Shadowing/Letter of Rec?

WayOutWestMom
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 16:41:04 +0000

@incurablycurious

You’re looking at the experience in all the wrong ways. It’s not about racking up the “hours” (that’s a sure sign of the cookie cutter mentality–and that’s a bad thing…) but about what you’re learning/gaining from each experience. Shadow with a particular provider for as long as the experience is productive for you (you’re learning new things); stop once it’s not. Most people think that this happens after about 8-10 hours with the same provider, but YMMV. 40-60 hours is the average TOTAL for ALL shadowing experiences for most med school applicants, not the amount of time you spend with each physician.

Shadowing is considered a weak clinical EC because it’s a passive activity: observing. You should be focused on gaining active/hands-on direct patient contact experiences through volunteering and employment.

You may also want to consider postponing any additional shadowing until you’ve had some direct patient contact experience since it may change what you notice about the patient-physician interaction while you shadow.