Questions to Ask While Shadowing?

SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)

I am shadowing a big time orthopaedic oncologist next week. I want to get as much out of it as possible.

What would be some of the questions you would ask?

Ask his opinion regarding malpractice insurance. That should take a good 10 minutes.

I am going to hit on that.

Here are some others that I thought of:

What are your hours during a typical week?
Would you so it again if you had to start all over? If not, what would you do?
What kind of professional organizations, such as TOA or AOA, do you or your colleagues participate in?
Are there things that you wish you knew before pursuing this profession?
What are some negative aspects that you deal with?


I am sure there are lots more. Please add of you think of any?

Ask him how many bitchez/benjamins he's raking in.

Originally Posted by g3pro

Ask him how many bitchez/benjamins he's raking in.

I'm sure there's a direct relationship between the two, right?

Good point,

On a more serious note, does anyone else have any questions? I would like to get the most out of this as I can.


Thanks in advance for any help. Remember, no question is a bad question!

why did he choose orthopaedic oncology and hows the salary/bitzhcs?

Originally Posted by Alexander99

I'm sure there's a direct relationship between the two, right?

awwwwww, yeah.

Tomorrow is my last day to shadow. I have seen some unreal surgeries. Today there was a tumor that needed to be removed from the tibial head of a young man's leg that was apparently very rare. There were all kinds of doctors there to document the case. After removal, he had to allograph a cadaver graft onto the spot where the tumor was and then reattach the patella. "Chondromyxoid fibroma (CMF) is a benign cartilage tumor that also has myxoid and fibrous elements. It is extremely rare and accounts for less that 1% of all bone tumors.i CMF is found most often in the metaphysis around the knee in the proximal tibia, proximal fibula, or distal femur. It presents in the second to third decade and has a male to female ratio of 2 to 1. The clinical presentation is usually chronic pain, swelling and possibly a palpable soft tissue mass or restriction of movement." - inof from a webiste i just found. Fun stuff!

Anyway, I have asked a lot of questions and tomorrow is a clinical day. So I will get to ask more. Here is a list that I have compiled for tomorrow.

1. Typical hours and holidays? (Is there time for family?)
2. Are you satisfied financially? What are typical orthopod?s getting?
3. If you weren?t going to be doing this, what else?
4. Professional organizations?
5. Opinions on MAYO specifically?
6. Things you wish you knew before you started?
7. What are some of the negative aspects that you deal with?
8. Best part?
9. Worst part?
10. What is your opinion on sports orthopaedics?
11. Is it orthopedics or orthopaedics?
12. Any advice on choosing a medical school? (Any pull at any schools?)
13. Malpractice an issue?
14. Three most important qualities that one should have if they are going to pursuer medicine?
15. What analgesics to you use after surgery?


Can anyone else think of some others that don't have to do with money and bitches? (And yes, i am expecting the first wise ass to ask "How much money does he make and Does he get many bitches. The answers to your questions are enough and no, he is old. Old people don't get bitches!)

Thanks for any help, I want to get the most out of this I can.

Whenever I shadow someone for an extended period of time, I ask where the bathroom is. If it's in a terrorist target, you might also want to ask about gas masks / fallout shelters.

Some Questions and Answers I found valuable in my journey to medical school. If there is an answer(s) following the question, it is from one or many of the various doctors I shadowed years ago. I thought I would post my document to help out future medical students.

• What do you think are the greatest challenges in completing medical school and becoming a doctor? The first day shock of getting a ton of homework. They help you along of course, being accepted would probably be the hardest thing.

• What are the most pressing issues facing medicine today and in the near future? Mostly the cost of education, the politics behind doctors by getting pressure from insurance companies wanting to conserve money, pharmaceutical companies wanting you to spend.

• If you could change anything about your profession, what would it be?

• How many med schools did you apply to? You need not really apply to more than 10-12

• What are your hobbies/activities you do in free time? Family, and obvious stuff like anyone else.

• Do you think you sacrifice social life for being a doctor? Sort of, depending on profession, one can allocate time to spend.

• What are the most important qualities in being a good doctor? Good bedside manner and being a good person.

• What do you least enjoy about medicine/being a doctor? Long hours, typical 12 hour days. Early in the morning 7am to 5 or 6pm.

• How does healthcare and insurance affect you directly? Most doctors think that the health care in the USA is terrible.

• How would you describe the relationship between science and education to the actual practice of medicine? Probably 10% of the stuff you learn in med school is actually important to what you’re doing, but you have to find that 10 %.

• Do you perform tasks only related to your specialty, or do you do other general physician work? They do a large variety, simple sore throats to surgery. Everything really.

• Would you recommend being a doctor to those pursuing it? Yes

• What is your job like? Some doctors spend maybe 20% research, 40% clinical, 40% administrative, but varies depending on profession.

- A typical day?
- What kinds of problems do you deal with?
- What kinds of decisions do you make?
- What percentage of your time is spent doing what?


• Are you satisfied financially? Yes, we do quite well even after taxes and stuff. Most corporate settings can pay salaries guaranteed while private practices depend on amount of patients you see. In hospitals, if you do not meet minimum quota of meeting patients per day, you could get fired.

• Do your patients usually really have something wrong with them?

• What do you do if you do not know something or how to treat a patient?

• Do pharmaceutical companies put a lot of pressure on doctors to prescribe certain drugs? Yes and they may offer lots of bribes, this competes with pressure from the insurance companies though.

• Are you allowed to treat people outside of the clinical setting?

• What are your opinions on malpractice insurance? How does it affect you?

• Things you wish you knew before you started? Debt. Lots of people in smaller paying jobs or general physicians/ etc… have incurred lots of debt and may not be able to pay it off.

• Any advice on choosing a medical school? It doesn’t matter, always apply to your state school because it is cheaper. They said that quality is generally the same, so choosing a medical school is not really the biggest concern, there are no bad medical schools.

• Is there anything in medicine that goes against your religious and moral beliefs?

• Do you have to “choose sides” and are there lots of politics in medicine?

• Did you always want to be a doctor? No, many became doctors late in the game, went to medical school several years after undergraduate studies.

• Are your family members doctors, or was there a specific reason why you chose medicine? Some yes, some no.

• Other than academics, what can students do to best prepare themselves for medicine? Volunteer/Shadowing/internship? All of these, do everything for service, volunteer, grades, etc….

• Do people ever complete med school and soon after decide not to be a doctor?

• How different are clinics and hospitals and do you work in both? The private practices usually do not pay as well. You must know how to run a business in order to be successful.

• If you are a doctor, are job opportunities abundant? yes

• How are doctors in terms of job security? Very secure

• Is being a doctor exactly what you imagined? No, almost all, if not all, did stuff that they never expected to do originally.

• What is the motivation behind those who want to specialize in risky areas such as spine surgery?

• Can you specialize and then still do general practice, do people do this?
• Typical hours and holidays?
• Is there time for family?
• If you weren’t going to be doing this, what else?
• Things you wish you knew before you started?
• What are some of the negative aspects that you deal with?
• Best part?
• Worst part?
• Any advice on choosing a medical school
• Is malpractice an issue that keeps you awake at night?

Can I get you some coffee?