Job shadow at a hospital BEFORE an interview

I was searching through the boards and came across a lot of 'had an interview, offered a shadow day' posts, but I was wondering about the opposite.

I'm a relatively new nurse, graduated last May, and I've recently applied to an LDRP position at one of the local hospitals. A friend at the hospital said that I should call the nursing manager on that floor and ask to job shadow.

Is this typically done? Would it be bad form to do this?