Shadowing abroad

[chaii]

Hey everyone, thanks in advance for an replies! Long story short this past summer I spent about a month in Europe where I was able to shadow a family friend and his colleagues at a hospital. All in all I was able to spend a little over 80 hours shadowing in the departments of general surgery, orthopedic surgery, and internal medicine.

My question is will these hours be discredited because they were done in a European healthcare system under European doctors? Will I be able to use it on my application? I also have written proof from the hospital that I spent x amount of time at the hospital shadowing. By the way my hours shadowing in Europe far exceeds my hours in the states.

Thanks again for any help!

Edit: The purpose of the trip was not to shadow it was more of a vacation with the time in one particular country spent around health care professionals who happen to be friends

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[baxt1412]

I would still put it down, what harm would it do? It's not your ONLY shadowing is it?

 

[chaii]

I would still put it down, what harm would it do? It's not your ONLY shadowing is it?

I have only 10 hours shadowing in the states. Although I volunteer in an Emergency department that allows volunteers to observe in the trauma bay when trauma patients come in. I have approximately 250 hours in that ED.

 

[baxt1412]

I have only 10 hours shadowing in the states. Although I volunteer in an Emergency department that allows volunteers to observe in the trauma bay when trauma patients come in. I have approximately 250 hours in that ED.

your primary role in the ER is a volunteer, so I would personally put that down as a volunteer activity. I would suggest getting more US shadowing just to be safe since being a doctor in another country can be drastically different than it is to be a doctor here in the states

 

[chaii]

your primary role in the ER is a volunteer, so I would personally put that down as a volunteer activity. I would suggest getting more US shadowing just to be safe since being a doctor in another country can be drastically different than it is to be a doctor here in the states

I definitely will be pursuing more shadowing in the coming months. Is there some where on AMCAS that asks where your shadowing was done? for example will I have to specify that a bulk of my hours were done abroad?

 

[baxt1412]

I definitely will be pursuing more shadowing in the coming months. Is there some where on AMCAS that asks where your shadowing was done? for example will I have to specify that a bulk of my hours were done abroad?

as far as I can remember, you put an institution name for where said event took place (be it a hobby, a club at your UG, or shadowing, etc)

 

[Catalystik]

I definitely will be pursuing more shadowing in the coming months. Is there some where on AMCAS that asks where your shadowing was done? for example will I have to specify that a bulk of my hours were done abroad?

Yes, there is a space for the location of an activity to be reported.

I agree with baxt1412 that your international shadowing "counts" but should not stand alone. For the most benefit per hour spent, I suggest that you try to shadow a US office-based primary care doc. A lot of common interview questions will be more easily answered if you have an experience with longitudinal medical care.