Shadowing

[michmedic]

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Hi everyone! I am currently a sophmore in college majoring in conservation biology. I know that I need to shadow a couple of Physicians but how many hours? I started college late and have a medical background. My current gpa is a 3.7. I still need to take organic chemistry. Just wondering if a person coming from a medical background still needs to rack up the hours in shadowing? I understand that I still need hours shadowing. Here is my medical background:

-2 years as a phlebotomist
-4 years as a Paramedic on the road
-1 year as a ED Paramedic
-5 years on a Paid on Call fire dept

Thanks for the responses!

 

[SpacemanSpifff]

The general wisdom is that although clinical experience allows you to see the inner workings of a hospital, shadowing serves an entirely different purpose. Becoming familiar with the responsibilities of different types of physicians, the sacrifices and rewards specific to each speciality, and seeing the daily duties of a doctor are fulfilled through shadowing.

 

[alpinism]

Try to get at least 30-50hrs for your own good and not just for adcoms.

Even w/ extensive clinical exp. you'll want to see how medicine is practiced from a physician's perspective so you know exactly what you're getting into. Plus its a great chance to explore other fields outside of EM that you might find interesting. If you can, pick a couple fields that you haven't had much exposure to and spend 2 to 3 full days with each.

 

[nonociceptors]

[edit]

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone! I am currently a sophmore in college majoring in conservation biology. I know that I need to shadow a couple of Physicians but how many hours? I started college late and have a medical background. My current gpa is a 3.7. I still need to take organic chemistry. Just wondering if a person coming from a medical background still needs to rack up the hours in shadowing? I understand that I still need hours shadowing. Here is my medical background:

-2 years as a phlebotomist
-4 years as a Paramedic on the road
-1 year as a ED Paramedic
-5 years on a Paid on Call fire dept

When you worked in the ED, you probably spent some time in the presence of a physician during his/her patient care, which you could include as shadowing time. But this may not have offered much variety of specialtiy, and definitely didn't give a view of office-based, longitudinal primary care. At a minimum, get in some of the latter. About 50 hours is the average total listed. I'd consider 40 hours a bare minimum. Opinions, as always, vary.