Documenting HCE & shadowing

[J2012]

How is this usually done? I'm going to start gaining HCE and shadowing hours this summer, but I'm unsure of how to document them.

[Guest]

eh I never did. CASPA doesn't require it, and as far as I am aware, schools don't ask for anything official. Just estimate... 40 hrs a week times X amount of months :). Oh get a rec letter from your place of employment, ie from PA, MD, etc who can state how long they've known you.

[Corpsman2PA]

Yeah its really an estimate...they're not gonna ask for pay stubs to verify it all, but I'd stick on the lower side of the estimate. Thats a problem a lot of military folks run into. Having to estimate how much time they spent through deployments, training ops, etc treating patients and working. I say if you stick to the low side you should be okay and not raise any eyebrows. If you say 6,000 hours after only 1.5 years of working in the field it might get a little fishy...

[greenmood]

^Agreed. Find out if the schools require some form of shadowing documentation. I had never heard of such a thing until seeing it referenced a few places here. I think perhaps a few places ask for it in their supplemental applications. As for work, if your hours are sporadic it might be wise to keep a journal of when you've been there. Otherwise estimates should be easy and CASPA only requires your memory for documentation.

[IdahoPA]

It sounds dorky, but I made an Excel sheet to help me estimate since I wanted to be as fair as possible. I've actually referenced it several times, so I think it was helpful.

[J2012]

I have seen a lot of schools say they want documented hours (HCE and shadowing), so I'm assuming that would be for secondaries. I'll have to call one of the schools and ask how they would like it documented. Thanks everyone!

[mackjacks]

I kept a spreadsheet too :) I just kept track of hours weekly because it varied so much while in school. Also had paid hours and volunteer hours separate, then HCE volunteering and non-HCE volunteering. No one has ever asked to see it or questioned anything.

[J2012]

I found this from one school

http://www.hpplc.indiana.edu/ohp/clinicalobservation.shtml

 

Excerpt Log your clinical observation hours

• In a notebook, keep a log of who you shadowed and for how long, their location and contact information, whether it was in-patient or out-patient observation. Also ask if they can sign the entry in case a given program requires more formal reporting of hours - see below.
  
• Applications through central application services like OTCAS, PTCAS, and CASPA have a section where you formally record your observation hours. In this case, you can simply plug in the information you kept in your log.
  
• Not every program uses a central application service, and even some who do may still require you to report hours directly to the program itself using their own forms (for instance, as part of a secondary or supplemental application in addition to the central application service process). In these instances, if you have kept a careful log of your clinical observation experiences as described above, you will be able to use it to fill out subsequent forms.
  
  • Note: you might then need the given professional with whom you shadowed to sign the program's form (usually printed from their website). If you have gotten the professional's signature in your log next to the listings of the hours you spent with them, it will save you time and effort if you need to ask them later to sign a formal observation or volunteering form for a given program.