I'm a nurse and work closely w/ doctors. Do I need to shadow?

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ttwhite

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I'm an ICU nurse, and we work closely w/ docs. There are always pulmonologists and IM residents on our unit. I also worked as an ED scribe for somewhere in the ballpark of 2,000 hours.
I assume I don't need to shadow docs? I've heard something to the effect of, yes, you really have to shadow, to get a sense of what doctors really do. Tell me if I'm wrong (that's why I'm asking!), but I think I have a great sense of that, and I assume adcoms would not view zero shadowing as a gap in my application given RN/scribing?
To be clear, I totally buy into the purpose of shadowing. I get why physician burnout is at insanely high levels. It's important to go into medicine with eyes wide open, having a good sense of the stress and sh** you're getting yourself into.
 
Some will say yes, some will say no. Could it make your application a tiny bit more competitive for those reviewers that care about that? Sure. But the question is if it's worth the time in relation to your background of an ICU nurse (certified bada***s in my opinion) and the medical exposure you've already got. If you have the time to burn, I'd maybe consider it but there are likely better uses of your time especially if the rest of your app is strong. For n=1, I was a military medic with zero "shadowing" experience and got into a top-20 school so did fine.
 
I'm a nurse with 9 years of experience by the time I applied. I didn't do any shadowing and I've gotten 2 acceptances and 3 interviews out of 5 schools I applied to. I think if you speak about the lessons you've learned from working closely with physicians you could almost definitely get away with no shadowing
 
I had 5yrs of NICU experience as a RN prior to applying to medical school. With that said, I still did shadow. I didnt do much, I think around 50hrs and was able to get into a t20 school. Its not nothing, but its also not alot. echoing the contributors above me, i dont think it'll hurt your application to NOT do shadowing. but I like to err on the side of caution. If you are some time out from applying, then just do a few hours here and there to throw on your application to check the box and "do your due diligence" But all-in-all it certainly is not as important for you as it would be for many other applicants do to your extensive clinical background.
 
I had 5yrs of NICU experience as a RN prior to applying to medical school. With that said, I still did shadow. I didnt do much, I think around 50hrs and was able to get into a t20 school. Its not nothing, but its also not alot. echoing the contributors above me, i dont think it'll hurt your application to NOT do shadowing. but I like to err on the side of caution. If you are some time out from applying, then just do a few hours here and there to throw on your application to check the box and "do your due diligence" But all-in-all it certainly is not as important for you as it would be for many other applicants do to your extensive clinical background.
Current ICU RN about to apply this cycle lurking on these threads... you got a 502 and were accepted to a t20???? that's incredible
 
Agree with the general sentiment here, not necessary, but having another specialty or so of shadowing on your app would be icing on the cake. I feel the more important thing would be to express that you are aware of what it takes to be a physician day to day. I assume that will be a lot of your narrative anyway since you are moving form nurse to physician - meaning if you are already in the healthcare realm, you will be expressing to admin committees/interviewers why you want to make the switch to physician role.
 
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