Shadowing is a valuable way to gain exposure to how a doctor thinks and what their work looks like day to day. You spend time learning from watching a physician interact with patients. To complement the insights gained from shadowing, we recommend seeking experience where you have an active role and personal responsibility for being a part of the health care team, even if your role is as simple as making sure that beds are made and patients have water.
Additionally, shadowing is largely a passive experience and is mainly for your benefit. We encourage you to supplement your shadowing experience with something more hands-on that helps others. It may be that the physician you plan to shadow already has this in mind and will allow you to sit with patients or their families as they wait for the physician or assist administrative staff with tasks — pure shadowing is a good first step, but something where you are able to contribute to and not just benefit from the clinical experience is recommended.
After all, part of the reason you want to be a doctor is to help others — demonstrate that interest by finding ways that you can help! If you plan to practice in the United States, it would benefit you to have familiarity with the way that healthcare is organized and delivered in the US. You can gain some of this through GHP classes, reading on your own, following the news, etc. If you have an interest in global health, try reaching out to physicians in the US who work in that sphere.
If you worked with US-trained physicians abroad e. Volunteering and shadowing abroad can add valuable perspective, of course. It makes us nervous when students talk about doing more abroad than they can here—you do not want to perform any procedures or otherwise interact with patients in ways that are beyond your training.
Before heading off to gain clinical experience abroad, take a look at the guidelines provided by the Association of American Medical Colleges for providing patient care outside of the US. There are many ways to shadow without paying a high price for it, such as reaching out to alumni physicians or participating in a program like the Summer Health Professions Enrichment Program which provides a stipend or the Premed Volunteer Program at St.
Mary Medical Center. We recommend looking for programs that follow the AAMC guidelines for students during clinical experiences abroad and being sure that you follow them yourself. The program outlines suggestions on how to fundraise; to our knowledge, Princeton students have not received university funding for the program. There has been a recent proliferation of companies that coordinate this kind of abroad experience, and they have pros and cons as outlined in this NPR podcast: The Risk and Unexpected Benefits of Sending Health Students Abroad.
We at HPA feel most comfortable with programs that are partnering with campus programs like IIP and PICS — that way, we know that you have support from Princeton and that the programs have been vetted. We maintain a list of summer programs in which Princeton prehealth students have participated on the Clinical Experience page of our website, but we do not endorse any particular programs; we recommend considering what these programs offer critically, and using the AAMC and ADEA guidelines for providing patient care internationally as you evaluate organizations.
Also keep in mind that there are many vulnerable and underserved populations in the US who would benefit greatly from your assistance as a volunteer for the summer — do not feel that you can only make a difference by traveling abroad.
Jump to main content. What counts as clinical experience? Is their perspective sufficiently concrete and gained from personal experience? Has this applicant started to develop a good "bedside manner" and ability to care for people from diverse backgrounds who have medical needs?
Where do they see themselves longterm? Is this applicant ready to navigate in hospital and clinical environments and work successfully as a team member within them? Shadowing : short-term, passive opportunity to get a glimpse into a certain specialty by following a doctor in their day to day work.
Medical schools want to see that you can be committed to something for a long period of time. Of course, you will want to show that you are interested in volunteering without compensation, Medical Schools understand that you have to pay the bills, so paid clinical experiences are ideal.
It still shows you are determined. Finding a job is relatively easy. But finding a paid clinical position that you actually contribute to can be a challenge.
Take scribing for an example. Even though you are paid, this is a very valuable clinical experience for this reason alone.
It shows you can overcome challenges. By the way, if you are thinking about scribing, here is a post I wrote with tips to make scribing easier. Shadowing is observing a doctor treat a patient, clinical experience involves you working with patients.
Very different. This is something I wish I did. It is easy to get a letter of recommendation from a teacher as long as you are getting good grades or working hard to improve. And unfortunately, it is required by medical schools. Especially if you are applying to D. They will want to see a letter of recommendation from a D. As soon as you start doing any kind of clinical experience working alongside doctors, start thinking about how you are going to ask for a letter of recommendation.
Therefore, I would highly recommend that you engage your shadowing physician and build a mentoring relationship with them. In preparation for applying to medical school, having a letter of recommendation from a mentor-physician will go a long way in making you a competitive applicant.
Therefore, I would encourage future applicants to look into paid positions such as working as a certified medical assistant CMA , emergency room scribes, emergency room techs, phlebotomist or even becoming an EMT. If you have difficulty finding shadowing opportunities or a paid position, there are creative ways in which you can gain clinical experiences.
Students are often enticed to go overseas for their clinical experiences. Although these opportunities do provide patient care exposure, you must remember that being exposed to medical care in the United States should be a priority because one day you will be licensed to take care of patients in our country.
When it comes to clinical experiences, quality is more important than quantity. I would encourage you to seek out various clinical experiences in preparation for applying to medical school. One hundred hours with various specialties or patient care experiences will look better than many more hours spent in one specialty.
To most admissions officers, having a variety of clinical patient care experiences is often used as an important criterion during the holistic review process and can separate you as a competitive applicant for medical school. And ultimately, this experience has led me to want to be a physician. I volunteered for eight months, one day per week, so about hours at a community health clinic in the U. During the same period, I shadowed a family medicine doctor, an EM resident, a general surgery resident, and an internal medicine resident, totaling 56 hours.
Any thoughts are gratefully received. Shadowing residents is typically not something considered useful. You want to shadow attending physicians. Volunteering for eight months at a community health clinic is great.
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