Shadowing a PA?

[pakbabydoll]

Is it ok to Shadow a P.A for a while? Would I be able to put that on my application? How about family members? My uncle is a Doctor and he said I could shadow him if I like. Is that a good idea?


Another question:
Generally how many hours a week do you spend studying?

* Sorry about grammar I am working on it* 🙁

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[BlackSails]

Shadowing a PA is not good if you want to be a doctor. Its good for PA school though.

 

[Bacchus]

Shadowing a PA is not good if you want to be a doctor. Its good for PA school though.

It is good for PA school but it is also fine for medical school. Adcoms want to see you get some sort of medical experience. And, I think the consensus around here is that both volunteering and clinical experiences trump shadowing. Its advantageous to shadow a doctor, but i the possibility never arises a PA should be fine. However, do try to shadow a doctor even if you do shadow another medical professional. Afterall, you are applying to medical school and not physician assistant or nursing school.

 

[MDpride]

Is it ok to Shadow a P.A for a while? Would I be able to put that on my application? How about family members? My uncle is a Doctor and he said I could shadow him if I like. Is that a good idea?


Another question:
Generally how many hours a week do you spend studying?

* Sorry about grammar I am working on it* 🙁

Do not shadow ur uncle.👎
My uncle is a doctor too. But, I did not shadowed him because he is a relative. That won't count. His evaluation will be marred by ur relationship with him. He will be under pressure to write in ur favor.

Ur uncle can help u find doctor u can shadow.

I did mention my uncle in the essay and inspiration gained from him.


Do not shadow a PA. If u shadow a PA, who will write L.O.R?

If PA writes it, i don't think it will count.

Will he write favorably?

He will be offended because u r making fun of his profession. He would rather have desiring PA to shadow him than you who is not going to be PA.👎

If doctor writes it, it will strain relationship between doctor and PA. Not good for future.

Please think over these points before taking any steps.

 

[pakbabydoll]

Well the only reason I wanted to shadow him was that he is an ER PA been there for 16 years. When I was volunteering there he taught me a lot of stuff. He let me do minor stuff too even though I was a senior in high school. He let me bandage people with minor cuts and all, he let me draw blood on him first later on patients, he let me work in triage all alone, and introduced me to people who taught me EKG, x-ray and I have some experience with CAT Scan.

However you guys are right.
How do you feel about shadowing doctors who are from your country. I know many doctors from Pakistan here. 30% of all doctors at the hospital are Pakistani or Indian. Can I shadow any of them or would that be like well they are family friends so he had to write a good LOR?

 

[voirlesetoiles]

Any shadowing experience is good in my opinion. I suppose it would be alright to shadow a family member but I wouldn't count on a recommendation from him/her. I think a recommendation from a family member is not a great critique, but a doctor of the same ethnic background isn't obligated by any means to write you a good letter. So I would think that a letter from a non-related Indian/Pakistani doc would be fine. If shadowing a nurse or PA, it can help you answer the question of why you specifically chose to go the MD route vs. other healthcare professions.

 

[Bacchus]

No offense to MDPride but I'd take that advice with some salt. As voi said, any shadowing is good. You're getting a foot into the door by observing medical procedures and learning the basics of patient interacting. Using this shadowing experience as a stepping stone to the next is fairly common and may work out for you extremely well. If you're going to follow you're uncle around that is fine too, but use his resources to find someone else if you can. Do not ask for a letter from him, it just looks bad. As far as the ethnic question, I don't think it really matters. I can logically say that there are ethnic neighborhoods and this is reflective in your hospital setting. Of course if you're living in an area with a dominant culture then that is going to reflect on the work force. I don't see how someone could say there was a bias for you because you were of the same ethnic background.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Shadowing a PA is not good if you want to be a doctor.

strike 1

Do not shadow ur uncle.👎
My uncle is a doctor too. But, I did not shadowed him because he is a relative. That won't count.


Do not shadow a PA. If u shadow a PA, who will write L.O.R?If PA writes it, i don't think it will count. Will he write favorably?

strike 2 and 3

Shadow your uncle. Shadow the PA, shadow a nurse- shadow anyone that will let you. The idea is to get an understanding of the medical field and the various components. You don't need a LOR from every person you shadow. I feel that unless you have shadowed the doc for an extended period of time the LOR is going to seem dumb. "Student A followed me around for a few days. Let him into your school." Get a professor or a PI to write for you; they can better assess your capabilities.

Ask your uncle to set you up w/ other doctors. To get a decent understanding of medicine I feel you need to shadow at least a PCP (peds, FM, or general IM), a surgeon and an IM specialist or 2. Shadowing a nurse and/or PA could look very good. It gives you a much more balanced view of the medical field.

 

[ChiDoc27]

MDPride has no clue what he or she is talking about. A LOR is an assessment of your capabilities as a student, researcher, learner, or just as a good person. A LOR is not a, "Hey, look at the guy who wrote this! He has MD after his name," sort of event. What does, "I don't think it will count," even mean? There's no adcom going around selecting applicants based on if a doctor or a PA wrote your recommendation (unless the dr. was a Nobel prize winner, has the library named after him etc, has born an adcom member's child, etc). Get the experience while you can with whomever you can.
P.S. I never take advice from people who spell, "You," "U." It's only two extra letters people...

 

[pakbabydoll]

Thanks you guys