Is it ok to add an EC that you haven't had many hours doing?

[Zaids37]

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It was volunteering for 1 semester. Approximately 20 hours for it. I think I can use it to reflect working with a diverse and underserved population but I realize its not much.

 

[mathnerd88]

That's still an experience. You can add it on. If you feel like you can talk about it during an interview then that is fine.

 

[Cardboard101]

What volunteering was it?

 

[FutureDrB]

Yep to what @mathnerd88 said.

There are people who shadow for a couple of hours and get a recommendation letter.

 

[mathnerd88]

I added my ambulance shadowing and Emergency room triaging shadowing even though it was only 10 hours from my EMT class.

I mean I could talk about the patients that the ambulance was transporting, how important it was to be able to communicate with the patient while they're under stress, also important to stay calm and work as a team with other healthcare members involved in the patients' care, etc.

 

[Cardboard101]

Yep to what @mathnerd88 said.

There are people who shadow for a couple of hours and get a recommendation letter.

Haha, I had the opposite happen to me. This DO I shadowed for 4 days - 4 hours/day, 16 hours total offered me a letter of rec.

 

[Cardboard101]

I added my ambulance shadowing and Emergency room triaging shadowing even though it was only 10 hours from my EMT class.

I mean I could talk about the patients that the ambulance was transporting, how important it was to be able to communicate with the patient while they're under stress, etc.

If you can smell the patient, its clinical experience 😛

 

[FutureDrB]

If you can smell the patient, its clinical experience 😛

Even better if you get a little sick/injured people juice on you. That's hands-on clinical experience.

 

[DetectiveAlonzo]

Yeah you can but its' not going to really add to your app unless you had a huge lesson from it. Shadowing is different because very few doctors let you shadow them for YEARS or for many hours. They are very busy people.

 

[mathnerd88]

Yeah you can but its' not going to really add to your app unless you had a huge lesson from it. Shadowing is different because very few doctors let you shadow them for YEARS or for many hours. They are very busy people.

Not true. If you're not in the way of the doctor, I don't see why they won't let you shadow them for many hours.

OMM is not very widely practiced, and it is nice to see it when it DOES happen by a DO. It is important to shadow until you at least see OMM in action.

 

[DetectiveAlonzo]

./

 

[mathnerd88]

./

I agree they're busy people, but the majority of DO's are in primary care. Some doctors are not open to shadowing, but many are. Also, 4 hours of shadowing is not enough to gauge what a doctor actually does.

I'm not saying it is easy to get shadowing, just like it isn't easy to get into volunteering at a hospital. They get loads of applications for volunteers and only limited number of spots.

But once you develop a nice rapport with a doctor, they're not going to kick you out if you wanted to shadow for a couple of months. Sometimes the hours are limited not by the doctor, but by the actual practice rules.

Also, maybe emergency medicine DO's are very busy and are always running around, but not standalone primary care practices. They're usually very nice.