Shadowing Insufficiency?

[phobro]

Looking for some advice on how to proceed. Currently aiming to apply this upcoming cycle. Had planned to get some shadowing done in March, April, May, but the pandemic complicated those plans.

I want to know how I should proceed given a lack of explicit shadowing hours. I did have an internship working closely with a doctor in a clinic for ~150 hours and was present for hundreds of patient interactions where I essentially was shadowing for a good chunk of my total internship time. Would this clinical experience be enough to substitute for shadowing hours? Should I list it instead as shadowing on my app versus a clinical experience?

Alternatively, would it be acceptable to contact doctors to schedule shadowing in the future once COVID-19 clears up, and include those tentative hours on my application?

 

[Catalystik]

Looking for some advice on how to proceed. Currently aiming to apply this upcoming cycle. Had planned to get some shadowing done in March, April, May, but the pandemic complicated those plans.

I want to know how I should proceed given a lack of explicit shadowing hours.
I did have an internship working closely with a doctor in a clinic for ~150 hours and was present for hundreds of patient interactions where I essentially was shadowing for a good chunk of my total internship time.
1) Would this clinical experience be enough to substitute for shadowing hours?
2) Should I list it instead as shadowing on my app versus a clinical experience?

3) Alternatively, would it be acceptable to contact doctors to schedule shadowing in the future once COVID-19 clears up, and include those tentative hours on my application?

1) Yes.
2) I suggest carving out the shadowing hours and not including them in the Internship space. Put them under their own designation (Shadowing/Clinical Observation), with their own dates and (ideally) with the physician as the Contact (a backup being the internship coordinator). The rest of the internship hours and experiences (like if you actually performed helpful tasks) can be listed under, for example, Other in another slot.
3) Future Activities cannot be entered into the application as the program won't let you save a future date. Further, adcomms won't take future plans into account during their decision-making, as they all too often fall through.

 

[healthprofessional]

Looking for some advice on how to proceed. Currently aiming to apply this upcoming cycle. Had planned to get some shadowing done in March, April, May, but the pandemic complicated those plans.

I want to know how I should proceed given a lack of explicit shadowing hours. I did have an internship working closely with a doctor in a clinic for ~150 hours and was present for hundreds of patient interactions where I essentially was shadowing for a good chunk of my total internship time. Would this clinical experience be enough to substitute for shadowing hours? Should I list it instead as shadowing on my app versus a clinical experience?

Alternatively, would it be acceptable to contact doctors to schedule shadowing in the future once COVID-19 clears up, and include those tentative hours on my application?

Honestly, I think you should contact the med college you’re applying to and ask them the same question. Some colleges also consider clinical experience. And if they don’t, you can start finding healthcare professionals to shadow right now and get acquainted with them and ask them whether they will consider you for shadowing opportunity. You can also search for healthcare professionals online using these portals - healthcareshadowing.com, globalpremeds.com, based on your interest and area of choice. You can customize your search and find medical professionals based on their locations and specialties as well. Hope this helps!