Will this look fishy?

[QueenJames]

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I've been shadowing a family friend on and off since 2011... have ~150 hours with him (he himself told me that I have at least that much)
It was very irregular. Sometimes, he'd let me stay for 5 hours, sometimes 3 hours... sometimes it would be a longer shift at two different hospitals up to 10 hours that day.. Hours were evenly split between his group practice and the cath lab where he operated.

What would I put for the average hours/week? Will this look fishy to adcoms tho? I have like 6 other docs I've shadowed for only like 15-20 hours though because they were extremely busy.

 

[asdf123g]

where the heck do you find all these doctors willing to shadow?? srs question....

 

[67552931811]

I've been shadowing a family friend on and off since 2011... have ~150 hours with him (he himself told me that I have at least that much)
It was very irregular. Sometimes, he'd let me stay for 5 hours, sometimes 3 hours... sometimes it would be a longer shift at two different hospitals up to 10 hours that day.. Hours were evenly split between his group practice and the cath lab where he operated.

What would I put for the average hours/week? Will this look fishy to adcoms tho? I have like 6 other docs I've shadowed for only like 15-20 hours though because they were extremely busy.

Not fishy, just use the space provided to eloquently explain the experience.

where the heck do you find all these doctors willing to shadow?? srs question....

Networking? I shadowed 8 different doctors myself.

 

[j4pac]

Average it out. Just be as honest as possible

 

[asdf123g]

@ChiTownBHawks :networking? like linkedin? I dont really meet dr's on the daily....

 

[67552931811]

@ChiTownBHawks :networking? like linkedin? I dont really meet dr's on the daily....

As in via your primary shadowing experience. For instance, I was able to shadow 4 different docs off of said experience-- because I networked.

 

[deejaymd]

Average it. I did that. There are more important things in your app that they will be focusing on than getting the exact number of hours shadowed.

 

[Escape_Goat]

Just put your best estimate and briefly explain. No adcom will care enough to verify exactly how many hours you did, and even if you're way off, it doesn't matter since no one will bother to call around to verify the shadowing hours reported by every applicant.

 

[AlteredScale]

@ChiTownBHawks :networking? like linkedin? I dont really meet dr's on the daily....

Also you can always search "(University Name) Directory" to find the email of most physicians and email them your interest to shadow along with a CV/Resume. That's worked out pretty well for me.

 

[baxt1412]

where the heck do you find all these doctors willing to shadow?? srs question....

proud shadower of ortho, transplant, general surgery, oral surgery, plastics, family, and immuno. ahhh the benefits of having a mother who has worked at the same hospital for almost 30 years.

 

[QueenJames]

Average it out. Just be as honest as possible

By averaging how should I go about it (stupid question I know)?

Kinda like this?

2011-2015 --> 4 years X 52 weeks/year --> 208 weeks

total hours so far = 150 hours

150 hours / 208 weeks --> .72 hours/week ...... ? (which is about 43 minutes per week)....? That looks reallllly weird.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

where the heck do you find all these doctors willing to shadow?? srs question....

http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/Pages/find-a-do-search.aspx

I had to drive 4 hours to shadow a physician once because all the local ones wouldn't let me shadow.

 

[QueenJames]

where the heck do you find all these doctors willing to shadow?? srs question....

You can say I'm kinnnddd of a big deal around my parts...

LOLZ

j/k

Most of them are acquaintances and/or family friends.

 

[j4pac]

By averaging how should I go about it (stupid question I know)?

Kinda like this?

2011-2015 --> 4 years X 52 weeks/year --> 208 weeks

total hours so far = 150 hours

150 hours / 208 weeks --> .72 hours/week ...... ? (which is about 43 minutes per week)....? That looks reallllly weird.

1 hour a week for the past 4 years. 150 total hours.

Don't over think it. Goro and his comrades aren't going to care about you being to the hour.

 

[DrBunsenHoneydew]

You also don't shadow every week, I'm assuming. More like ~40 or so I'm assuming. So do it from that number. Not 52. Also a guesstimate but that's ok like previous posts.

 

[JimmyB123]

proud shadower of ortho, transplant, general surgery, oral surgery, plastics, family, and immuno. ahhh the benefits of having a mother who has worked at the same hospital for almost 30 years.

Favorite? Least favorite?

 

[baxt1412]

Favorite? Least favorite?

favorite was seeing two pediatric transplants. one was a small bowel and the other (with a DO) was a liver/small bowel.

but then with ortho I got to see them use an antibiotic spacer for a hip replacement that got infected... it was a really old hip replacement so they had to get a custom mold made for the model and then they used antibiotic cement to make a temporary hip.. my favorite is tied between the liver/small bowel and watching the ortho surgeon resurface the acetabulum with a drill and, essentially, a cheese grater in a dome shape.

but I actually got to scrub in (although I didn't do anything obviously) for the liver/small bowel which was cool.

least favorite is probably immuno. it was downright depressing to see ppl with rheumatoid arthritis in a world of pain and its caused by their own dang bodies.

oral surgery was brutal... no wonder getting your wisdom teeth out hurts so bad lol. they freakin go to town prying those teeth out or cutting them away from the jaw.

 

[ToonLink]

In your description just say, 'I would spend anywhere between 3-5 hours with him for a total of 150 hours.' Then describe what you did.

 

[DetectiveAlonzo]

I haven't started filling out my AACOMAS but does it require you to state the hours/week? I don't think it does. It probably just wants the total hours. Anybody know how adcoms will look at that if you don't include the weekly hours but just give total and then explain in the description that the hours and shadowing appointments varied over the however many years you did your thing.

 

[deejaymd]

proud shadower of ortho, transplant, general surgery, oral surgery, plastics, family, and immuno. ahhh the benefits of having a mother who has worked at the same hospital for almost 30 years.

Haha my mom also worked at the same hospital as a pharmacist and my dad was an anesthesiologist. An Adcom actually commented on my app and said "well, you've definitely shadowed to hell and back!" lol I took it as a compliment 😀

 

[baxt1412]

Haha my mom also worked at the same hospital as a pharmacist and my dad was an anesthesiologist. An Adcom actually commented on my app and said "well, you've definitely shadowed to hell and back!" lol I took it as a compliment 😀

Similar experience here. Plus at that school, there is a doc with the same last name as me so I got asked that as well.