<p>I am working at a nursing home this summer for money. I am going to be a junior. As of now I have no volunteer hours, and with work and all, I do not have time to volunteer. The last two years I have been in a research lab.</p>
<p>I plan on doing some shadowing this summer. Just a few hours with this specialist and a few hours with that specialist. Should I volunteer instead of shadow? I fear my only inadequacy on the application will be volunteering. Grades are great. Have not taken MCAT yet.</p>
<p>Well the last summer I worked full time at a nursing home, and I am doing so again this year. My job at the nursing home is not a paper pushing job. I am dealing with the residents of the home all day. Its just that I am getting paid and not doing it for free.</p>
<p>I discussed “shadowing” at adcom today and ALL agreed that there is NO VALUE in shadowing with the exception if you are not sure you want to do medicine. Plus with HIPAA rules, you probably cannot shadow at the hospital. Ours won’t let you.</p>
<p>Similar for going to Ecuador for volunteer work; better to go to inner city where you live.</p>
<p>Working in a nursing home is much more valuable than even volunteering. Hey, we realize you have bills to pay. Work in a hospital as an aide or phlebotomist.</p>
<p>^ Really? That’s interesting. I thought shadowing would be. I guess it doesn’t hurt.</p>
<p>Princess’Dad, could you enlighten me as to why research is looked upon so favorably for med school admission? I’ve never figured out exactly why. I do it, and I enjoy it, I just don’t really know why it’s good for medical school.</p>
<p>ZF, one reason could be that it gets you to think scientifically. If you’ve been involved in research, you are more likely to go back to the research when looking at treatment options instead of prescribing whichever drug happens to be advertised on the nearest pen or clipboard! Another could be that doing research requires reviewing the relevant research literature first and this gets you used to reading research articles, which will be helpful for the kinds of reading you’ll be doing in med school as well as professionally. Furthermore, while the kind of clinical experience you can get prior to med school is not going to be anything like what a doc does, you can get some very good research experience at the undergraduate level that may be somewhat like the research many docs find themselves doing in mid- and late-career. Finally, I’ve noticed some med schools have all their MD students do scholarly projects. These projects would be far more likely to turn out well if you’ve had previous research/scholarly experience.</p>
<p>I know for OHSU SOM they def. look at shadowing hours, so just to be on the safe side I would shadow and get a feel for medical care and the health industry.</p>
<p>Well, you need clinical experience. Some students have a long-term shadowing opportunity which helps fill that role. But you need SOMETHING there.</p>
<p>You don’t need “Clinical Experience” to check off a spot on your applications. Adcoms see right through that and toss those application.</p>
<p>You need to be able to explain why you want to go into medicine. If it is because you shadowed a doc, ok. If it is because you were dying a doc saved your life and changed you around, ok. One of most interesting was an engineer who wanted to build artifical hearts and wanted his MD to help him do so.</p>
<p>As per reseach. Depends on which school you are going to. If you are going to Harvard which turns out academic docs, then having been first or second author is great (just spending the summer in the lab does not count). If you are going to a school that turns out clinical family docs, then research is not the way in.</p>
<p>We recently had the quarterback of a major college apply. He stood out. He had done no research, no shadowing and did not have an A average. But he excelled as a quarterback and got great grades after the time he spent practicing. Had a kid who was special forces in Iraq. He just graduated with highest honors. No shadowing, no research.</p>
<p>Second. Shadowing is really NOT ALLOWED any more with HIPAA rules. Any doc who lets you do so isin violation of federal rules.</p>
<p>While that’s fair enough, I think you need some time in a hospital, with doctors, to establish that you’re not naive about what the field does. Walking in and declaring that you want to be a doctor (based on… Grey’s Anatomy?) without ground experience is a red flag.</p>
<p>I know plenty of ADCOMs that would say the exact opposite of this statement. I also have some friends that have been told that they didn’t have enough clinical experience on their application, when they asked the office on why they didn’t get in. </p>
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<p>Maybe where you are, but most doctors I’ve been around don’t care. The only ones I’ve seen do that are at the private, non-teaching hospitals. Which I think is expected.</p>
<p>ASMAJ
I have been involved with 4 adcoms and in none of them was “shadowing” required nor is it at meetings.</p>
<p>One of the large medical schools in the NE (not Yale, but…) got fined $50,000 for allowing a doc to take a student on rounds and the OR. HIPAA specifically forbids anyone not involved in your care to violate your privacy. If you are at a teaching hospital, there is a consent/statement for medical students and residents. However, as the NE school found out, a high school or college student does not qualify. With HIPAA enforcement and education becoming more common, it will be out. </p>
<p>Your comment “most of the doctors don’t care” means uneducated docs who are liable. The old “put a white coat on a kid and introduce him as doctor or your student” does not hold any more.</p>
<p>That being said,
I agree with you in that you need to show why you want to be a doctor. There are other ways. Working in a hospital as an aide or a phebotomist is probably the best way. Getting a summer job volunteering in a hospital in another. Get a job in a doctor’s office. Some medical schools have clinical courses that college students can take (Stanford and UCSD had a clinical pathology course)</p>
<p>What I have heard is that the prospective applicant needs to have extensive experience with the health care system in the United States at least for medical schools that are more focused toward turning out primary care physicians. The adcom told me that the easiest way to get a better understanding of the system is to have extensive shadowing.</p>
<p>He must not have attended the “Group on Student Affairs (GSA) Professional Development Conference for Medical School Admissions Officers”. It is no longer recommended by most Adcoms for everyone and because of HIPAA. Again, the question is “why do you…”</p>