<p>I want to job shadow to get some clinical experience. I shadowed an ER doctor for a 12 hour shift yesterday and found it really interesting. I'm allowed to keep shadowing as much as I like. I for some reason in my head think I need 200 hours of clinical experience. Is that about right? </p>
<p>I mean, I told them that's how much I need and they said that would be fine but I don't want to be there anymore than I need to be.</p>
<p>The advice my son got from his pre-health folks is that 50-60 hours of shadowing is more than enough.</p>
<p>there is no minimum or maximum. Some people will be in the 200 range, some will be in the 50-60 range. Shadowing is the closest thing you’ll get to seeing what doctors do and ER is just one specialty. Shadow him until you get bored and then do another type of physician.</p>
<p>@ i<em>wanna</em>be_brown
How do you track the time for this shadowing. Is it just the candidate telling in the application that he or she shadowed a doctor, or the hours have to documented through some mechanism?
Please advise.</p>
<p>Many people keep a diary while they are shadowing documenting dates and hours. On AMCAS, it’s the honor system w/r/t reporting the number of hours. However, for each instance of shadowing that you list, you will be asked for the name and contact info of the person you shadowed. Medical school adcoms have been known to spot check.</p>
<p>IOW, on your AMCAS, you would list:</p>
<p>Shadowed in emergency room at ______ hospital 20 hours Jan-Apr 2011<br>
Dr. Joan Smith (555)555-5555—ext 55</p>
<p>NOT:</p>
<p>Shadowed --200 hours</p>
<p>@wayoutwestmom
Thanks.</p>
<p>what WOWMom said. They obviously don’t check every thing on every application but they do check some stuff and I can guarantee you an applicant with 1 honest hour of shadowing has a better shot than the one with 50 hours who gets caught lying and said they had 200.</p>
<p>Yeah, medical schools are very big on ethical behavior…and that includes not lying your application.</p>
<p>Would observing a surgery in the operating room count as shadowing?</p>
<p>Yes (10 char)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>for the record all activities are listed as </p>
<p>X/201X - X/201X
Hours/Week: X</p>
<p>not simply total hours performed</p>
<p>While on the topic of listing activities in AMCAS, I’d highly recommend creating a “headline” for each of your activities to use as your descriptor, rather than just the title of it.</p>
<p>Example: instead of “Shadowing” (title) and “6/2012-1/2013, hours/wk: 2” I’d recommend writing “Shadowed pediatric oncologist in inpatient setting, 75hrs” (title) and “6/2012-1/2013, hours/wk: 2”. </p>
<p>Instead of “Baseball” and “5/2009-5/2013, hours/wk: 12” I’d recommend “Captain, men’s varsity baseball, NCAA div IA, 4yrs”</p>
<p>Instead of “Alpha Zeta” I’d recommend “VP recruitment for sorority” (purposely leaving off chapter affiliation)</p>
<p>Your goal is to communicate as much information in as short of space as possible! I was surprised at how many interviewers asked me specific questions about my activities list (I used all available spaces) until I realized they were basically regurgitating the titles I created. Who knows if they read the descriptions–but it seems like they definitely read the titles. </p>
<p>OK, back to the original topic :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This has changed.
The new format is:</p>
<p>x/201x - x/201x
Total Hours: x (max 999)</p>