What constitutes shadowing?

[FutureERDoc16]

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So, I've been worried about this for awhile, but it just hit me. I don't know if I have shadowing hours that I can report, and I'm applying to medical school this upcoming application cycle.

What exactly constitutes shadowing? I was trained as a medical scribe the summer after high school, and when doing so, I'd follow around the ER Doc, but it wasn't very inconsistent. One minute I would be following around Dr. A, and another minute Dr. B.

I also did about 150 hours observing general, vascular, cosmetic, and trauma surgery. But again, I never really "shadowed" a doctor. I was an observer. I could walk around the different OR's and watch if a surgery fascinated me. I would talk to the doctors a lot of the time, and they would sometimes explain what they are doing to me. The medical students and residents liked me a lot, and I actually followed them around and assisted them while they did rounds. Does this count? I'm just so worried, because medical schools will probably ask for the specific doctors name that I shadowed. What if I shadowed an entire department? Should I just put down the chief's name or maybe the secretary who allowed me to observe? Would it look bad that all I've seen is surgery?

Lastly, I have shadowing opportunities available now. I have a primary care physician and a neurosurgeon, both willing to allow me to watch them. I would really love to shadow the neurosurgeon, since he is one of the best in the country, but I don't have time since I'm sitting for the MCAT in four weeks and leaving for study abroad the next day. Would it be worth it to sacrifice MCAT study time to shadow?

 

[witchbreath]

I haven't applied to med school or done any shadowing, but it sounds pretty close to shadowing. I would definitely put it on my application. Who cares if you followed a doctor around or just observed everyone? If you want, you could (if you still could) go back and follow a doctor around for a while and then say shadowed, then add that you observed a lot more than just that. But it sounds like a good experience.

I think the MCAT is more important. From what I hear a lot of schools don't count shadowing for much. And it seems like you already have some "shadowing". Also you can go back and do shadowing some other time. The MCAT you should try to do well the first time around, I think.

 

[kyamh]

The point of shadowing is to figure out what a doctor does on a day to day basis. Observing surgery doesn't really cut it since you still don't know what surgeons do with the rest of their time. You have to see the boring stuff too and get a full sense of the job. What you did with the residents sounds closest to shadowing. If I were you I would shadow a pcp at private practice for a full day and a pcp at a hospital for a full day....or a hospitalist. You don't need a ton of hours, I have less than 24, so it will be really easy to do and then you don't have to split hairs about what you did or didn't do.

 

[strugglebus]

I think that definitely counts! And I agree with kyamh, I don't think you need a ton of hours. I didn't get asked about shadowing at all during my interviews, so I'm guessing you just need to show that you've observed a physician in some capacity so you don't get questions at interviews like "How do you know you want to be a doctor if you haven't seen what it's like to be one?".

I would definitely focus on the MCAT. Seems like you've already had a lot of experience in hospitals (and can probably talk cogently about your experiences).

 

[TheWeeIceMan]

If you can smell the doctors then it's shadowing. Wait, that not how it goes....