Shadowing is one of those boxes almost every PA program wants checked, and it's also one of the hardest to figure out when you don't know a single PA.

In this episode I'm walking through exactly how to find shadowing hours from scratch. I start with the people you already know, because you'd be surprised how often someone's cousin or neighbor turns out to be a PA. Then I get into reaching out on social media, and I tell you about the cold calling I did to medical offices back when I was in your shoes.

It's awkward. Do it anyway. Most people say yes.

What I cover:

Why programs care about shadowing and how many hours you actually need

Starting with your existing network before anything else

How to message a PA on social media without being weird about it

Cold calling offices and what to say when someone picks up

What to do when you keep getting turned down

How to get the most out of the hours once you're there

Resources:

Free application timeline so you know when shadowing needs to be done: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Check shadowing requirements program by program with the PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Want help building your plan? Book a pre-PA counseling session: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Welcome to the Pre PA Club podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Hey, guys.

Welcome to today's episode.

Today we're going to be talking all about shadowing.

So for PA school, one of the main requirements or recommended requirements for many programs is that you have shadowing hours.

And when it comes to these shadowing hours, it's important that you actually have spent time shadowing a pa.

So a lot of schools you can enter on caspa, anything you've shadowed, from doctors to nurse practitioners or nurses or physical therapists.

And.

And while it's great to show that you have explored other career options, at the end of the day, what the programs really care about is that you have been able to shadow a physician assistant and that you have a really strong understanding of what all is involved in the profession, what the daily roles and responsibilities look like, what the relationship with the supervising physician looks like, and, and making sure that you know what you're getting yourself into and that you have a strong understanding of the job that you will hopefully have one day.

So one question that comes up a ton is how do I get shadowing hours?

It is not the easiest thing.

And as a practicing pa, I can tell you that there is difficulty in having students shadow.

And it's something that I enjoy, but it's not something that I can do every day.

And especially in what I do as a dermatology pa, it's difficult because the majority of my patients are naked.

There's already myself in the room, my medical assistant, and to add another body to that, when patients are already nervous, they're undressed, a lot of times it makes them even more nervous.

And sometimes they will say no, because typically, even if we do have student shadow, we ask the patients if it's okay if a student comes in the room.

So it can be difficult, especially if someone calls and I have no idea who they are, no background.

It's a little bit difficult to let somebody come in and shadow, not knowing much about them.

So I'm going to give you some tips and pointers on ways to find PAs to reach out to and ways to go about asking them to shadow and how to get these hours that are so, so important.

So how many hours do you need?

Let's start with that, too.

So there's not a set number for most programs.

The program that I went to, Augusta University, they actually did have a requirement of 100 shadowing hours.

And they didn't require, but recommended that you had at least three different small specialties or areas.

So that could be again, specialties.

DERM, orthopedics, ENT, radiology.

There might be radiology, PAs, but that just came in my head.

Internal medicine, primary care, urgent care, hospital versus or versus outpatient clinic.

Just looking at different areas.

Again, to show that you've seen a variety of what a PA is able to do, but in most cases, there's not a required amount of hours.

The more the better.

But don't make that your primary focus if you have other areas that you need to work on.

So let's see my first tip.

So the number one best way to find shadowing hours is to use your connections.

And this means anyone that you know of, this can be.

This doesn't have to be PAs or doctors.

This could be nurses or somebody who works just in a doctor's office or in a hospital and may have interactions with a PA or with someone who knows a pa. You never know.

So really, even if you feel like I don't know anyone in the medical field, I have no idea who to ask.

Ask everyone, because you just don't know who may say, hey, my sister's a PA or my cousin's a pa and they can hook you up with somebody shadow.

And usually if you can get one PA to let you shadow, they'll have other contacts and friends that you can get in touch with as well.

So don't be scared to ask.

The worst thing that happens is that they say no or they don't know anyone.

But it's really important to be able to ask and just be willing to take that risk.

And then even maybe you've gone to a doctor's office your whole life.

Do they have a PA that you could shadow?

It may be worth asking.

What it comes down to is the fact that it's easier to say yes to someone if there's at least a little bit of a connection there or someone to vouch for you.

And that makes sense if you have somebody saying, hey, I know this person.

They're a great person.

They are doing this hard work.

They really want to be a pa.

They're normal, they're not creepy.

That helps.

So just having somebody to kind of put in a good word for you can be really helpful.

So try to think, brainstorm if there's anyone that you feel like could do that for you.

When I was finding people to shadow, I ended up, gosh, it was my dad's friend who worked at a hospital who knew a pa and so he knew the PA and the doctor the PA worked for.

So he talked to both of them and I was able to actually shadow both of them.

But this guy barely knew me.

He was really nice and I was so thankful that he was willing to go out on a ledge for me and help me in achieving my goals.

But I would have never thought to ask him for.

For help.

And it was actually my dad who was like, hey, maybe we should ask this guy.

He has connections with a hospital and it worked out.

So again, get out of your comfort zone.

Just ask.

Let's see my next tip here.

Use any resource you have available.

I think even these days with the Internet, that's, that's a huge resource.

Obviously there are things like Facebook and LinkedIn.

You may never get a response, but what if you do?

So I actually not to shadow, but before an interview, reached out to a PA on Facebook and basically said, hey, I'm interviewing at the program you attended.

I knew your mom.

She was a high school teacher at one of my schools.

And do you have any tips?

Could I talk to you about it?

And she was so gracious in letting me call her and talk to me for 15 minutes, which more than anything just calmed my nerves and gave me a little reassurance that I was going to be okay and that the interview wasn't as scary as I was expecting it to be.

Now, she did not have to talk to me, but I was very appreciative that she did.

So use your resources.

I've heard of other PA students, actually, if you're not a part of our Facebook group.

I run a Facebook group with Brian from mypa resource called the Pre PA Club.

I'm obviously very creative with names, but make sure you join that club.

And there are a lot of people asking questions about shadowing and sharing their tips there.

So that's a great resource.

Other options.

A lot of students on there have gone on LinkedIn and reached out to PAS and said that they had success with actually getting people to respond and let them come shadow.

So that's an option.

Other things.

So this is kind of a strange one if you have a phone book.

So when I was in college, one day they dropped a phone book off at my apartment, like the old fashioned huge paperback one.

And I just sat down with that phone book.

I was struggling to find pas de shadow.

I didn't know anyone in Athens at uga.

And so I went through the phone book and I called every single doctor's office listed in the phone book.

And I would call up and I would say, hi, do you have a physician assistant that works there?

And if they said no, I would just say, okay, thank you.

But if they said yes, I would ask if they had any shadowing opportunities.

And so out of every single person in the whole entire phone book, I left some messages, didn't really get any calls back.

Two offices asked for my resume, which I thought was strange because it wasn't like I was a pa.

I didn't really have much on there, but I sent them my resume.

And then one place said yes.

Really?

No questions asked.

They basically just said, yes, we have a pa she does let people shadow.

And it was a dermatology office.

That PA was awesome.

It's really cool now that I'm in dermatology because I was able to email her and say, hey, guess what?

I'm doing derm too.

And so we haven't run into to each other at any conferences yet, but I'm waiting on the day that that happens just to thank her again.

But this all just goes to say, you will get no's, but all you need is one yes.

And I was able to go shadow her either weekly or every other week for a whole afternoon.

And she was so gracious in letting me do that.

So it was definitely worth all of my cold calls and all these awkward conversations.

Being a PA now, one tip that I would say is if you call an office, ask to speak to the office manager or to leave a message for them, because they are the ones that are most likely to actually get in contact with the PA and get that set up.

So if you just leave a message with upfront, it may never make it back to the pa or they may not really know what you're talking about.

But if you're able to speak to the office manager, you have a much higher chance of getting a call back.

And also check any hospitals in your area and see if they just have a shadowing program.

There can be a lot of red tape with these where you have to do a ton of paperwork and it can take some time to actually get your foot in the door.

But if you're willing to go through all of that, a lot of times they'll let you shadow in different departments, and they'll already have something set up so that the PAs are aware that people come in and shadow.

All right, here's another tip.

Tip number three.

Join some organizations.

And not all organizations offer shadowing experiences, but many do.

So I'm talking about things like the AAPA and your state organizations.

So I'm part of gapa, which is the Georgia PA association, and they, especially in our local area, will send out emails of people looking to shadow who are looking to get hours.

And they will also, they have a job board or not job board, shadowing board, and a list of PAs who do offer shadowing.

So that's a good place to be.

It can cost a little bit of money.

And so if that's something that you're able to do, that may be an option to look and see if you can connect with some PAs in your area to get some shadowing, or at least go to some networking events, meet the PAs, and get to know them before you just ask to shadow.

And that's another tip I have.

Maybe don't start the conversation with asking to shadow.

Maybe ask the pa, if you can just talk to them, if you can ask them a few questions, if you can take them out to coffee and learn about what their job is like, learn about their schooling and just get to know them.

Because if they, if you're in that kind of setting, they get to know you.

You're just asking questions.

They can see that you're a normal person, that maybe you really are motivated to do this, and they might be more likely to let you come shadow in the future.

So you don't always have to jump straight to shadowing.

It can be something that you gradually get into if you're just trying to get to know the PAs and get your foot in the door to get those opportunities.

So those are my tips for shadowing.

And it is tough, and I understand that it can definitely be difficult.

But again, just reach out, keep trying.

Eventually someone will say, yes, PAs are busy, you're busy, and it's just.

It's very, very difficult.

And I understand that.

So in the future, we'll talk about some shadowing etiquette, what to wear, what to do, what not to do, and go through some more shadowing tips.

But for today, your goal is to get out there and try to find some shadowing hours.

Take these tips, even if you just do a couple of them.

Go out, make a few cold calls, get on the Internet, see if you can find some PAs near you, and just put out some feelers to see if there's anyone around you that you can get some hours with.

And I hope that this inspires you to do that.

So until next time, that is your task.

And so I want to thank you so much for listening.

And if you want more information and you want Some links to some posts about shadowing that I have on the PA platform.

You can go to www.thepaplatform.com podcast episode two and I'll have links there that you can read more, look at some posts and go from there.

And then make sure you're following me on Instagram.

I'm always posting tips there at the PA platform.

And if you wouldn't mind, if you can give me a quick review, that would be awesome as I'm trying to get this podcast going to get it out to more people.

And also I want to hear from you.

I want to know what you want to hear about.

Send me your questions, whether online, if you go to that link that I just said, you can leave me a voicemail question, you can email me.

And then until next time I'll be hanging out giving some more Prepa advice.

So thanks for listening.

I just wanted to quickly mention a sponsor of the podcast, MyPA Resource.

If you've never heard of MyPA Resource, a website www.myparesource.com.

And while I offer services like mock interviews, I work with mypa Resource as a personal statement editor.

So mypa Resource has been around for a while now, and I would say just based on everything that's out there, they are the most trusted and most thorough Prepa personal statement editing service.

So with my PA Resource, like I said, I'm an editor, so I help them edit, proofread personal statements for PA school applicants.

We'll talk more about personal statements in the future, but I cannot stress the importance of having your essay proofread by a PA. And that's what makes my PA resource different, is that they only use PAs to do their editing.

And so you want a PA who's familiar with the interview process and the application process before you submit to caspa.

So all the editors, we've been trained, we do a lot of essays and we know what to look for and we know what the admissions committees are looking for.

And so I know when I edit it's very thorough.

I mean, you're going to get a lot of read back, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

So you can use actually a discount code that they have provided to the pre PA Club podcast listeners exclusively.

And you can get $15 off any service when you use the code Prepa Club all in lowercase.

So I'll put that in the description as well.

And if you have any questions about that, please feel free to reach out to me.

You can send them an email too.

But yeah, a great resource that I want you guys to know about.