How Do I Get More Exposure To The Medical Field?

[Meghan5445]

I'm currently only 17, however, I am already taking multiple classes related to the health field such as Medical Assisting, Behavioral Health, and EMT. I will graduate high school this year with certifications to work in all three of these fields as well as other certifications on top of them such as phlebotomy, crisis intervention, etc.

I know I want to continue my path in the medical field, but I am having trouble deciding what exactly I want to do. I often flip between nursing and surgery, and even within that I cannot think of just one specialty that interests me.

Hoping someone might know how I could get into some shadowing or other programs at such a young age? Or if that's even possible?

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[dontbelievemejustwatch]

cold calling docs

 

[cyang55]

Go on google and search for doctors near you and call all of them. You will probably hear back from a few. Call docs in various medical fields that you might be interested in. I'm not sure if you can shadow nurses or not, but it can't hurt to ask around.

 

[incognitoflux]

You'll have your EMT, go snag a job running 911 calls. Or volunteer to do such. Double bonus: clinical experience, and you'll use your EMT.

This also gives you direct access to ER physicians and others in the health care continuum.


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[Meghan5445]

Go on google and search for doctors near you and call all of them. You will probably hear back from a few. Call docs in various medical fields that you might be interested in. I'm not sure if you can shadow nurses or not, but it can't hurt to ask around.

My only fear with that is a lot of the hospitals and offices in my city recently changed their policy to where you have to be over 18 to shadow a doctor or surgeon. And even those that didn't are teaching hospitals that are full of college students working on their residency so why would they take a high schooler who can't do anything over them?


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[cyang55]

My first shadowing experience was when I was 16 so there are so places that do allow you to shadow if you're under 18. The easiest place would be start with your primary doc, that's what I did and after going back to shadowing him once a year for several years he even wrote me a letter of rec for med school.
The hospitals and doc offices that changed their policies are usually part of some big organization or healthcare group. Try the private offices or smaller offices and they will have less rules. But definitely call and say you are a student and is interested in the medical field and want to gain some exposure by shadowing them. Don't forget to call as many docs as possible! When I started shadowing different doctors, I had to call over 100! and only 5+ got back to me. Good luck!

 

[grapp]

You can shadow under 18, even surgeries... I volunteer a trauma 2 pretty big hospital of the north west. I asked a internal medicine doctor if I could shadow with him next Saturday. He said, 'That's fine, but I have three surgeries." I said count me in and we talked about it for awhile... More than posssible, go volunteer and meet some people.

 

[URHere]

My only fear with that is a lot of the hospitals and offices in my city recently changed their policy to where you have to be over 18 to shadow a doctor or surgeon. And even those that didn't are teaching hospitals that are full of college students working on their residency so why would they take a high schooler who can't do anything over them?

Honestly, there isn't all that much difference between a high school student and a college student when it comes to shadowing or volunteering at a hospital - neither group knows anything about medicine and neither will be responsible for any real patient care. Sure, you'll run errands, fetch blankets, and help with paperwork...but that doesn't require much more than a positive attitude and a few hours to spare.

Just check with multiple hospitals and see what their volunteer policies are. You'll find something.

PS: This is nitpicking, but "college students working on their residency" isn't a real thing. You need to go to college and graduate from medical school before starting residency, and medical residents already have "MD" or "DO" after their names. Just mentioning it here so you don't say something like this in the hospital where it may be more embarrassing.

 

[Law2Doc]

It's not the end of the world if you don't get to shadow until age 18. If you need to be 18 start at 18. Nor do you have to pick a medical specialty at this juncture but I would hope you can work out if you want to do "nursing versus surgery" in the near term. They aren't exactly similar roles or paths.

 

[grapp]

Honestly, there isn't all that much difference between a high school student and a college student when it comes to shadowing or volunteering at a hospital - neither group knows anything about medicine and neither will be responsible for any real patient care. Sure, you'll run errands, fetch blankets, and help with paperwork...but that doesn't require much more than a positive attitude and a few hours to spare.

Just check with multiple hospitals and see what their volunteer policies are. You'll find something.

PS: This is nitpicking, but "college students working on their residency" isn't a real thing. You need to go to college and graduate from medical school before starting residency, and medical residents already have "MD" or "DO" after their names. Just mentioning it here so you don't say something like this in the hospital where it may be more embarrassing.

I actively volunteer, do you have any recommendations when volunteering? Many medical schools ask what you did during your volunteering time, do most answer with the same response; paper-work, errands, patient transfers, e.g.?

 

[URHere]

I actively volunteer, do you have any recommendations when volunteering? Many medical schools ask what you did during your volunteering time, do most answer with the same response; paper-work, errands, patient transfers, e.g.?

All you can do is make yourself available. Even if you're bored out of your skull, look interested and find something to do (restock blankets, go around and ask patients if they need anything, fill folders, retrieve wheelchairs, etc). If the team isn't busy, you can let them know that you're happy to help with anything they need. If things are really slow, you can usually pick their brains about medicine as a profession - especially if they've seen you around a few times.

As for interviewing - everyone knows that the real answer is that you're doing paper-work, errands, and patient transfers. That's what you'll put in your online app when describing your activity, but you can say a whole lot more in essays or in person. Tell them that you also had the chance to observe physicians in your part of the hospital and explain what you learned about the profession by watching. You can also talk about learning to interact with nursing and support staff, and discuss how this helped you decide you wanted to be a physician rather than a nurse, CNA, X-ray tech, etc.

 

[grapp]

All you can do is make yourself available. Even if you're bored out of your skull, look interested and find something to do (restock blankets, go around and ask patients if they need anything, fill folders, retrieve wheelchairs, etc). If the team isn't busy, you can let them know that you're happy to help with anything they need. If things are really slow, you can usually pick their brains about medicine as a profession - especially if they've seen you around a few times.

As for interviewing - everyone knows that the real answer is that you're doing paper-work, errands, and patient transfers. That's what you'll put in your online app when describing your activity, but you can say a whole lot more in essays or in person. Tell them that you also had the chance to observe physicians in your part of the hospital and explain what you learned about the profession by watching. You can also talk about learning to interact with nursing and support staff, and discuss how this helped you decide you wanted to be a physician rather than a nurse, CNA, X-ray tech, etc.

That was a very good answer! I will be sure to take that into account.