Is shadowing a doctor the same thing as clinical experience?

[clarkalim]

And what exactly do you do when you shadow a doctor? A little confused about this.

Thanks!

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Shadowing a doctor is like interning under him and seeing what it feels like and looks like to be a doctor. It can be clinical experience if you directly help/work with patients.

 

[deleted357625]

Yes it sure is.

The average applicants tend to have:

-Shadowing experience with 2-3 docs total of 60-80+ hrs (Including a primary care doc)
-Volunteer work in clinic/hospital 100+ hrs
-Volunteer/community service work (Anything non-related to medicine.)

-When you shadow a doc, you just basically walk in his footsteps, following him around and observe what his daily life is like. Also, depending on the physician you can go into the OR and watch them perform surgeries etc. It's just for you as an applicant to get exposed.
After a while, you can also ask for a LOR

 

[FrkyBgStok]

the above response is pretty good. i want to add that shadowing is considered clinical experience, but clinical experience is not always shadowing.

 

[Barcu]

I was under the impression that shadowing and clinical experience were two separate things.

When you shadow, you just watch. You don't do anything. Clinical experience actually involves volunteering or working in a hospital, where you actually have responsibilities.

I guess some people may be more involved when "shadowing" like taking BPs and interacting with pts. But in that case, I don't think it is considered shadowing, and now has become clinical experience.

Clinical experience: Average is 1.5 yrs and a couple hundred hours.

Shadowing: Average is around 80-100 hours over several specialties (including a primary care doc).

I think under the AMCAS tab, you put shadowing and clinical experience under the same heading. But if you only shadow and have no other hospital volunteering or employment, I don't think it looks good.

 

[gettheleadout]

I was under the impression that shadowing and clinical experience were two separate things.

When you shadow, you just watch. You don't do anything. Clinical experience actually involves volunteering or working in a hospital, where you actually have responsibilities.

I guess some people may be more involved when "shadowing" like taking BPs and interacting with pts. But in that case, I don't think it is considered shadowing, and now has become clinical experience.

Clinical experience: Average is 1.5 yrs and a couple hundred hours.

Shadowing: Average is around 80-100 hours over several specialties (including a primary care doc).

I think under the AMCAS tab, you put shadowing and clinical experience under the same heading. But if you only shadow and have no other hospital volunteering or employment, I don't think it looks good.

You are correct. Catalystik has confirmed the difference between the passive observership of shadowing and the active involvement of clinical experience before on SDN, and the importance of each separately.