Does the time period in which shadowing takes place have any effect? For example, would it look better to shadow for 4 hours a week for 20 weeks versus doing 80 hours over a month or so?
Shadowing Timeline
- Thread starter squids82
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Both are fine, though 80 in a month would be wild.
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agreed that seems like a lot of time. maybe do 20 hours in 3 specialities (for a total of 60) or something
9
907914
I shadowed a urologist 2 full days per week in OR and clinic over a month long winter break. That works out to around 70 hours. It wasn’t too bad. While some things did start to get repetitive, I still saw a solid 25-30% new stuff every day.
As far as application goes, 80 hours in one specialty is excessive. If you can find a rural family practice that will let you shadow every day (full days) for a week, that would get you the application gold standard of shadowing (50 hours, Primary care, rural/underserved, saw the whole day of a physician). I did that too (3 days rather than a week, unfortunately) and it was fantastic.
9
965978
Having varied shadowing is also important. Shadowing an outpatient cardiologist, then an outpatient urologist, then an outpatient neurologist, then an outpatient ENT just gets to be too redundant. All of these are outpatient specialists that more or less have the same routine.
It’s important to get some different types of shadowing: hospitalist, surgery, ER, primary care.
You can also combine them. Your outpatient neurologist might also see hospitalized patients on the side or may be doing stroke consults in the ER. Or your outpatient urologist might also be trained in kidney transplants.
I like to think that it’s more about getting exposure in different settings, not just in different specialties.
But I don’t want to give out wrong information so If an ADCOM can chime in on this that would be awesome.
@gorowannabe?
It’s important to get some different types of shadowing: hospitalist, surgery, ER, primary care.
You can also combine them. Your outpatient neurologist might also see hospitalized patients on the side or may be doing stroke consults in the ER. Or your outpatient urologist might also be trained in kidney transplants.
I like to think that it’s more about getting exposure in different settings, not just in different specialties.
But I don’t want to give out wrong information so If an ADCOM can chime in on this that would be awesome.
@gorowannabe?
