When is “Shadowing” Necessary as AMCAS Activity

[notabot81]

I’ll have a few hundred hours of clinical experience as a medical assistant by the time I submit my primary. My job entails working with physicians.


How necessary is it to have “Shadowing” as its own activity ?

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[LizzyM]

I think it can help. Are you a medical assistant in a single venue? Does that physician also see patients in a different venue such as inpatient setting, nursing home, free clinic. What portion of the doctor's day don't you see such as time spent with phone calls, charting, attending continuing medical education (CME) talks or completing CME online? What's the whole day look like from beginning to end? Does this physicain do procedures in the office where you assist? If not, it might be useful to shadow someone in a procedure-heavy specialty. If it is just procedures, all-day, every day, it might be useful to shadow someone who does almost no procedures such as peds. I hope you see what I mean about how shadowing can give you a broader picture of what different doctors do despite having substantial experience as a MA.

 

[LindaAccepted]

Some med schools don't value shadowing at all (See Tulane Medical School: How to Get In - Admissions Straight Talk Podcast Episode 569 ). They say the shadower is passive and no one benefits from the shadowing except the shadower. Also not all applicants have the relationships and connections to easily find a doctor to shadow. So requiring shadowing is seen by some programs as a barrier to applicants without those relationships and connections.

Other admissions directors feel that shadowing is an excellent introduction to clinical medicine. It is also a way to on a superficial level at least get a broader view of medicine than if one has a job, whether paid or volunteer, with a particular physician or in a specific clinic. (See Medical - An Interview with Christian Essman - podcast Episode 571 )

Bottom line, for many programs, given your experience, you probably don't have to have shadowing. However, since you are applying to several different programs and some will value it, as @LizzyM says, it's probably a good idea to get some shadowing in specialties or areas other than the one you are working.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Dusting off this article

Pre-Med Preparation: The Importance of Physician Shadowing - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

For me, I always talk about "clinical exposure" which would include shadowing and clinical volunteering or employment.

 

[RunnerDad]

I’ll have a few hundred hours of clinical experience as a medical assistant by the time I submit my primary. My job entails working with physicians.


How necessary is it to have “Shadowing” as its own activity ?

It really comes down to how varied your regular clinical job is, in terms of your clinical exposure. Someone who is an MA or scribe with a neurosurgical (neck and spine) outpatient clinic, for example, may never set foot in a hospital OR, and might want the opportunity to shadow their physician as they perform a craniotomy at their affiliated hospital (a 6-8 hour surgery). It's not something they would regularly get to do, and even the neurosurgeon doesn't get to do this kind of surgery very often. Best to approach this from a growth mindset instead of something that may be needed to check the box.

 

[cj_cregg]

Agreed - your MA experience will be a huge benefit, but my own MA misses a big part of my job. For one, she never sees me actually interact with our patients except when she is assisting me with a procedure. She also doesn't see what it's like when I go over to the hospital to see my inpatients as others have mentioned.

I think I would encourage you to spend a day shadowing doctors in 3-4 other specialties/care settings (eg if you're a primary care MA, see if you can shadow a surgeon, a hospitalist, a specialist, etc). You really don't need more than 50 hrs.

 

[notabot81]

Thanks for the advice everybody! I'm going to list my shadowing on my app.
I've done shadowing at previous jobs as well as at my current one. In my previous research role, the shadowing was very clear because I was standing around and watching. In my current job, the shadowing is a bit more ambiguous since I try to help scribe / fetch supplies while shadowing.

Since there's only one spot to list contact person and organization for each activity, I guess I'll list my current employer and supervisor.

 

[Goro]

I’ll have a few hundred hours of clinical experience as a medical assistant by the time I submit my primary. My job entails working with physicians.


How necessary is it to have “Shadowing” as its own activity ?

The purpose of shadowing is so you can see what a physician's day is like, and how different Physicians approach dealing with patients.