Shadowing

What Is Shadowing?

Shadowing is when you follow or "shadow" a physician around their work day. You follow them into appointments or even the operating room to observe patient interactions and procedures. These do not count as clinical hours because you are not interacting with any patients; instead, shadowing is meant to give you an inside look into a physician's day to day.

Is Shadowing Important?

I cannot emphasize how important shadowing was for me to solidify my decision that I wanted to work in medicine. It’s one thing to volunteer in clinical settings, but it’s another to actually see what the doctor does in their day to day lives. If that's not enough of a motivation, medical schools will expect you to have shadowing hours on your application as well (at least 75 hours is the advice I was given). I had the opportunity to shadow in gynecology and dermatology and three different doctors.

How Do I get Shadowing?

Shadowing can be hard to get so you may have to go through your network (ask friends, parents, family members, your own physician, etc.) and see if they allow you to shadow or if they may have connections. If you are at a university that has an attached hospital, you can try to email physicians there with your school email ID. If you are interested in DO school, consider shadowing a DO. While I didn’t shadow a DO, I did have a DO who served as a mentor for me through the process and wrote me a letter of recommendation for medical school.