I've shadowed a couple of emergency medicine docs about 4 times each (4 hour shifts each time) and I was wondering what the standard length of a shadowing stint is. I don't want to wear out my welcome but I want to see as much as I can. How many times should I come back? Is 5 days (a workweek) the normal amount? Sort of confused about this. Thanks.
Standard amount of time to shadow?
- Thread starter bdvz
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I think my shadowing experiences each lasted about once/week for 4-5 hours for about 3 months. I think that's good enough to give you at least a perspective of what it's like.
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From what I've read, about 50 - 70 hours is the norm. If you have the opportunity, perhaps try for some other specialties. If no one is throwing you out of the ER, and you are enjoying it, continue that, too.
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Round here it seems like you want to have at least 40 hours on your app, up to 100.
If you have a decent rapport with the doctors you're shadowing, they usually won't have a problem with you coming back. It's good to be considerate, so you can let them know that you don't want to wear out your welcome. Spread your shadowing out over several weeks (as opposed to condensing it into 5 consecutive days) and it's not likely you'll become an annoyance.
If you have a decent rapport with the doctors you're shadowing, they usually won't have a problem with you coming back. It's good to be considerate, so you can let them know that you don't want to wear out your welcome. Spread your shadowing out over several weeks (as opposed to condensing it into 5 consecutive days) and it's not likely you'll become an annoyance.
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Since people have already contributed the correct answers, what's the standard amount of time it takes to search for this?
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The point of shadowing is to see what the doc does during the day. One or two days per doc at four to eight hours should do fine. Keep in mind that shadowing is not a pre-requisite for medical school.
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Well, I knew what I was looking for but this took me approximately 30s to find: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10809598&postcount=8
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Haha.... I remember that post.
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I shadowed about 50 hours total over a period of two weeks, coming in to the office in the mornings on some days and the afternoon on others or meeting the doc at the hospital for newborn rounds, etc. I don't really think more hours would have been particularly useful for that doc, but it might have been nice to see some more hospital based specialties.
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👍exactly!
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How about long enough to let admissions committees know that you have a true grasp (or at least as true a grasp as possible for an undergraduate student) of the medical profession?
