Hello everyone, I'm feeling a little lost in the process of getting shadowing hours. I'm a non-trad from a military/engineering background with no connections to doctors. I've tried cold calling around local hospitals and clinics here in the LA area to see if I could shadow, but i've had no luck. I even tried my local VA but they do not allow shadowing. Just wondering how everyone else was able to secure their shadowing hours? I'm planning on applying to MD and DO schools, so I believe I have to shadow both.
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Advice for Shadowing
Started by Mr.Potato
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unumsolum
Full Member
I also have no connections. I got mine by:
- trying rural clinics (I'm from Madison, so "rural" isn't as much of a drive as from LA) because they're often more excited to take on shadows. I basically googled random Wisconsin town names plus "physician shadowing", some websites will even offer it, scraped like 3 shifts doing this.
- through a college premed club. mine had an official shadowing program if you were an active member for a year and applied. Also, going to talks from physicians and showing genuine interest would sometimes result in them offering to let you shadow. I assume you're not currently in college, maybe you could still sit in on the talks?
- being annoying in finding more distant connections lol. Politely asking friends and family if they know any doctors and would be willing to ask. I ended up shadowing a middle school classmate's dad, someone in my family member's hobby club, etc.
- trying rural clinics (I'm from Madison, so "rural" isn't as much of a drive as from LA) because they're often more excited to take on shadows. I basically googled random Wisconsin town names plus "physician shadowing", some websites will even offer it, scraped like 3 shifts doing this.
- through a college premed club. mine had an official shadowing program if you were an active member for a year and applied. Also, going to talks from physicians and showing genuine interest would sometimes result in them offering to let you shadow. I assume you're not currently in college, maybe you could still sit in on the talks?
- being annoying in finding more distant connections lol. Politely asking friends and family if they know any doctors and would be willing to ask. I ended up shadowing a middle school classmate's dad, someone in my family member's hobby club, etc.
Back in the Snapchat era, I had gone door-to-door in a white coat at a random medical plaza near home and just asked 20 private-practice receptionists in a row and got 20 very loud verbal rejections of various flavors in front of countless patients waiting for their appointments. I was so humiliated, but I had done the cold-call/email thing and obviously was getting nowhere and was getting desperate. I didn't know what to do or who to ask, so I just did what felt logical in that moment.
By the end of that day, I was sitting in my car sobbing and got a Snap from a resident that I had matched with on a dating app who I did not know well. I replied venting about what was happening, half expecting that I would never hear from him again.
It took him 5 minutes to reply, but when he did, he passed along a phone number to text. It was the EM attending he had just rotated through at the local community hospital, who had already agreed to take me on.
I shadowed that attending every shift for months. We went through major hurricanes in the hospital together. I passed out seeing some of my first procedures. I got to learn so much not only about medicine, but about the personalities that tend to collect in this industry. I never did meet that resident, but all three of us keep in touch at a distance even all these years later. It worked out.
I am not advertising that you should trauma-dump on a stranger (and deeply ironic given the content of this comment), but I'm hoping my story can demonstrate that your opportunity can come from literally anywhere. Work your network. Ask people you know. Assume people want to help you and position yourself to receive it graciously.
You can start with the most obvious place, your undergraduate school's pre-health office. In that setting, tears and humiliation are not even a requirement. Double-win.
By the end of that day, I was sitting in my car sobbing and got a Snap from a resident that I had matched with on a dating app who I did not know well. I replied venting about what was happening, half expecting that I would never hear from him again.
It took him 5 minutes to reply, but when he did, he passed along a phone number to text. It was the EM attending he had just rotated through at the local community hospital, who had already agreed to take me on.
I shadowed that attending every shift for months. We went through major hurricanes in the hospital together. I passed out seeing some of my first procedures. I got to learn so much not only about medicine, but about the personalities that tend to collect in this industry. I never did meet that resident, but all three of us keep in touch at a distance even all these years later. It worked out.
I am not advertising that you should trauma-dump on a stranger (and deeply ironic given the content of this comment), but I'm hoping my story can demonstrate that your opportunity can come from literally anywhere. Work your network. Ask people you know. Assume people want to help you and position yourself to receive it graciously.
You can start with the most obvious place, your undergraduate school's pre-health office. In that setting, tears and humiliation are not even a requirement. Double-win.
