shadowing question

[scarlett14]

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if pretty much all of my shadowing is in one specialty (surgery) is that bad?

i want to apply this year. should i try to squeeze in shadowing some other specialties before applying? or would it not make a huge difference?

(it stupidly only occurred to me recently that it may not look that great if all of my shadowing is in one area...)

thoughts?

 

[Meihua]

Yes - it suggests you may have a narrow view of what medicine entails. You have a bit of time, so ask around and see if some different doctors will let you tag along even just for a day or two, so you can get an idea of the differences between specialties.

 

[dsoz]

I shadowed almost 100 hours with the same family practice MD, and another two days with a family practice DO. I also shadowed two days with an OMM specialist (DO), and one other day with an emergency physician. I had the best of both. I built a long term relationship with one physician, and also was able to see several different types of physicians at work. Both are valuable.

I even had my interviewer at an MD school ask about the DO physicians that I shadowed. He did not know much about DO, despite having been a physician for over 35 years. He was truly curious about how a DO is different from an MD doctor.

To answer your question, it would not hurt if you could shadow a different physician or two in different areas.

dsoz

 

[skais595]

if pretty much all of my shadowing is in one specialty (surgery) is that bad?

i want to apply this year. should i try to squeeze in shadowing some other specialties before applying? or would it not make a huge difference?

(it stupidly only occurred to me recently that it may not look that great if all of my shadowing is in one area...)

thoughts?

Shadowing surgeons is cool, but I feel like I got the most out of my shadowing experience when I was watching the doctor interact with her patients.

 

[Daodejing]

just get in touch with and shadow your family's PCP (primary care provider). That, along with the surgeon you already shadowed, should be plenty. You don't have to shadow for weeks and months on end. Simply knowing how a doc interacts with patients and performs in his/her setting on a daily basis is enough. You can't go wrong in having the dual exposure of both medicine and surgery.

 

[Dingo Mango]

Shadowing surgeons is cool, but I feel like I got the most out of my shadowing experience when I was watching the doctor interact with her patients.

So you think surgeons don't interact with their patients?
More the merrier with shadowing but I would at least try too shadow your surgeon when they are doing things like rounding and clinic besides exclusively in the OR so you have more to talk about. 🙂

 

[Domino2178]

.

 

[McNCheese]

Agreed with all of the above. I think it will definitely make a difference if you can get a few days of shadowing other specialties before you start interviewing. With just surgery experience, you will be able to talk about surgery. Having seen more specialties, you will have more to say about medicine in general.

 

[scarlett14]

thank you for all the answers!
trying to reach out to some physicians at my university's associated hospital but all of them have ignored me so far 🙁 ill email more and hopefully hear back from a few soon!

 

[scarlett14]

So you think surgeons don't interact with their patients?
More the merrier with shadowing but I would at least try too shadow your surgeon when they are doing things like rounding and clinic besides exclusively in the OR so you have more to talk about. 🙂

i was actually thinking of that! would that be beneficial? i suppose id definitely get to see more of the doctor-patient interaction than i do during surgeries but im afraid when i apply my shadowing will still look very much one-sided on my application 😕

 

[TheFamilyDoc]

if pretty much all of my shadowing is in one specialty (surgery) is that bad?

i want to apply this year. should i try to squeeze in shadowing some other specialties before applying? or would it not make a huge difference?

(it stupidly only occurred to me recently that it may not look that great if all of my shadowing is in one area...)

thoughts?

The only type of doctor I shadowed was a Medical Examiner...helped her do 4 autopsies 🙄 It was considered interesting by one of my Early Assurance Program interviewers but she did wonder if I knew what I was getting myself into on the patient contact end of the spectrum.

 

[MedWonk]

i was actually thinking of that! would that be beneficial? i suppose id definitely get to see more of the doctor-patient interaction than i do during surgeries but im afraid when i apply my shadowing will still look very much one-sided on my application 😕

I think the patient contact part is what's missing, though it is cool that you shadowed a surgeon. You could shadow another doctor, or ask to shadow the surgeon when they do rounds. Your ability to speak thoughtfully and intelligently regarding physician-patient interaction is what they'll be looking for. Alternatively, you could get yourself a job that gives you a similar experience like scribing, but that might tie you into one area of medicine, so shadow another area to get some breadth.

In my case, I scribe in an ED at a community hospital and have shadowed a third year IM resident at a major teaching hospital. The experience I had shadowing the resident was not what I expected and was quite different from I'm used to in the ED, both in terms of how the physician approaches treatment and how they interact with the patient, and in the patient population that you see (though I do get to see a little of everything in the ED). Next month, I'll be shadowing in the NICU at a different academic hospital, which I'm sure will be another novel experience.

The main theme in these experiences is the variety of patient-physician interactions and the varying patient populations, but of course quality > quantity. You don't need a billion hours of shadowing. If you can speak intelligently about the field of medicine and sound like you know what you're getting into with 20 hours of shadowing, you'll be better off than someone who has 100 hours, but can barely string together two thoughts regarding the field or who sounds bored and uninterested.