Help.. Shadowing for dummies!?

[Jpotters1]

I start my shadowing tomorrow and I don't know what to expect. I want to be prepared. Any tips? Any important questions I should ask or something special I should do? Anything would be wonderful

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[hopefulapplicant]

Depending on where you are doing it, dress appropriately. I just showed up and was ready to learn. The people you shadow can play an important role in reference letters. Just ask questions, get involved in conversation with patients and volunteer your help with cleaning up equipment. It's a learning experience, so just show excitement. There's nothing to be nervous about, it's actually a really fun experience.

 

[321utms]

I'm not sure I would describe it as fun as you aren't able to do much of anything, atleast I wasn't. I have since been hired as a tech and it is much more enjoyable as you feel more apart of the "team". It's nothing to be worried about though, just show that you are willing to help in any way necessary.

 

[Jpotters1]

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Tifanie]

i think you just need to be prepared that you might feel a bit of "useless" if the therapists don't really ask you for your help.. it is okay to feel that way because that is the truth. from my experience the most important thing i learn from shadowing is to look at patient-therapist interaction. step into therapist's shoes. how does your therapist react when your patient starts giving negative feedback (the exercise didn't work... i didn't do any home exercise.. i felt depressed this morning because my back pain is still there... etc) and how did your therapist communicate with your patient. Listen to what your patient says too because they can give out a lot of useful information for your therapist to figure out what is really going on when the treatment isn't working. after the treatment you can ask your therapist the diagnose of this patient and why they decide to approach it with this treatment if you want to.. something like that. ask out of curiosity. when i started my shadowing at scripps hospital i felt super useless. all i did was to give them linens and watched they exercised. it wasn't till almost 3 months after that i realized that i should have learnt everything from different perspectives.. instead of observing as a student/volunteer, i should have listened and watched how therapist and patient interacted. good luck and share your experience with us when you are done today

 

[Jpotters1]

Okay... here is the low down. I was super nervous walking into the building and I had to wait about 10 min for the therapist because she was doing an evaluation. She finally came and brought me to the back and a patient was there who got hit by a car a few months ago and still was having some problems with his left arm, long story short.. She did a lot of little exercises to try and pin point were exactly the pain was coming from, she used needles to poke around on his arm and put on some type of muscle pulser on it (I forgot the name). After the patient was done she had a balancing class for people who had strokes or had problems with their hips and who lost their range of motion. I thought it was pretty neat how we were doing simple exercise in a chair like crunches etc. I spent two hours with her and we didn't really have enough time to ask all the good questions that I wanted to ask. I can pretty much come whenever I like so thats a plus and I feel like I picked the right Doc to shadow.. Over all i was impressed. Ill be going 3 times a week for about two hours at a time.