Physician Shadowing

[Geneticist]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm interested in shadowing a pathologist, dermatologist, and general practitioner. Would there be an issue with this considering I'm only 17? Also, would 5-6 hours with each physician be a sufficient amount of shadowing?

 

[gettheleadout]

No. Depends: shadow for an amount of time that you feel affords you a "full" experience. For pathology, I am also shadowing a pathologist next week for about 5 hours, whereas I will be shadowing a radiologist for longer. The variety in their work makes a difference, as there is only so much you can observe with the pathologist in the lab.

 

[Geneticist]

No. Depends: shadow for an amount of time that you feel affords you a "full" experience. For pathology, I am also shadowing a pathologist next week for about 5 hours, whereas I will be shadowing a radiologist for longer. The variety in their work makes a difference, as there is only so much you can observe with the pathologist in the lab.

Right. So I could probably shadow a pathologist for 5-6 hours and a dermatologist for 5-6 hours and general practitioner for a full day? That's most likely what I'll do.

On med school apps., do they ask for amount of hours you've shadowed or doesn't that matter?

 

[gettheleadout]

Right. So I could probably shadow a pathologist for 5-6 hours and a dermatologist for 5-6 hours and general practitioner for a full day? That's most likely what I'll do.

On med school apps., do they ask for amount of hours you've shadowed or doesn't that matter?

Yeah that sounds better, and on the AMCAS application in your Activities entry for shadowing you can list specialties and hours, but it won't be gone over with fine-toothed comb. You want a substantial total, but anything over 200 hours is superfluous.

 

[Geneticist]

Yeah that sounds better, and on the AMCAS application in your Activities entry for shadowing you can list specialties and hours, but it won't be gone over with fine-toothed comb. You want a substantial total, but anything over 200 hours is superfluous.

200 hours of shadowing experience?!? Wow. Or do you mean 200 hours of volunteer experience too...? I'm looking to total 20-30 hours of shadowing experience...

 

[gettheleadout]

200 hours of shadowing experience?!? Wow. Or do you mean 200 hours of volunteer experience too...? I'm looking to total 20-30 hours of shadowing experience...

Yeah...let me clarify, some people spend a week each with three different specialties and have 100+ hours right there, so some people really do end up with hundreds of shadowing hours. And yes I'm referring to only shadowing hours, clinical volunteering hours are different. You don't need hundreds of shadowing hours, I would recommend shadowing until you are confident you would be comfortable being a physician in any one of a few specialties. That is, after all, the purpose of shadowing: to confirm that the activities and lifestyle of the profession is what you desire.

 

[Geneticist]

Yeah...let me clarify, some people spend a week each with three different specialties and have 100+ hours right there, so some people really do end up with hundreds of shadowing hours. And yes I'm referring to only shadowing hours, clinical volunteering hours are different. You don't need hundreds of shadowing hours, I would recommend shadowing until you are confident you would be comfortable being a physician in any one of a few specialties. That is, after all, the purpose of shadowing: to confirm that the activities and lifestyle of the profession is what you desire.

Alright, so would adcoms see only 20-30 hours of shadowing experience as a downfall on a med school app.? Because I've interviewed dermatologists and shadowed other medical specialists in high school so I know I absolutely want to be a physician in either derm or pathology.

 

[Dial71]

Don't get so caught up with shadowing. Med schools want evidence that you've examined medicine as a career, but they don't look for x amount of hours spent shadowing. By all means, read about the profession, get a job in healthcare and interact with patients (especially the "underserved;" a challenging group, to say the least). Shadowing is a nice complement, but it cannot give you the complete picture.

Many programs recognize the difficulty in obtaining shadowing experiences, especially if you have no family relationships with doctors or other connections. If they required shadowing, it would effectively prevent most low socioeconomic status or first generation in medicine applicants from gaining acceptance.

I have exactly zero formal hours shadowing and out of three interviews, I have gotten two acceptances so far, one of which was my top choice.

BTW, are you even in college yet? If not, take it easy and relax. You'll have four more years to agonize over getting into med school.

 

[Geneticist]

Haha. Yes, I'm in college at a top 20 public school. I just completed my first semester with an above average GPA (3.7), so I'm making sure I have all my EC's in order to get into an IS school. I'm going to try to take advantage of my winter break and get a start on my EC's since I barely have any thus far.

Thanks for the great answers, guys.

 

[alexrgross]

I agree with how much time you plan to spend with each, although I could see a dermo having a wide range of cases that you might do well to observe over more than 6 hours.
Keep a diary of your experiences for your own benefit.

If you havent studied beyond general bio at the university level I would wait to shadow. The reasoning is that your lack of medical knowledge will only hold you back from understanding what you observe in the clinic. Medical knowledge of this sort comes to medical students but pre-meds tend to study some relevant topics and thus can better understand a shadowing experience. But you can always shadow now and then again later on!

 

[gettheleadout]

Don't get so caught up with shadowing. Med schools want evidence that you've examined medicine as a career, but they don't look for x amount of hours spent shadowing. By all means, read about the profession, get a job in healthcare and interact with patients (especially the "underserved;" a challenging group, to say the least). Shadowing is a nice complement, but it cannot give you the complete picture.

Many programs recognize the difficulty in obtaining shadowing experiences, especially if you have no family relationships with doctors or other connections. If they required shadowing, it would effectively prevent most low socioeconomic status or first generation in medicine applicants from gaining acceptance.

I have exactly zero formal hours shadowing and out of three interviews, I have gotten two acceptances so far, one of which was my top choice.

While I agree that shadowing cannot give you the complete picture, it gives you a much more accurate picture of the profession than simply volunteering in a clinic and occasionally coming into contact with physician-patient interaction. Also, keep in mind that some schools do want to see shadowing specifically.

 

[boko]

im curious as to how y'all got the shadowing position...did yall contact the doctor personally?? what did yall do?? im having a tuff time getting opportunities...any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[familyaerospace]

I know a lot of the places I've been required students to be 18+ to shadow simply because of the paperwork that needs to be signed.

And yes, it is possible to get 200+ hours of shadowing. As of yesterday, I have 175 hours of shadowing and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I was originally going to stop at 80 or so. I'm a socioeconomically disadvantaged applicant and first generation to go to college with no friends that are doctors. It took me forever to start getting responses which is why I posted all of what I tried on my blog. I'll get 5 more hours this weekend.

 

[Geneticist]

I'm a socioeconomically disadvantaged applicant and first generation to go to college with no friends that are doctors.

Same here. It's going to be tough getting my foot in the door. I've got two hospitals (one very well known) within a 30 minute drive of me which I am going to try to take advantage of. Hopefully I don't find much of a problem landing some job shadows somewhere.

 

[boko]

I know a lot of the places I've been required students to be 18+ to shadow simply because of the paperwork that needs to be signed.

And yes, it is possible to get 200+ hours of shadowing. As of yesterday, I have 175 hours of shadowing and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I was originally going to stop at 80 or so. I'm a socioeconomically disadvantaged applicant and first generation to go to college with no friends that are doctors. It took me forever to start getting responses which is why I posted all of what I tried on my blog. I'll get 5 more hours this weekend.

cool..i looked at your blog and it was pretty informative!!

 

[deleted357625]

I'm interested in shadowing a pathologist, dermatologist, and general practitioner. Would there be an issue with this considering I'm only 17? Also, would 5-6 hours with each physician be a sufficient amount of shadowing?

No it doesn't matter I'm 17 and in college and able to shadow and even volunteer in positions that you have to be 18 but, they make exceptions for me etc
Also, shadow how much you think you can handle. A few hours a week is also fine

 

[familyaerospace]

cool..i looked at your blog and it was pretty informative!!

Thanks, I figured there was so much bad information out there that when I have a subject I've acquired information about, I might as well make a record of it. I decided to post it on my blog since I was sick of repeating myself over and over again. 🙂 Then I could just link to the appropriate sections if needed. I was originally so discouraged, but it just forced me to be creative and try every available option.

You should see my huge mass of information which I haven't posted!

 

[gettheleadout]

Same here. It's going to be tough getting my foot in the door. I've got two hospitals (one very well known) within a 30 minute drive of me which I am going to try to take advantage of. Hopefully I don't find much of a problem landing some job shadows somewhere.

Maybe I'm naive, but is it really that hard to find shadowing opportunities by just looking up physician bio's on a hospital/practice's website and personally emailing the doc's about the possibility of it? I feel like that would be received well if you communicated professional in your email, and there has to be someone willing, barring any institutional policies forbidding it.

 

[familyaerospace]

Maybe I'm naive, but is it really that hard to find shadowing opportunities by just looking up physician bio's on a hospital/practice's website and personally emailing the doc's about the possibility of it? I feel like that would be received well if you communicated professional in your email, and there has to be someone willing, barring any institutional policies forbidding it.

Most of the doctors will not get the email as it will have been screened or they just might not respond. Take my experience with family doctors, I emailed about 30 doctors on a list which had been recently updated and they specifically said they were taking shadowers. A few were willing (most did not respond at all) but then their hospital or practice said no. I had to contact the GAFP directly and they arranged someone for me.

My closest shadowing experience was an hour and a half away. If people aren't willing, they aren't willing. If they can't, they can't. You just have to keep looking and looking.