Shadowing many doctors or many hours with 1-2 doctors?

[kts]

Is it more important to get shadowing with many doctors or get many hours with one or two? I've shadowed in the OR for 40 hours and so far have about 16 hours with a primary care physician. I like the physician I'm with, so should I continue with him, or move on to cover more areas?

How many doctors should you aim to shadow by the time you apply?

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[TheMightySmiter]

Is it more important to get shadowing with many doctors or get many hours with one or two? I've shadowed in the OR for 40 hours and so far have about 16 hours with a primary care physician. I like the physician I'm with, so should I continue with him, or move on to cover more areas?

How many doctors should you aim to shadow by the time you apply?

I only shadowed two different docs for a total of 20 hours...a lot less than most people, but I've also worked in a hospital for a year and a half. Your shadowing amount seems fine, and a surgeon and a PCP are about as different as you can get so you can say you've seen a variety of things. If you like the physician you're with, stay with him and see more cool things! You don't have to shadow EVERY specialty...that's what med school clinical years are for. You just have to have shadowed enough to be able to say that you understand the pros and cons of medicine and have thought about how they relate to your own life.

 

[Doctor246853]

Is it more important to get shadowing with many doctors or get many hours with one or two? I've shadowed in the OR for 40 hours and so far have about 16 hours with a primary care physician. I like the physician I'm with, so should I continue with him, or move on to cover more areas?

How many doctors should you aim to shadow by the time you apply?

Thats good enough. I would recommend about three (just me) docs. A primary, specialized and what ever you think you would wanna do just for kicks. Do all three for a solid amount of time.

 

[Web MD]

I recommend shadowing a doc in a hospital setting and one in a private practice setting to see both sides of the coin. If you get a chance to see how clinical research is done and how it differs from lab/bench work that'd be good too. I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon who did my shoulder and I work for a doc in private practice so that pretty much covered it for me

 

[jhay]

Maybe I'm different than most, but I've shadowed about 10 different doctors, each a different specialty.

I thought it was super helpful because the way different specialties approach medicine and treatment are fairly different.

Try comparing dermatology to orthopedic surgery to cardiology. They're very different fields, especially in how they approach problems.

 

[Web MD]

That's cool, but from what I've seen admissions is more worried about whether or not you understand how the insurance game is played (hospital vs private practice), how a hospital team interacts, and the hours/time constraints in all types of medicine

 

[Doctor246853]

Maybe I'm different than most, but I've shadowed about 10 different doctors, each a different specialty.

I thought it was super helpful because the way different specialties approach medicine and treatment are fairly different.

Try comparing dermatology to orthopedic surgery to cardiology. They're very different fields, especially in how they approach problems.

I've done this too but theres really no point in doing this many unless you're just curious. I had the offers and opportunities so I took them. Honestly shadowing 10,20,or 30 docs is not gona improve your chances vs someone who shadowed 2-3 for a good amount of time. Kinda overkill

 

[kts]

Maybe I'm different than most, but I've shadowed about 10 different doctors, each a different specialty.

wow

 

[MeowMeowCAT]

Quality over quantity I would assume. Shadowing a lot of doctors would be helpful in getting a taste for many of the different professions, but I am assuming sticking with handful of particular ones would "strengthen your interests" more.

For example, if you really want to become a surgeon with your MD, stick with shadowing surgeons. I would assume that would look more like a dedication to that particular field, whereas with multiple different doctors you will be somewhat all over the place.

I think it would also be helpful in the interview process, as you would show exceeding amount of information to share about what you are really interested in, instead of knowing only a small amount of information about a varied fields.

But the admission process is not very cookie cutter, so I could be wrong...

 

[gujuDoc]

Is it more important to get shadowing with many doctors or get many hours with one or two? I've shadowed in the OR for 40 hours and so far have about 16 hours with a primary care physician. I like the physician I'm with, so should I continue with him, or move on to cover more areas?

How many doctors should you aim to shadow by the time you apply?

I've heard from a couple of different adcoms in florida they like you to shadow several different physicians in different fields.

So if you can I'd try to shadow in different fields.