Shadowing a Surgeon

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Ella Shepherd

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I'm a pre-med student and I really want to gain even just a little experience before med school. One of the things I want to do the most is to shadow a surgeon. How do I do that? I mean, do I just go up to one and ask?

I posted this here because I'm interested in neurosurgery. My father is a neurosurgeon himself and what he does has interested me since I was a kid. But I can't shadow him because he works in another country. Whatsmore, he doesn't like the idea of me getting into neurosurgery or anything like that. He wants me to be a pediatrician or be an obgyn. I have nothing against those specialties except that I'm not interested to be either of those.

I'm also interested in orthopaedic surgery and maybe even cardiothoracic surgery. I know these are the more common ones that many students want to be. But I can't deny that I'm interested in them. I know that once I get into med school, I'll be able to really decide.

Anyway, the point is that I really want to shadow a surgeon. But I don't know how I'll go about starting it. I hope you can help me out. Thank you. :)

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I would suggest starting with emails...and don't take it personally if surgeons don't respond, or take a while.
 
Email all of the helpful sounding deans, the volunteer office and your premed advisors. One of them can get you something.
 
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I just picked up the phone book and started calling offices randomly. Worked like a charm.
 
Is there any difference if I shadow a surgeon in private practice or in the hospital? I feel like it's a dumb question but I really wanna know if one is better than the other. The benefits? drawbacks? Thank you. :)
 
If you shadow a surgeon in the hospital, and you are not an annoying pre-med, you might get the chance to meet some people that are involved in clinical education. These people could be a valuable resource when you are doing rotations or applying for residency.
 
You're a woman, so get used to having everyone try and dissuade you from neurosurgery. There are like FOUR of them in the entire field, so prepare yourself for lots of time in the absence of any other women. Also, people will make a quick assumption about you immediately upon seeing you, and you'll have to overcome that again and again. That said, I would hold out on shadowing anyone until you're in a position where people are likely to take you more seriously (e.g. second year of med school).
 
FYI, Ella,

It's pretty declasse to put Dr. in front and M.D. behind. It's either Dr. Maxheadroom or Maxheadroom, M.D.

LOL Thanks. :D

I've always wondered why I don't see it in doctors' offices often...although I saw it once before, I remember. Silly me. :p

Anyway, thanks. I'll go edit it. :)
 
You're a woman, so get used to having everyone try and dissuade you from neurosurgery. There are like FOUR of them in the entire field, so prepare yourself for lots of time in the absence of any other women. Also, people will make a quick assumption about you immediately upon seeing you, and you'll have to overcome that again and again. That said, I would hold out on shadowing anyone until you're in a position where people are likely to take you more seriously (e.g. second year of med school).

I see. :( Thank you.

But I think I'll still go ahead and try it anyway. If I can't shadow a neurosurgeon specifically, I can try another kind of surgeon or doctor. I want to know how it feels, even before med school.

And even if those doctors won't believe me, I'm serious about med and I'll make them see that, whether or not they allow me to shadow them. I'm serious about this. Being a female won't change that. :)
 
I see. :( Thank you.

But I think I'll still go ahead and try it anyway. If I can't shadow a neurosurgeon specifically, I can try another kind of surgeon or doctor. I want to know how it feels, even before med school.

And even if those doctors won't believe me, I'm serious about med and I'll make them see that, whether or not they allow me to shadow them. I'm serious about this. Being a female won't change that. :)


What you were just told is not true at all. There are at least three female NS residents where I go to school.
 
What you were just told is not true at all. There are at least three female NS residents where I go to school.

Really? That's cool! Thanks for telling me. :)
 
Do not worry about being a female wanting to go into neurosurgery. To be quite honest, it will distinguish you and help you go further than most males :)
 
I sent letters to two hospitals asking if I could observe the doctors at the dept. of surgery.

I'll be meeting with the chief of surgery on Wednesday at one of the hospitals. I hope he'll allow me.

At the other hospital, the chief of the dept. of orthopedics will be helping me out. I'm almost 100% sure I'll be able to observe the doctors there. :)

Thanks everyone! :D Wish me luck! :)
 
I want to go into neurosurgery too! What did you say to shadow surgeons? Do you have any tips or experiences you would share?
 
In the US, according to 2010 statistics from ABNS - there are 3,600 practicing neurosurgeons. Of those, 219 are female- meaning about 6% of practicing BE/BC neurosurgeons are female. That said- among neurosurgery residents - 12% are now female. So naturally the next generation will have more females.

That said, I highly doubt any program direction discriminates against females. IMO, It's more because it's not feasible for most women to spend 7 years in training working 7 days/week at 88 hrs/week if they're at all concerned with their biological clock/family plans. =
 
I am currently pre-med, what I got shadowing relatively easy(I have not shadowed a surgeon yet, however I do have neurosurgery shadowing planned out for winter break). I go to BU, but I am from Long Island, so I am like 30 min outside of NYC, which has tons of prestigious hospitals. The three things I have noticed when trying to get shadowing overall are as follows.
A) If you are emailing, prepare for a lot of absence of responses, and the majority of responses, you will get that one doctor just when you are about to give up who will say yes and you will scream in happiness. When you email, make it an interesting email, be genuine but respectful, show a true interest. If you are just going to do the typical Hi Dr. X, I am interested in X specialty b/c I think X body part is really cool it is not even worth sending the email. Such as when I emailed oncologist, I explained my interesting in molecular basis of cancer, oncogenetics, how I loved patients and I really wanted to help advance oncology in the future, I explained that I find the anti-cancer applications of telomere research to be very interesting> just an example. You don't want to sound boring either, and it can't be too long or the doc won't read it, it is a lot of balancing between all of this.
B) Assuming you are emailing, expect to not get responses for days, maybe weeks. Once I got a response 6 months after I asked.
C) Assuming you are emailing, search up docs at large teaching hospitals, they are much more willing to accept shadows then PP docs, or docs at small hospitals. They very commonly have docs who have had shadows before and not only are open to shadowing but are experienced as to how to give the student the most exposure to the specialty both physically and verbally in the shortest amount of time. If possible, email younger doctors who preferable completed residency within the last 5 years, they are much more sympathetic to your cause and are more willing since they went through the same thing "not too long ago".
D) When you do shadow, make sure you get out the minutiae such as attire(business casual or scrubs), what times, days, etc. before hand. IN addition, you may want to do a day or two worth of prep to impress the doc. If you impress him you can get out a rec. I remembered when I was shadowing I had to call a code blue since all the nurses were busy with their stuff, and there were none at the desk, and I was the only one in the patient room(the attending went to go grab some sample medication or something). I obviously legally couldn't treat him, however I made sure I was fluent in ACLS protocol prior to doing any shadowing, it was a minute before anyone showed, and the guy survived, I was doing chest compressions, and I quickly explained the current and prior rhythms and how long I had been doing CPR, as well as the degeneration that occured, to the attending when he ran in. I am an EMT so that is part of the reason I knew how to do that(however I did self-study from some EM textbooks from BUSM). That is extreme, I am simply saying, be prepare, maybe review the common conditions for the specialty and their basic etiologies, pathophysiologies etc. just so you seem like you have some basic knowledge. Shadowing docs will certainyl ask you questions to gauge your knowledge base, and while they don't expect much, you certainly don't want to seem like a complete idiot.
 
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