Struggling to find the time to fit in your shadowing hours for medical school on top of work, school, and life? I’ve been there! Did you know you could knock out some of your shadowing hours without ever having to leave the comfort of your home office chair? But does virtual shadowing count for medical school?
Virtual shadowing presents an excellent alternative to in-person shadowing for pre-med students who need a little bit more flexibility. Keep reading to learn all about virtual shadowing for medical school, including what it’s like and how you can find opportunities.
This post is all about answering: does virtual shadowing count for medical school.
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Answering: Does Virtual Shadowing Count For Medical School?
What Is Virtual Shadowing?
Many medical schools expect prospective students to complete a certain amount of shadowing hours. When you do clinical shadowing, you will follow an employee in the medical field throughout their normal work day. You need to closely observe their actions, decisions, and responsibilities. Doing so helps you learn more about what it’s actually like to work in medicine on a day to day basis.
Though most shadowing positions don’t allow students the opportunity to do much hands-on work, it does give them a good chance to observe different medical professions and see which ones may be the best fit for them. With more than 135 medical specialties and subspecialties to choose from, narrowing down what you want to do with your medical degree can be difficult, but shadowing is a great way to see what you like and don’t like firsthand without making a commitment.
Virtual shadowing is very similar to in-person shadowing. The main difference is that it’s done completely online. Telemedicine is huge right now. It has opened up the doors for pre-med students to complete their shadowing hours in a new and more convenient way.
When you do virtual shadowing, you will usually observe through a video conferencing software like Zoom or Skype. Or, depending on where you choose to shadow, the clinic may have their own telemedicine software you can use. You may sit in on telemedicine calls, talk with patients, or observe daily in-person operations.
Virtual Shadowing Doctors for Medical School
A vast majority of medical schools acknowledge virtual shadowing hours as part of your general clinical shadowing requirements. While not all schools have a set requirement for shadowing hours, others may expect you to complete anywhere between 12 and 75 hours. Make sure you check the requirements for the schools on your list. Also, try to aim toward the top of the recommended range.
However, my personal recommendation is that you don’t exceed 40 shadowing hours, whether they’re in-person or virtual. Once you get that solid taste of what shadowing is like, you should be more than ready to jump into clinical experience. This will be your chance to take a much more hands-on approach.
Don’t skip the shadowing phase because it’s helpful to have both shadowing and clinical experience. However don’t feel like you have to complete hundreds of shadowing hours before you can move on.
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Pros of Virtual Shadowing
You may be skeptical of virtual shadowing at first, but many students have found it to be a valuable way to knock out more of their shadowing hours and broaden their perspectives. Let’s go over some of the main benefits of choosing to try out virtual shadowing.
1. Shadow Remotely
Hands down the best thing about virtual shadowing is that you can do it from the comfort of your own home office. You’ll have your complete set-up right there ready to go with all the resources you could ever need for note-taking.
Plus, as soon as you finish for the day, you can immediately go straight to your journal. You can write down how it went. Keeping a detailed journal of your shadowing hours will help you recall the experiences if you end up writing about them on your medical school applications. Don’t skip this simple step that could make your future tasks so much easier!
Shadowing from home can also be a great way to ease into shadowing the first few times if you’re nervous about going in-person. Being surrounded by the familiar environment of your home office may help you relax as you adjust to this new activity.
2. Convenience for Scheduling
Another great thing about virtual shadowing is the flexibility. It can be way easier to fit virtual shadowing into a tightly packed schedule. This set up doesn’t require you to commute anywhere. All you have to do is sit down at your computer for a few hours.
Virtual shadowing is especially convenient if you already have a connection with the person you plan to shadow. You might end up with some unexpected free time throughout the week because you have a half day at work or your plans get canceled. Rather than sitting around at home doing nothing, you can call the person you want to shadow. See if they would be open to virtual shadowing that day.
3. Open Up More Opportunities
Virtual shadowing opens you up to way more opportunities than in-person shadowing alone. With in-person shadowing, you’re usually confined to a relatively small area because you have to physically travel to the location. Since you can only shadow medical professionals who work near enough for you to commute to them, your options are more limited. There might not be someone who works in one of the specialities you’re interested in nearby.
With virtual shadowing, you can forget that problem completely. Shadowing online allows you to connect with medical professionals around the country, or even around the world. There are no restrictions on the specialties you can explore when you have a whole nation of medical professionals available to you for shadowing opportunities.
Limitations of Virtual Shadowing
Of course, there are inevitably some limitations that come with virtual shadowing as well. Here are a few of the challenges to keep in mind when you choose to do virtual shadowing.
1. Not as Hands-On
Shadowing generally tends not to be hands-on, especially when compared to clinical experience. However, you may occasionally run into opportunities to do a few hands-on tasks when in-person shadowing. Those opportunities may not arise as frequently in virtual shadowing. After all, you aren’t physically present in the room, so there may not be much you can do to help out no matter how much you’d like to try.
2. Not as Many Networking Opportunities
In-person shadowing is an excellent opportunity to meet new people and make connections. Being physically in the workplace allows you to chat with other employees outside of just the person you’re shadowing. You might hear interesting stories, learn new perspectives, or even make a connection that leads to another new opportunity in the future.
Unfortunately, networking on this level is difficult to accomplish during virtual shadowing. You most likely won’t have the chance to interact with anyone other than the employee you’re shadowing and perhaps a few patients. That doesn’t mean that virtual shadowing isn’t a viable resource, but it is something to keep in mind as you complete your shadowing hours.
3. Not as Immersed in the Environment
Virtual shadowing also tends to be less immersive compared to in-person shadowing. However, this can be a pro or a con depending on your situation. As I already mentioned, being in your home environment can help you ease into shadowing, especially when you’re nervous to get started.
But, at the same time, not being physically in the workplace means you’re not growing accustomed to what it’s like to work in a clinical environment. The clinical environment can be very fast-paced and stressful, so it helps to expose yourself to it early on in order to give yourself the chance to adjust to those high-stress situations.
For these reasons, if you are interested in virtual shadowing it’s usually best to combine it with some in-person shadowing experiences. This will allow you to have full exposure to the people and environments of the workplace without sacrificing the convenience and opportunities that come with virtual shadowing.
How to Find Virtual Shadowing Positions
Finding a virtual shadowing position is easier than you think. All you have to do is look for physicians who offer telehealth and reach out to them inquiring whether or not they would be open to virtual shadowing. When you email them, let them know what your availability looks like, but remember to stay flexible. Medical professionals are busy, and they might not be able to fit you in right away without some maneuvering.
There are also several organizations that offer free virtual shadowing opportunities via live courses that typically take place over Zoom. These organizations can also connect you with other shadowing opportunities, so they can be a good place to get started.
Here are a few examples:
Final Thoughts
Virtual shadowing can be such a great resource for busy pre-med students who can’t seem to fit everything they need in their packed schedules. Don’t be afraid to give virtual shadowing a shot and see where it takes you. You might even find out you have a passion for a specialty you never considered before!
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