Although there is no magic number of shadowing hours you need for medical school, we recommend 100 hours.
Does Scribing Count As Shadowing?
Getting into medical school is very difficult. There are hundreds of things you can do to make your application stand out. However, premed students are extremely busy with the difficult courses we must take so sometimes compromises must be made to get everything done.
For example, shadowing hours. Most medical schools want to see that you shadowed a physician before applying. But what if you scribed, could you use that in place of shadowing?
Does Scribing Count As Shadowing?
Technically speaking, scribing does not count as shadowing when you list this experience on your medical school application. However, practically speaking, scribing has become more and more evident to medical school admissions committees as more involved shadowing. Therefore, many medical schools will view scribing as shadowing hours if you lack traditional shadowing hours.
Scribing is a fairly new way for premed students to receive clinical experience. During the first few years that scribing was a thing, few medical schools actually understood it to be what it actually was. Because of this, medical schools were more skeptical of students claiming that scribing was the same as shadowing.
However, as scribing has become more and more popular, virtually all admission committee members understand that every scribe shadows their physicians to obtain an accurate report of the electronic record.
In my opinion, scribing includes everything you can get from simply shadowing a physician but forces you to really pay attention to everything that is happening. In other words, scribing is shadowing on steroids.
You may not put your scribing hours into the “shadowing” section of the medical school general application, but it can certainly be viewed as shadowing by the medical schools you are applying to.
What Counts As Shadowing Experience
By definition, shadowing is any experience that involves closely following a physician while she or he progresses through their workday. You are gaining first-hand experience of what it is like to be a doctor, how they treat their patients, and the everyday struggles they go through.
Traditionally, shadowing is unpaid and includes following any kind of medical specialty. Whether that specialty is working in a private clinic or a level one trauma center.
Knowing this general definition of shadowing, we can make the connection that scribing is much like shadowing. As a scribe, you literally follow the doctor around all day and record all the pertinent information they receive from the patients they treat.
Scribing Vs Shadowing
As I’ve stated in this article, in practice scribing and shadowing are very similar if not the same thing. But of course, there are some key differences.
Can You Get Into Medical School With Scribing Experience But No Shadowing Experience?
Yes, you can. Medical schools look at your application holistically. If other aspects of your application such as clinical experience or your MCAT score are strong, these can make up for a lack of shadowing experience which is normally very important. Plus more and more medical schools understand that scribing is a lot like shadowing.
There are plenty of premed students who get into medical school without shadowing experience every year, don’t be discouraged if you haven’t had the opportunity.
Is Scribing Better Than Shadowing?
In some ways, scribing is better than shadowing. It’s paid, observing the physician is more active because you must record everything, and it can also count as clinical experience.
However, shadowing physicians does have its advantages. One advantage is that you have more control of who you shadow.
Most scribes end up scribing ER physicians because they are the kinds of physicians that need scribes the most. Although there are scribes for other specialties, you are often restricted to where the needs in the market are.
Shadowing, on the other hand, gives you more opportunities to shadow other specialties. You are only limited to the number of different physicians you are willing to reach out to!
Also, scribing can be pretty intense and stressful sometimes. Shadowing is generally laid back and chill. You aren’t paid so you aren’t expected to perform well. However, make sure you are always professional!
Does Scribing Count As Clinical Experience?
Yes, scribing is considered clinical experience. This is sometimes debated because you aren’t interacting with patients as a scribe.
However, scribes do work closely with physicians and other health care workers. Because of this, the medical school’s across the board view scribing as clinical experience.
Is Scribing Good For Medical School?
As a scribe, you are allowed to work closely with physicians. Not only are you following them around all day, but you are performing an important task for them, completing their electronic chart.
Because of this, scribing requires that you have a solid understanding of medical terminology and how to pinpoint the relevant information in a medical examination.
Medical schools understand how much you learn as a scribe and therefore value this experience. Not only does is the stuff you learn relevant for medical school but you also get the first-hand experience of what it’s like to be a physician.
How To Become A Medical Scribe
Becoming a medical scribe is much easier than you might think.
There are large scribing companies all over the united states which seek out premed students who have no experience scribing. They then train you to be a scribe and before you know it you are recording information in electronic medical charts.
After obtaining around a year of experience, you then have the opportunity to seek higher-paying scribe jobs with private clinics. Physicians running their own practices do not want to hire people without scribing experience because they usually do not have the time or resources to train them.
How Many Hours Of Shadowing Do You Need For Med School?
Although there is no magic number of shadowing hours you need for medical school, we recommend 100 hours.
Medical schools like seeing shadowing hours because it shows that you have a better understanding of what a career in medicine is like. Ideally, you want to shadow multiple different doctors as well in order to demonstrate an even better understanding of the industry as a whole.
Therefore, you can get by with fewer hours if you can demonstrate elsewhere in your application that you have a good idea of what you are getting yourself into. Scribing can definitely help demonstrate this because it is essentially the same as shadowing a physician.
Scribe without Shadowing Experience
I am currently an ED scribe and plan on having at least 1000 hours of scribing completed before the end of the summer. Since this job is essentially shadowing+, how necessary is it to have other shadowing listed on the AMCAS application?
I plan to scribe before actually attending school, but I am unsure if I really have the time/should dedicate the time to shadowing another physician before applying this June.
How much of a detriment is it for a scribe to not have other shadowing activities before applying?
Keight
Full Member
I have been a medical scribe for the past three years and have worked in both the ED and a family practice. By the time I applied this past year, I had 2000+ hours of scribing and 0 hours of shadowing (I still haven’t even shadowed). I was accepted to one of my state MD schools, a DO school, and was waitlisted at another MD school. While I can’t for certain say whether not having any shadowing hours is bad for an application, I personally do not feel like it was a detriment to my acceptances. During my interviews, I had plenty of clinical experience to talk about and always referred to scribing as “active shadowing.” If not having shadowing on your application is something that you think you may regret down the road, go ahead and do it now no matter whether it would really hurt your application. The rejection throughout the application process is hard enough even without the doubt of thinking that you could have done something simple to improve your chances.
scribeguy11
Full Member
I was told by adcom of UAB that formal shadowing is still recommended along with scribe experience.statlin98
Full Member
Joined Jan 13, 2015 Messages 130 Reaction score 104The notion that scribing should not count as shadowing is extremely frustrating. Anyone who has ever scribed knows it’s essentially shadowing on steroids. I really think the notion comes from a lack of awareness on what scribes really do.
robojobo
Full Member
If you’re scribing in one setting it could be a problem. Go shadow a PCP for like 30 hours, you can do like 4 hours a week for the summer and that’ll be fine
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
deleted446889
I have been a medical scribe for the past three years and have worked in both the ED and a family practice. By the time I applied this past year, I had 2000+ hours of scribing and 0 hours of shadowing (I still haven’t even shadowed). I was accepted to one of my state MD schools, a DO school, and was waitlisted at another MD school. While I can’t for certain say whether not having any shadowing hours is bad for an application, I personally do not feel like it was a detriment to my acceptances. During my interviews, I had plenty of clinical experience to talk about and always referred to scribing as “active shadowing.” If not having shadowing on your application is something that you think you may regret down the road, go ahead and do it now no matter whether it would really hurt your application. The rejection throughout the application process is hard enough even without the doubt of thinking that you could have done something simple to improve your chances.
Keight
Full Member
My LizzyM is ~70 (GPA 3.95 and MCAT 30).
Like someone mentioned above, I think it would be a good idea to shadow in another field if you will only be working in the ED. I got the chance to scribe in both emergency and family practice, so I got to experience a wider subset of medicine. People on SDN are always talking about the importance of shadowing PCP’s and it wouldn’t hurt your application in the long run.
wb100
Full Member
I’m in the same boat. Have 3000+ scribing hours but I would agree that doing some shadowing won’t hurt. I’ll have around 100 by the time I apply but anything more is excessive because of our exposure as scribes. For me scribing didn’t allow me to learn at times because we would be so busy. my priority was to complete the EMR. Shadowing felt more one on one with patients and the physician. There was no urgency in completing charts which allowed me to just focus on learning.
My ED was really packed and we saw 30+ patients in a shift. This might vary at other hospitals. Just my 2 cents.
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
rewind100.24
Full Member
I would really love to shadow a family practice doc, but I really don’t have any long periods of free time with my job scribing. How would most physicians feel about 4 hour chunks of shadowing spread throughout a month?
Dr. Cheddar
Full Member
I had a similar situation to what Keight shared above. I had 1000+ scribing hours by the time I applied (ED only though) and not once did I do any other shadowing. I was able to get multiple MD acceptances and only once did I perceive a problem with this. One interviewer asked me where my shadowing was and I tried to explain what scribing was and that I had done this for a year and a half. He seemed to balk at this answer and this ended up being the only school that I was rejected at post-II. I do think most of the problems with scribing being viewed as inadequate arise from what another poster above said about some not really knowing what scribes do and how involved we are.
Shaq
Full Member
I honestly don’t think having a clinical shadowing experience beyond the 1000+ hours of scribing adds any value to any of your medical school applications. Your efforts are better spent trying to get as high an MCAT score as possible. If any of you are early in the process, try pursuing experiences that add meaning and value to your life, rather than trying to do things that might “impress” a medical school ADCOM. Find out what you like doing, that is productive, and then go do it well.
To be clear – even 1000 hours of scribing might be a bit excessive. At that point you’ve clearly hit a threshold sufficient for an ADCOM to “check the box” on clinical experiences.
