<p>When's the best time to start shadowing? I just finished my freshman year, so should I start this summer or wait?</p>
<p>Freshman year…HS or college? You can shadow any time. Do not have to wait for summer either.</p>
<p>freshman in college</p>
<p>Whenever you want bud.</p>
<p>is shadowing absolutely essential? what if you have 3 yrs+ of being an MA and actually providing clinical services to patients?</p>
<p>A huge reason to shadow is to get a glimpse into what it’s like to actually be a doctor–treating patients is a component of that, but so is everything else…like working with nurses, fellows, residents, and students; juggling a busy schedule (perhaps multiple clinics at multiple locations, or surgery, etc); managing a practice; consulting on other cases, with other doctors, or with other hospitals; working on research, attending meetings, and staying current with journals and such. Beyond the logistics of working as a doctor, you’ll get to watch the process of medicine when you’re shadowing–how physicians think, the tools they use, the methods behind their apparent madness. And even more than that, you’ll probably pick up on so many intangibles–like the nuances of delivering a scary diagnosis, or working with a challenging patient, or the perfect way to celebrate when that CT comes back negative–by getting to know a great clinician.</p>
<p>You’re an MA providing some clinical services to patients. I doubt the services you’re providing are akin to those provided by a doctor–if they were, a doctor would be doing them. So while experience as an MA is certainly a wonderful experience to have, it does not replace learning about medicine by shadowing. </p>
<p>Try not to think of shadowing as “just another hoop to jump through.” See if you can find a physician or two to shadow who really enjoy having you around (establishing this relationship takes some time!) that you can really learn from. I think shadowing gives you an opportunity to see medicine as a profession in way that no other experience can.</p>
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<p>Shadowing is to learn about being a physician. Being a nurse, EMT, or a MA is not a substitute for that because their roles are different from that of a physician.</p>
<p>One school that D. interviewed at did not like her shadowing. However, she stood on her own and gave good pointers on why she was doing it. Needless to say, she did not get in, while other applicant from her UG did. Here is important example of absolutely NOT tailoring your UG life, academics, EC’s to reguirements of specific schools. Do what you feel like doing, where your heart leads you, enjoy it, learn as much as possible, deeply understand your personal reasons why you are doing it, stand on your own, do not let anybody intimidate you. D. had impressive list of acceptances (only 4, but she has applied to only 8 schools) and had great choices for herself. School that was questionning her shadowing was not her favorite. Apparently, D. and this Med. School did not match very well, which is OK, there are other choices.</p>
<p>Shadowing is not, but clinical experience related to being a physician is. I didn’t even put the shadowing that I did on my application, though must people would recommend that you do.</p>