so soon. Be bold, thats what I did and it saved me a good 2 weeks so I wasn't as late as I could have been. I started shadowing the first week of September and I got my DO letter sent out by the end of the second week of September.

 

[angryazn88]

I don't agree with you about 16 hrs isn't much. The DO I shadowed told me its basically pointless to shadow more than a couple of hours because we aren't medically educated so most of the time, we have no clue whats going on. All you see if the doctor-patient interaction. I shadowed for about 40 hrs but I felt I didn't learn anything past the first 10 hrs. Plus, its called shadowing, all you're doing is standing by watching the doctor work. So I believe that the 16 hrs is enough.

Also I think you should ask the doctor to write you a letter after the first week and tell him/her your situation so they will understand why you need the letter so soon. Be bold, thats what I did and it saved me a good 2 weeks so I wasn't as late as I could have been. I started shadowing the first week of September and I got my DO letter sent out by the end of the second week of September.

I feel like I need to explain myself so here it is. I shadowed a doctor that specializes in family medicine. Most of the time, he was just looking at data from his computer that he received about the patient. The data was the test that the patients took under doctors with different specialties. All he did was look at the data, and talk to the patient about what it meant and how they can get healthier. Another common thing he did was give out prescriptions. The most fascinating part of my shadowing experience was when he performed OMT on patients but it was really rare. I shadowed for 2 days each week and the most OMT patients he ever had on one day was 2 patients. I loved watching OMT and that was the only part of the shadowing that I enjoyed in addition to the great relationships the doctor had with his patients.

So basically, it depends on what the DO specializes in to determine if your 16 hrs is good enough. 16 hrs in family practice, you observe basic checkups, explanation of tests, prescriptions, and the doctor-patient interaction. I got lucky that my DO did a little OMT because it was awesome. Seeing the OMT made me realize that DO was the right path for me.

 

[nutritiontomed]

I don't agree with you about 16 hrs isn't much. The DO I shadowed told me its basically pointless to shadow more than a couple of hours because we aren't medically educated so most of the time, we have no clue whats going on. All you see if the doctor-patient interaction. I shadowed for about 40 hrs but I felt I didn't learn anything past the first 10 hrs. Plus, its called shadowing, all you're doing is standing by watching the doctor work. So I believe that the 16 hrs is enough.

Also I think you should ask the doctor to write you a letter after the first week and tell him/her your situation so they will understand why you need the letter so soon. Be bold, thats what I did and it saved me a good 2 weeks so I wasn't as late as I could have been. I started shadowing the first week of September and I got my DO letter sent out by the end of the second week of September.

Thanks for your support, I really appreciate it. My stats are 3.9 SGPA and 3.94 overall, and my MCAT is crap -->27Q. I already submitted the AACOMAS and got the secondaries, I just need a LOR from a DO physician. I got an appointment for Thursday to start and so 2 weeks from then with 16 hours only...all I can do is my best 🙁, thanks for your opinions!

 

[PED05]

Thanks for your support, I really appreciate it. My stats are 3.9 SGPA and 3.94 overall, and my MCAT is crap -->27Q. I already submitted the AACOMAS and got the secondaries, I just need a LOR from a DO physician. I got an appointment for Thursday to start and so 2 weeks from then with 16 hours only...all I can do is my best 🙁, thanks for your opinions!

Tell the Doc your situation about being a late applicant and there is a good chance he/she will right one ASAP. Also your scores are fine, I had a 3.6 overall with a 27Q and I was accepted. Doctors are personable and understanding people so don't feel harsh about expressing the urgency of your situation.

 

[jellybean13]

I don't agree with you about 16 hrs isn't much. The DO I shadowed told me its basically pointless to shadow more than a couple of hours because we aren't medically educated so most of the time, we have no clue whats going on. All you see if the doctor-patient interaction. I shadowed for about 40 hrs but I felt I didn't learn anything past the first 10 hrs. Plus, its called shadowing, all you're doing is standing by watching the doctor work. So I believe that the 16 hrs is enough.

I agree 16 hours is enough to get what you need to out of the experience (ie. medical school application LOR). Although, over my hundreds of hours of shadowing I saw a lot of cool stuff, and the DO I shadowed was kind enough to always be e-mailing me articles and recent research on conditions of the patients I saw. It was pretty great, but maybe because I shadowed Rheumatologists and Ortho surgeons?