Anyone else having bad experience finding D.O. to shadow?

[Cali_NP_to_MD]

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Wow, the experience of asking D.O.s if I can shadow them has been pretty terrible. Anyone else having this problem? IMO what's the point of being so rude to students? We are all in the same boat and have to go through the same process...
First tried emailing and cold calling D.O.s, got nowhere. Fine.
Then I followed some tips from SDN, and I tried sending a nice cover letter + resume along with my request to shadow. Again, nothing. The ONLY doctor who replied said "I'm too busy check with your student health center".
OK, so I approach the Student Health Center at the school where I received my Master's. They actually have a website where students can sign up to shadow. Great! Or so I thought...I sign up, hear nothing for 2 weeks, not even a confirmation for having signed up. Follow up with the manager twice. He says "send me your resume, cover letter, and fill out this paperwork (attached)". Fill those out, email everything back to him. My cover letter was super thoughtful and well-written. I double checked everything and had my husband proofread as well. I get a nasty email back, saying "We need your actual TB skin test result not just this paper filled out" (the instructions very specifically stated that simply filling out the symptoms checklist and noting date of last TB test was sufficient as long as last TB test was within 2 years), and "You answered incorrectly on the HIPAA quiz, this shouldn't be hard for you!" (I literally copied my answers directly from a powerpoint they made me watch). So I guess my excellent student record and $50k+ tuition I paid them = getting treated like crap when I want to participate in a program they claim to offer? SHEESH.
I'm so frustrated. Anyone with similar experiences? Any tips? I'm starting to feel like no one wants students to shadow them.

 

[ReapPremed]

My college was next to useless. The "premedical adviser" taught my freshman writing class. No background in medicine, or professional school admissions, and was "working on" a list of alumni to shadow. So I tried cold-calling and sending out letters for months with no luck. The best I got was a retired DO who recommend I contact his partner who wasn't taking students. Most of the time it was receptionists playing interference. I can understand giving priority to patients over random students, though many seemed deeply offended that I even called.

I will say most of the actual D.O.'s I got in touch with were very nice, if unhelpful. I'm surprised email worked! Most doctors don't seem in the habit of giving out emails.

I ultimately ended up getting in touch with a D.O. at the hospital where I volunteer. Its a lot easier to get your foot in the door if you have a badge, a background check, and HIPAA training.

 

[TroutTrout]

PM me your email and I can send you my cover letter. 5 of 7 either called me or emailed me back to shadow.

 

[Cali_NP_to_MD]

My college was next to useless. The "premedical adviser" taught my freshman writing class. No background in medicine, or professional school admissions, and was "working on" a list of alumni to shadow. So I tried cold-calling and sending out letters for months with no luck. The best I got was a retired DO who recommend I contact his partner who wasn't taking students. Most of the time it was receptionists playing interference. I can understand giving priority to patients over random students, though many seemed deeply offended that I even called.

I will say most of the actual D.O.'s I got in touch with were very nice, if unhelpful. I'm surprised email worked! Most doctors don't seem in the habit of giving out emails.

I ultimately ended up getting in touch with a D.O. at the hospital where I volunteer. Its a lot easier to get your foot in the door if you have a badge, a background check, and HIPAA training.

I wish I could shadow at the hospital where I work. The only D.O.s are in the Emergency Department. I admit so many of my own patients through the ED every day, it would undoubtedly be a conflict if I were to shadow there and run into those same patients (we have a lot of frequent flyers on our service). Also there's no way I could be seen in the hospital outside of my work hours. I'd get paged overhead constantly :/

 

[Cardboard101]

Find a DO that practices near you. Wear casual formal, show up to their office in person with a resume/cover letter and explain that you're a prospective student and want to shadow.
I didn't get a single response from emails. Showing up in person seems to have a bigger impact.

 

[allantois]

C'mon you are an NP, pull your connections. There's a chance someone, somewhere (your former classmate) is working alongside a DO

 

[ReapPremed]

I wish I could shadow at the hospital where I work. The only D.O.s are in the Emergency Department. I admit so many of my own patients through the ED every day, it would undoubtedly be a conflict if I were to shadow there and run into those same patients (we have a lot of frequent flyers on our service). Also there's no way I could be seen in the hospital outside of my work hours. I'd get paged overhead constantly :/

If you know any of the DOs well maybe you can ask to be set up with a colleague? And is shadowing them something that's more an issue of personal discomfort for you, or a violation of hospital policy or privacy in some way?

Shadowing is a gauntlet. I was very lucky in meeting up with a D.O. who was helpful and supportive, but to get there I needed to call in favors and pull every string I could. Its not a fun thing to do. I imagine its worse in your position where you're asking people, who know you as a provider, "hey can you do me a big favor and let me awkwardly sit in a corner while you work like some dorky college student?" You just gotta step outside your comfort zone, and grasp wildly at every advantage you can.

 

[Kittylove13]

My issue is most DO's in my area work through major medical groups that do not allow random students to shadow their physicians, so now I'm shifting focus to private practice physicians. What I did, and hope worked, is built up my LinkedIn account and started messaging physicians about being a prospective osteopathic student, etc. Most didn't reply, a few told me they no longer allowed shadowing but gave me other recommendations, and thankfully one replied and hopefully will be setting up a meeting soon. I don't understand why this process has to be so difficult.

 

[missmissouri]

Wow I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time! I don't have much to offer, but I'm currently shadowing a DO who is an OBGYN and actually is my doctor. In order to be able to do this I had to go through the typical training with the area "health education" organization. They work with a lot of doctors, so you can shadow almost any primary care physician they are in cooperation with once you complete the training. Maybe your area has something similar? My undergrad is in a town with an osteopathic medical school so there are no shortages of DO's here, but it's definitely a pain in the butt to get the information and opportunities you need. Our hospital has a totally separate shadowing process that requires a few more hoops to jump through. I know some larger hospitals don't even allow shadowing, so I guess I lucked out in my medium sized town. I don't know if your doctor is a DO or if you have a good relationship with him/her but it might be a good place to check. Good luck to you!


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[brunettestudentdoc]

Find a DO that practices near you. Wear casual formal, show up to their office in person with a resume/cover letter and explain that you're a prospective student and want to shadow.
I didn't get a single response from emails. Showing up in person seems to have a bigger impact.

I completely agree. Showing up they can't shoo you away or feign that they missed your email. Also if you have a family doc, ask them what they suggest. It's easier if you have a referral from a fellow doc. I'm currently at a DO school and I only shadowed an MD but all of my family physicians were DOs so I had a comfortable background. Now that I'm here, we shadow our professors and DOs in our clinic as an extra added bonus to see what we are getting into which has been great. So don't stress everything works out.


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[fourandtwo]

Where do you live? I may be able to help if you're in southern cal..


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[workaholic181]

I volunteered at a clinic which then was kind enough to set me up with some DOs there. In my experience DOs are pretty cool about shadowing. I know it can be awkward to ask, but it will do so much for your app, you'll thank yourself later.

 

[Skiiiiiing]

I volunteered at a clinic which then was kind enough to set me up with some DOs there. In my experience DOs are pretty cool about shadowing. I know it can be awkward to ask, but it will do so much for your app, you'll thank yourself later.

"do so much for your app" ~= "your application won't even get looked at without shadowing"

 

[HermioneGranger96]

PM me your email and I can send you my cover letter. 5 of 7 either called me or emailed me back to shadow.

Hey I came across this thread because I am facing a similar issue and I am also Canadian. I was wondering if you had any advice for finding Canadian DO's to shadow