Shadowing Question...

[iClearDiamond]

Hello All!
I have a quick question. Is it okay to shadow only 1 doctor for a long time? Should I shadow doctors in different specialties? Is it okay for me to shadow 2 doctors in the same specialty but different sub-specialties(eg: they are both pediatricians but one is a cardiac surgeon and the other is an emergency medicine specialist)?

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[JohnFe]

You should also try to shadow your primary care physician

 

[iClearDiamond]

You should also try to shadow your primary care physician

I tried that but he doesn't allow pre-med students to shadow him only med students.

 

[JohnFe]

Doesn't make any sense to me. He probably doesn't like you JK. I volunteered at a nursing home and the physician let me shadow him doing rounds.

 

[FutureMD129]

I'm new to shadowing so I'm not sure how much weight my response carries. ;-) So far, I've shadowed two ER docs--one at a level 1 trauma hospital for 4 hours and the other at a VA hospital for 2.5 hours. I only stayed 2.5 hours with the latter because I was there on New Year's Day so there wasn't much action. After a total of 6.5 hours in two ER's, I'm trying to get more exposure to private practice. Tomorrow I'm shadowing a cardiologist and on Thursday I'm shadowing a rheumatologist. I personally think it's good to shadow a variety of specialties to get an idea of what different fields of medicine are like. Many people think of medicine mainly revolving around the ER and surgery, mainly because of what is portrayed on TV.

iClearDiamond: I've had the same problem where staff won't let me shadow because I'm not a resident or med student I really want to shadow a pediatrician, as that's my area of interest, but I have yet to find a pediatrician to let me shadow him/her.