Importance of Shadowing?

[DocAH]

How important is ranking in the hours for shadowing? I've shadowed 3 doctors but not for an extended period of time. I shadowed a neurosurgeon for 2 days- one in clinic and another in surgery. I've shadowed a D.O. (internal medicine) for a day and an ER doctor while I was volunteering at the ER. (He let me attend to the patients with him whenever I am there and he is on shift.)

So in total, I don't have many hours... and I am not sure how much that matters. Personally, I think the experience matters more than the time but of course- what admissions think may be a different story. What do you think? Should I find a doctor for extended hours- does it matter?

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[Laurenxxxx]

Shadowing in itself isn't as important as clinical exposure as a whole. If you're getting more clinical time somewhere else, good. If those few days of shadowing are all you have, then you need more. I don't know exactly what admissions wants, but I think most applicants have 100+ clinical hours under their belt ((someone correct me if I'm wrong))

 

[Lya]

You don't have to shadow a doctor for a week/month. What you did is just fine. I would aim for 50 ~ 100 hours of shadowing total, so look into other available doctors.

 

[taffer]

I probably only did 30-40 hours of shadowing. What's important is what you get out of it. Make sure you ask any questions you have about their specialty/how procedures work/life as a doctor during downtime, as nobody is better equipped to answer these questions than they are.

 

[nemo123]

@Catalystik has said that the average number of shadowing hours on an app is ~50 hours. What's important is that you get a rough idea of what a doctor's day to day work life is like.

 

[DocAH]

Thank you all! I feel like I have a good idea- it just seemed strange to me that it would take longer than I took because I've usually exhausted my questions by the end of day 1...so I was wondering if I have been doing something wrong. Asking too many questions or missing important ones? I've actually had a mock-interview before and a trick question was thrown at me...but was prepared to answer because of the shadowing I had done so I felt like that the real reason to shadow is to understand how the system works intrinsically.

I guess the next step would be to find a variety of doctors to shadow somehow? Also, must I have an organized excel file of my hours- because right now, I don't and I am not sure how specific medical schools want it... Thanks in advance!

 

[Catalystik]

Some schools have published requirements and some schools don't care about shadowing, but most have an unwritten expectation that you'll have it. You want to get enough shadowing experience that your application will appeal to a broad range of schools and so that you can answer commonly asked interview questions related to a doctor's day-to-day concerns.

Keeping your own log of hours is a good idea. I have not heard of any med school that expects to see it though. You'll be asked for contact information for those you've shadowed, so keep track of that too.

Some shadow one specialty exclusively and others follow ten or more types of practitioners. You already have a primary care doc, so variety-wise, you're good to go. Do whatever you can manage.

 

[DocAH]

Thank you! I didn't know about the contact information part- that will be a bit tricky, especially for the ER doctor that I shadowed, but thanks for the advice! I appreciate it

 

[Goro]

That's fine. Even 25 hrs would be OK.

I probably only did 30-40 hours of shadowing. What's important is what you get out of it. Make sure you ask any questions you have about their specialty/how procedures work/life as a doctor during downtime, as nobody is better equipped to answer these questions than they are.

 

[Catalystik]

Thank you! I didn't know about the contact information part- that will be a bit tricky, especially for the ER doctor that I shadowed, but thanks for the advice! I appreciate it

It's OK to use the hospital and Nursing Manager/other staff member as a contact, even if they are unlikely to remember you.

 

[DocAH]

It's OK to use the hospital and Nursing Manager/other staff member as a contact, even if they are unlikely to remember you.

Thank you! That's good to know and makes it a lot less difficult to find contact information.

Thank you all for the reassurance!