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Best physicians to shadow?
Started by osumc2014
To be honest the best physicians I shadowed were the people that knew me the most. My good experiences weren't in specific fields, the best ones were the doctors I have known for awhile because they always seemed more willing to show me things and teach me things instead of being irritated with my presence.
I mean if you want to see cool things, my favorite was a cardiothoracic surgery. Watching chests get sawed open never gets old 🙂
I mean if you want to see cool things, my favorite was a cardiothoracic surgery. Watching chests get sawed open never gets old 🙂
The best physicians I shadowed were ER Docs. When you follow them around you see all kinds of really interesting cases. It's never boring. The worst doc I shadowed was a nuclear medicine doc. It was super boring.
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i've mainly shadowed surgeons. which in itself is awesome- watching surgery is great. but to help you on your quest, my advice to you is to shadow an attending at a teaching hospital, like at a med school. because the doctor will be teaching. even if they aren't teaching YOU, you will get a lot out of listening to the back-and-forth between resident and attending. if there are medical students around they will be doing mundane stuff and you might get to help (positioning patients, whatever.) plus the more people that are around, the more people you can ask questions.
i also got to see some neurological exams (so you could shadow a neurosurg or neurologist) and this was good because neuro exams are pretty cool to watch, plus you can get some hands on experience- i kept getting told "feel these two muscles and tell me which one is weaker." "feel how this muscle is tight." "look at this." it was awesome.
this was in comparison to my experience around a private hospital- generally only one surgeon per case (instead of attending+resident) so most of the conversation revolved around the surgeons chatting with the techs and nurses about their kids or whatever
also- this is important- really dont pick someone randomly. if you know a doc, go with them. if not, ask around. again this is a good thing to ask med students and people around your local med school- they will tell you which physicians LOVE students. those are the ones you want to spend time with. im not saying someone you pick randomly won't be willing to help you, they might. but you'll just have an infinitely better experience with someone who really loves teaching students.
i also got to see some neurological exams (so you could shadow a neurosurg or neurologist) and this was good because neuro exams are pretty cool to watch, plus you can get some hands on experience- i kept getting told "feel these two muscles and tell me which one is weaker." "feel how this muscle is tight." "look at this." it was awesome.
this was in comparison to my experience around a private hospital- generally only one surgeon per case (instead of attending+resident) so most of the conversation revolved around the surgeons chatting with the techs and nurses about their kids or whatever
also- this is important- really dont pick someone randomly. if you know a doc, go with them. if not, ask around. again this is a good thing to ask med students and people around your local med school- they will tell you which physicians LOVE students. those are the ones you want to spend time with. im not saying someone you pick randomly won't be willing to help you, they might. but you'll just have an infinitely better experience with someone who really loves teaching students.
Ones that let you operate.
In my experience, surgeons are most fun to shadow as you will usually get to see some pretty cool stuff. Some stuff in radiology can be pretty cool as you'll see some cool films and anatomy stuff and maybe some procedures. But I once shadowed an interventional radiologist who wouldn't let me be in the same room as the patient.
Every ER doc I met was pretty cool about letting me follow them and they're always pretty busy so it's entertaining.
Nuclear medicine was pretty boring to watch, I watched a bunch of outpatient GI stuff that was boring too.
Overall, I'd say go with something where there's lots of visual stuff cause you're not going to know what anyone's talking about so you might as well be watching something cool.
Hope this helps you.
Every ER doc I met was pretty cool about letting me follow them and they're always pretty busy so it's entertaining.
Nuclear medicine was pretty boring to watch, I watched a bunch of outpatient GI stuff that was boring too.
Overall, I'd say go with something where there's lots of visual stuff cause you're not going to know what anyone's talking about so you might as well be watching something cool.
Hope this helps you.
Totally random story:
My piano teacher from middle school / high school shadowed a lot of doctors when SHE was in high school (So like...30 years ago?). Her father is a doctor and she was considering it. During my lessons (I've wanted to be a doctor for a long time, so she knew that) we would sometimes talk about her experiences shadowing in the ER. Apparently back in the day some doctors would lead people do just about anything...she was talking about all the times doctors let her "cut things" or "sew things up" when people would come in bleeding. They would just let her try random stuff for fun. It was funny because I volunteered in an ER at the time and now volunteers are barely allowed to even make contact with patients, at least where I volunteered.
Her experiences always made me so jealous. The closet thing I ever got to that was a cardiothoracic surgeon (A surgeon who works with my father) who would let me feel the heart during open heart surgery, and he would move things around and show me different things.
I had very similar experiences. So far I've only shadowed an endocrinologist, but I know him pretty well. He's shown me a lot of cool stuff that I don't think he would've if he didn't know me as well.
The docs that enjoy teaching are by far the best to shadow.
I've only shadowed an optometrist (I know, not MD, but I was considering the field but decided against it) and a forensic pathologist (medical examinar)
The pathologist was great! He loves teaching, so that made it even better. I didn't get to touch anything, but I got right up next to the body and he would points or hold stuff and explain what it was and why he was taking it out. The most interesting part was when he took out the brain and began talking about all of the parts.
The pathologist was great! He loves teaching, so that made it even better. I didn't get to touch anything, but I got right up next to the body and he would points or hold stuff and explain what it was and why he was taking it out. The most interesting part was when he took out the brain and began talking about all of the parts.
