Shadowing is shadowing is shadowing?

[amakhosidlo]

I've been reflecting on my clinical experience/exposure so far, and wondering whether I could do with more shadowing.

Under normal circumstances, the obvious answer is of course "How is that a question?? YES!", but I suddenly realized that my time "interning" overseas may count as shadowing.

Over the course of three months I spent 8, 10, sometimes 14 hours a day with European doctors doing relief work in rural South Africa. We did peds. rotations, surgery, ob/g, IM, FM, you name it. All in all I wound up playing "helper monkey" with patients in olfactory range for an estimated 300+ hours.

Does this "count" as shadowing, or does the fact that the experience was completely exogenous to the American health care system negate it in that sense?

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[DeAlighieri]

Does this "count" as shadowing, or does the fact that the experience was completely exogenous to the American health care system negate it in that sense?

Well, it certainly counts as exposure to medical care and sounds like an enviable experience that gave you broad exposure to a number of disciplines. I'd say that in terms of clinical exposure, it definitely covers that base. However, consider following it up with just a brief shadowing experience with an American doctor in order to show that you've had experience in a first-world system, and have seen the mounds of paperwork and HIPAA issues.

 

[TheElement]

Clinical experience is clinical experience. It doesn't have to come from the US system.

 

[Mobius1985]

I agree with both of the above posters. Of course your international volunteering experience was clinical exposure (I had and listed similiar experiences as such on the AMCAS application), but you need to see how the American medical system works too. So continue to seek additional shadowing experiences at home. At my interviews all the perspectives I'd gained were discussed.