Volunteer or Shadowing???

[USCtrainer]

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Hey everyone,

I plan on starting the whole application process for Fall of 2006 and was just wondering what you guys thought would be more important, if I could only choose one. Should I spend my time shadowing a DO or should I do volunteer work at a local hospital? My grades are alright, and I'm just concerned with the extra-curricular activities, any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[hotlikebutter]

volunteer with a DO! seriously, alot of schools would like a DO LOR, but they know you have seriously read into being a DO when you apply to their schools. some schools require it, some dont and any physician LOR will do. i take it you are by USC in LA, if you have time volunteer in the county ER. it will blow your mind the kind of stuff they let you see there!

 

[fever5]

Shadowing gives you insight into the line of work of one particular doctor at those instances in time. No real opportunity for patient interaction, team interaction (with staff), etc.

Volunteering in a hospital/other medical setting allows one to gain the above experiences not afforded by shadowing. A good litmus test is to see what you could possible conclude shadowing vs. working with patients 1 on 1 volunteering...

What I have done is followed an ER & an Internal Med doc at a local hospital a few times, but volunteered in the ER department for the last 2 years.

I have gained insight from both, but volunteering hands down has given me more of a base to draw from for interview questions, while shadowing has provided me with stamina and excitement to surive the med app onslaught....

 

[stoic]

work on building a relationship with a local DO. this is what i did and it turned into a comination of shadowing and volunteering. as the staff and other docs got comfortable with me, they let me basically function as a tech and also follow them around to see patients and observe procedures. it has been seriously cool.

good luck,
s

 

[fever5]

Well I was slow on the post, but the above poster had an important point. Letter of reference. If you want a very good letter of reference, a physician will give a better one (generally) than an ER volunteer coord. simply because the physican sees you while the vol. coord may not!

 

[kaikai128]

I dont' think you have to pick one over the other. I shadow the physicians in an emergency department (most are DOs but some are MDs). I am thus given the opportunity to see DOs and MDs both at work and their slightly different approaches. I also get to assist in certain things and be an extra set of hands. I get to interact with the staff and patients as much as I feel comfortable doing (I carry a stethescope and the physicians now often ask me what I think before telling me what their findings are). I have learned a great amount from these physicians and now feel more comfortable with touching patients.

I shadow for approximately 10 to 12 hours per week (one entire ED shift). There are great opportunities out there--just work hard to find something that will work for you. I feel as if I have made great connections at this hospital. Not only did the physicians volunteer to write me a LOR for med school, but they also told me to feel free to ask again at the point in time that I am looking into residencies and job placement.

 

[Sainttpk]

hello folks,

One quick question for all of you who have shadowed an MD/DO. After your first shadow experince did you ask them if you could shadow again? I was thinking of maybe asking a DO if I could shadow him/her once a week for about an hour for a few months. Would that be tactful? Any suggestions advice would be appreciated. Is it really possible to see what a doctor does after only one shadowing? thanks for the responses, this board is so great.

 

[acl3623]

hello folks,

One quick question for all of you who have shadowed an MD/DO. After your first shadow experince did you ask them if you could shadow again? I was thinking of maybe asking a DO if I could shadow him/her once a week for about an hour for a few months. Would that be tactful? Any suggestions advice would be appreciated. Is it really possible to see what a doctor does after only one shadowing? thanks for the responses, this board is so great.

it depends. if its someone you picked out of the phone book, you may not be able to ask for a lot of time...you dont know them. but if theyre a family physician and maybe he/she has some idea that youll be applying to med school, you can ask for more time. it also depends on the doctor. i shadowed a D.O. that was soooo super busy..i mean he gave people 15min max, basically no lunch, and was in the office from 8 to 7pm...so after the first time i shadowed him, i knew that even though he was nice, i was more of a pest than anything else cause he barely had time to go pee let alone explain stuff to me or talk to me about patients...then i shadowed another D.O. who was totally different. she was laid back and gave her patients as much time as they needed, she had like 10 min in between each one...perfect to shadow. i did about a week with her. really you maybe need about 20-40 hours of shadowing...if you do more than that with a doctor without doing anything else (like stoic, if they let him be a tech then of course you stay longer) then its your time to go....good luck

 

[USCtrainer]

thanks, you guys are really helpful!!