Watching a primary care doc, like a pediatrician, family doc, or internist, gives the best view of longitudinal patient care and good doctor-patient relationships, and in my view is more important than specialist shadowing and far better than shadowing in the OR (where patients are usually sleeping). This experience is to help you see what docs do all day and be sure you can see yourself doing the same. It also gives you the opportunity to ask questions about day to day life in this career. The purpose is not to help you form a bond to any particular specialty. Third and fourth year clerkships/rotations are better for that.
An important benefit will be greater ease in answering interview questions dealing with the positive and negative realities of practicing medicine in the US: patient advocacy, cultural sensitivity, malpractice, medical ethics, current healthcare policy, difficult patients, insurance companies, professionalism, etc.
