The application process is extremely competitive, and if you only meet the bare minimum requirements, you might be overlooked. The average for students applying to average medical schools is 100 hours. This should be your minimum aim if you want to make your application competitive.
If your school does not offer official shadowing programs, another starting point is contacting physicians you already have a connection with. For example, if your family or friends work within medicine or know a physician, ask them to connect you. Some premeds even shadow their own primary care physicians!
The answer is yes, the majority of medical schools have adjusted their requirements and are considering virtual shadowing as a valid option.
Questions to ask while shadowing a doctor
- How did you end up in medicine?
- Why did you choose this specialty?
- Would you do it again if you had to start all over?
- Tell me about the best day on your job.
- Tell me about the worst day you've had.
- What do you think is the biggest challenge in healthcare right now?
So if you are concerned with how to get into med school without shadowing, there are other options for you. Volunteering is a great addition to a medical school application. Volunteering at a hospital or clinic can give you a similar experience to shadowing, depending on your role.
Shadowing is not considered clinical experience because it is usually hands-off, and observational only. However, shadowing allows prospective med students to get clinical exposure so that they know what to expect from a career in medicine.
Q: Is pre-med physician shadowing considered clinical experience? Provided you'll get enough time, exposure, and mentorship, physician shadowing does count as clinical experience.
Shadowing Experience: Strongly recommended – minimum 40 hours verifiable direct shadowing of a PA with at least 20 of those hours spent directly shadowing a PA in a primary care setting (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, or Emergency/Urgent Care Medicine).
Scribing does not count as shadowing. Shadowing is voluntary (usually unpaid) experience with little to no expectation. Scribing is a paid clinical role that generally counts for a lot more on a med school app. But that's not to say you should 100% devote your attention to scribing.
They recommend a minimum of 32 hours and at least 48 hours to be considered competitive. We typically recommend much more, with at least 100-150 hours of direct clinical exposure.
When it comes to your extracurriculars, you have a spot for shadowing. But when it comes to those hours, don't include anything outside of shadowing physicians. So if you've shadowed other healthcare-related fields other than physicians, don't include that in your shadowing hours.
Shadowing means specifically observing the physician-patient interaction. By observing physicians at work, applicants can see how physicians deliver bad news or deal with difficult patients. Applicants will also develop a more realistic understanding of what medicine can and can't do.
As a rough guideline, anything between 50 and 200 hours is going to sound impressive and show that you have made a commitment. However, once you get above 200 hours, you should start to consider if your free time could be better spent doing something else.
Five Ways to Gain Experience Without Shadowing
- Hospice Volunteer. In a recent focus group conducted by the AAMC, medical students cited dealing with the death of a patient as a stressful time in their training.
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
- Volunteer EMT.
- Hospital Scribe.
- Caretaker.
Physicians are not allowed to diagnose, treat, or prescribe independently until they have logged 15,000 to 16,000 clinical hours. Nurse practitioner organizations argue that APNs are prepared to diagnose and prescribe independently after logging between 500 and 1,500 clinical hours.
