Your questions, answered here on the OldPreMeds Podcast. Ryan again dives into the forums over at OldPreMeds.org where he pulls out a question and deliver the answers right on to you. In today’s episode, Ryan answers a question raised by an NP looking into going to medical school and asks about the need for shadowing experience.

OldPreMeds Question of the Week:

Poster is an NP looking to go back to medical school and become a fully fledged professional. Would want to return to primary care one day as a fully fledged professional on the MD/DO route. As an NP, has worked alongside MD's and DO's in primary care and doing things they do such as patient care. Do you still need to shadow? Is it desirable to still shadow other specialties?

Here are the insights from Ryan:

The goal of shadowing is to really understand what you're getting yourself into.

Shadowing for you may not be required but there is a difference between working as an NP and a physician.

Go out and shadow other specialties to be a little bit more well-rounded and understand the fuller picture of what other physicians may do.

Shadowing in your case isn't for letters of recommendation but for you to get a bigger picture. Don't necessarily go crazy with your hours. Get maybe 10-40 hours and a couple hours here and there.

Links and Other Resources:

www.OldPreMeds.org

www.themcatpodcast.com