OK, point of my post:
1st goal of shadowing or scribing re: your app is EXPOSURE to document on AMCAS
2nd goal *might* be a LOR, if you can manage to get a good one
it's fine to shadow a doc in your immediate family as ONE of your shadow experiences
adcoms know that shadow experiences can be hard to come by so no one would fault you using this easy access resource to get your feet wet, and if it's one of many it's even more understandable and looks less like you're just depending on Daddy to get into med school
*however*
get other shadowing experiences in other fields
the more exposure the better
(I am now reading
@Law2Doc 's post and I agree. Still, I don't think it's wrong to spend a few hours shadowing a close relative. In fact, they might actually be *more* candid with you about the profession than a stranger. I dunno. But we both seem to agree it *should not* be your primary experience, not by a long shot).
scribing is *not* good experience to get a letter from IMHO, when you are a "shadow" it's understood the whole point is educational, you're not being paid to be useful, therefore intrinsically the interaction between you and the doc is different from the outset, in one case, it's a business arrangement and you are working for the doc and are there to *save* them time, in the case of shadowing, at least in theory if the doc is approaching it correctly they should expect to give you a little bit of time interacting and teaching
however, scribing is still good experience because it is a clinical *job* and depending there could be more or less patient interaction
I just don't think it replaces a good old fashioned shadow experience, especially if it's quality, a longitudinal experience that can go beyond being a silent "shadow"
*some* experiences can yield a great letter
ideas for quality experiences:
some *rural* EDs the night shift can be dead & boring, giving you and the ED doc more time to interact and discuss the stuff that does come through the doors, in my experience ED docs are the sociable type that want to tell you about what it's like *if* they have the time, so this advice only applies to certain circumstances
in addition to psych, neurology is another specialty with longer appts and more downtime, pre-meds tend to show less interest, those docs are brainiacs that often have time to teach, in fact, in my experience they would love to demonstrate interesting findings to you even if you are not allowed to touch patients, and you can get a lot just from observing a neuro exam, compared to other types of exams
if you dig online you can find out if the med school in your state has "satellite" sites and try to find out who are associate professors off campus in the community. If they don't have a med student with them full time, and this can happen often, these are ideal docs to cold-call approach to shadow. They have a true interest in teaching, are used to having students, *and* as noted above, since LORs from docs are so "suspect" having an eval from someone who is already trusted to evaluate students on behalf of a medical school can only add weight to your letter.
Any shadow experience, it isn't unreasonable to ask to discuss expectations from the start, especially if you're hoping for a letter. I wouldn't bring up at a letter at the start, but this discussion can help you in a lot of ways. Some docs will let you know that they can let you be a silent shadow, so you have the valuable exposure of watching them work but that they will have very limited time for interacting or teaching. You can quickly get a sense if this experience is going to be amenable to extending and deepening for obtaining a letter, or not. If not, time to set up another one. Be sure to fulfill all agreed upon obligations for any shadow experience.
This is why ideally you would start shadow experiences years in advance of your actual application, so you can get the most out of it. So you have time for enough hours as well as diversity of experience, *and* time to create the sort of relationship that can lead to a great LOR. It's true the worst shadowing/LORs will be when you are scrambling to "checkbox" this part of your application.