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My responses assume you are referring to a med school application, though you did not specify:1) I've shadowed over 5 doctors with over 100 hours total, but one of them was my mom. Is that ok?
2) Also, is volunteering only restricted to Hospital hours? I volunteered a lot with an organization I founded that worked with the hospital, but wasn't directly within the hospital program. I wanted to do more than just restock shelves and make a larger impact.
3) I also volunteered abroad with helping build latrines and stoves and aided in water potability testing. Does that count? I can get a reference for the abroad volunteering, but
4) I led the organization I volunteered for that worked with the hospital and tracked the hours. Do I just put myself as the reference? I worked directly with patients, so I would say it was clinical.
1) Yes. Shadowing a relative and including the hours on an application is fine. Getting an LOR from one is not.
2) Are you referring to clinical volunteer hours? No, one is not restricted to hospital venues when interacting with current patients. Home hospice, clinics, skilled-level nursing homes are other examples of places where active clinical experience can be sought.
3) Yes, it "counts," meaning it is acceptable to list such activities on an application under a Non-Medical Community Service tag.
4) For the strongest validation of an activity essential to the success of your application, you'd do best to find a more objective Contact than yourself to list.