LOR from an attending you shadow?

[DAKAZA]

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I'm an MSIII interested in anesthesia. Is it acceptable to get a LOR from an anesthesiologist that you only shadowed? If so, how much time should be spent with him/her before asking for a letter? Thanks.

 

[NERDY]

It will be hard for the doc to talk about your ability/skill set/etc. If you just shadow, he/she has never seen you "do" since you just "watch".

 

[jcu]

Is it acceptable to get a LOR from an anesthesiologist that you only shadowed?

No.

 

[officedepot]

.

 

[jcu]

why don't you just ask him if he'll write you a "strong" letter? If he says yes then who cares. No one will really know all you did was shadow.

Unless he explicitly states in the LOR so and so medical student shadowed me 🙄

 

[officedepot]

.

 

[jcu]

It is incredibly bizarre, and will likely be seen as such by a PD if used as a primary gas letter of reference. So yes, it can hurt. Do "shadowers" carry patients? Present cases? Partake in any kind of management or critical thinking? There are many aspects to an evaluation aside from "knowing your ****" that are you naively disregarding. I still can't fathom a reason an LOR can't be requested from the anesthesiologist you actually work with as a medical student. This isn't undergrad.

 

[KnuxNole]

There are some electives that all you do is shadow, and you get evaluated after that. And I'm sure those attendings have written LORs in the past. So I'm sure it's possible.

 

[DAKAZA]

It is incredibly bizarre, and will likely be seen as such by a PD if used as a primary gas letter of reference. So yes, it can hurt. Do "shadowers" carry patients? Present cases? Partake in any kind of management or critical thinking? There are many aspects to an evaluation aside from "knowing your ****" that are you naively disregarding. I still can't fathom a reason an LOR can't be requested from the anesthesiologist you actually work with as a medical student. This isn't undergrad.

We don't do an anesthesia rotation at my school, so I haven't worked with an anesthesiologist directly. We aren't allowed to do electives during third year but I plan on doing an anesthesia elective fourth year. However, I don't know how early in the year I'll be allowed to do it yet. I know I need at least a couple letters from anesthesiologists and I can't figure out how else to get them.