LOR from MD you shadowed

[cfx]

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Members don't see this ad.

Is this worthwhile? Does it tell adcoms anything other than your ability to walk, listen, and ask the occasional question?

I had some good conversations with the doctor I shadowed for ~40 hours but, objectively, could a letter from someone like this really tell anyone anything about why I would made a good physician?

 

[FirefighterDoc]

Yes

 

[apumic]

Sure, why not? And while you're at it, maybe your car mechanic will write one too. He can cover how you always pay on time (important for med schools' financial well-being), treat your car well (and, likewise, how you probably treat your body, other people, etc.), and how you respond to unexpected stress (such as when a repair you thought was going to be $200 suddenly balloons to $2500)! He could also confirm much of what your shadowee physician says about your ability to walk, converse with others, and ask insightful questions about things you're not very knowledgeable about! 🙄



...Obviously I disagree w/ the above poster. I don't think LORs from shadowing are your best bet (in part for the very reasons you stated in your OP -- what are they really going to have to talk about?). Get one from a clinical supervisor who's actually seen you work. The content will be much better. Get another couple from profs whose classes you've taken and you've TA'd and/or RA'd (researched) for.

 

[cfx]

^^ Done. Thanks for the tip.

Obviously, there's diverging opinions on this. Maybe someone like LizzyM can respond with how she handles/interprets such letters?

 

[cfx]

...Obviously I disagree w/ the above poster. I don't think LORs from shadowing are your best bet (in part for the very reasons you stated in your OP -- what are they really going to have to talk about?). Get one from a clinical supervisor who's actually seen you work. The content will be much better. Get another couple from profs whose classes you've taken and you've TA'd and/or RA'd (researched) for.

Problem is, I don't really have a clinical supervisor. There's essentially a different group of nurses there every time I go, and no one really oversees what I do...they're swamped with work, and I just go about my business to help out.

I do have letters from my lab PIs (which I know will be very strong), but haven't TA'd or the like.

 

[apumic]

Problem is, I don't really have a clinical supervisor. There's essentially a different group of nurses there every time I go, and no one really oversees what I do...they're swamped with work, and I just go about my business to help out.

I do have letters from my lab PIs (which I know will be very strong), but haven't TA'd or the like.

Start building relationships w/ some of those nurses that you see most often (preferably the charge nurse on during most of your shifts or the clinical manager) or with the medical director or an attending with whom you interact relatively often (even if that's only 1-2x/month). One of them will surely be willing to either write you a letter or maybe all just give their input to a letter written by the clinical manager or medical director. You kind of have to work with what you've got but a letter from someone who works on your unit and with whom (or under whom) you work would be much more valuable than one from a physician whose entire relationship with you is a total of 8-24 hours of you following him around. I mean, consider what he can say about you (or what he could possibly know about you after even 24 hrs of shadowing) and it just sounds sort of funny, if you know what I mean. (Anyone can fake being a good shadow for 3 days. Very few could "fake" being a good tech or clinical volunteer through repeated 8-12-hr shifts for very long.)


BTW, as one of those HCWs who is always swamped and busy, I can tell you I still have plenty of time to assess how the nursing students who do rotations on my unit are doing. I may look busy as heck (and I am) with all the charting, rounds, assessments, conversations with RNs and MDs, etc., but I am still there and I can tell you if a student is interacting well w/ the pts or not (heck, they usually tell me themselves if a given student or CNA or even an RN or MD has been nice, helpful, etc. or not w/o my ever asking anything beyond a simple "how are you doing today? how has your stay been with us?"). If asked for input on one of our students by a preceptor, I am certainly able to give input, often unique from my position (as opposed to what the RNs would have seen as their jobs on my unit tend to be more pseudo-administrative + meds). If you've been on that unit for any significant period of time, I'd be willing to bet your coworkers know a lot more about how you're doing than you realize! (And if you ask them for a recommendation, you can be sure they'll learn far more b/c they'll start paying more attention.)

 

[BlueElmo]

I thought about getting a letter from a MD I shadowed, but people told me it wouldn't be as useful as letters from professors, research mentors, etc.