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how often do you do this? and what do you do when the doc has downtime? do you follow them everywhere?
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relentless11
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anniemal said:
I've been doing it everyday (literally) since last fall since I also do clinical research... so when there are morning rounds, and just going through normal wards, I'm there. When I was an undergrad, I went once a week, for 5 hours, over a 1 year period.
What do you mean by downtime. Days they have off? or moments when they're not seeing patients. In regards to the latter, I talk to them about anything and everything, like a normal person would.
Lastly, for the most part, I do follow them everywhere. However for the most part, most people who shadow, prolly won't get to follow a physician into say a room where a patient has an MRSA or VRE infection (for example)...which is obviously for good reason.
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anniemal said:
I have the call schedule of a trauma surgeon and I just show up anytime that he is working. I try to go about 3-5 times a month. I usually hang out for anywhere from 2-10 hours depending on what is going on. He lets me go everywhere from rounds to surgeries. When there is nothing going on we watch tv or go to eat in the cafeteria. I also help him with research so sometimes we work on that. He is totally cool and I think I got lucky.
relentless11
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md2011 said:
Wait, are you asking what should your doctor friend write, despite not having time to shadow her? Kinda like, if you had a professor friend, and never having time to take the class she teaches, yet you ask her for a letter of rec?
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relentless11 said:
Yes, that's right. But she will know a lot better about my personality than anybody else, right? By the way, she is living a thousand mile from me now, I'd love she lived close to me, so I could shadow her. Can she still write a letter?
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md2011 said:
Yes, your friend can write a letter; however, there are other attributes in addition to personality that should be referenced in your letter. Although a friend, it would be difficult for the physician to account for other characteristics such as compassion and how you interacted with people within the clinical setting in their presence.
One word of advice, is that you need to be ready to discuss this physicians letter during an interview. You should expect someone on the adcom to ask about your experiences with the physician or how long you have been associated with them. Each of the interviews I had last fall asked about the physician that wrote my letter: how long have you known dr x, how many hours did you spend with dr x; what do you take away from your experiences with dr x?
Stating that you are friends probably will not address the clinical or other experiences that they are looking for AND could possibly look unfavorable on your part as you did not spend time with a physician in a clinical setting.
Although your friend is thousands of miles away; I would look for another physician that will work with you and allow you to shadow them for a while. It is difficult at first; however, not only can you get a letter, you could also include the experience as an extra-curricular activity.
Good luck
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