Shadowing question...does this count?

[rockytop12]

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I have spent 20-30 hours shadowing a PA who works in a family med clinic. Basically it is just her and one doctor. I have followed the doctor on a couple procedures, but spent the majority of my time following the PA. Since they both see the same type of patients at the same clinic, would this count as primary care shadowing?

 

[Ismet]

It counts as shadowing, but you'll want to clarify who you shadowed (i.e. how many hours you shadowed the doctor and how many hours you followed the PA)

 

[rockytop12]

I'm from Tennessee and ETSU is one of my top choices. Since this school is rural/primary care focused, would 20 hours of shadowing the family medicine PA and 20 hours shadowing an internal medicine MD be sufficient primary care shadowing?

 

[Lya]

I would usually aim for 100+ hours of shadowing just to be on the safe side, but some people might disagree with me. Do you know other professionals you could shadow?

 

[rockytop12]

Yeah I have shadowed an orthopedic surgeon, a general surgeon, and an infectious disease doctor for about 50 hours. I was just wondering if I needed more primary care shadowing since the school I'm most interested in is primary care focused and half of my primary care exposure came from following a PA (although it was technically the same patients as the family medicine MD she worked with)

 

[deleted407021]

The consensus seems to be, with some exceptions, that 50-60 hours of shadowing is enough to satisfy the adcom's little hour meters. Really, you just need to be able to write about a variety of practice settings and environments and what it's like to be a primary care doc, a specialist and a surgeon on a day to day basis. What you have definitely counts and should be fine.

 

[Catalystik]

I'm from Tennessee and ETSU is one of my top choices. Since this school is rural/primary care focused, would 20 hours of shadowing the family medicine PA and 20 hours shadowing an internal medicine MD be sufficient primary care shadowing?

Yes, considering your other shadowing hours, and it would be even better if those docs practice in a rural setting.

 

[rockytop12]

I believe the areas are rural...they are in my hometown of <10,000 people and the area is considered a medically underserved area. Would that qualify as rural?

 

[Catalystik]

If it's not near a metropolitan area, probably.

http://www.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth/policy/definition_of_rural.html