Best Specialty To Shadow?

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MexicanDr

MexicanDr

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I am sure this depends on many of our interests, but overall which specialties have you enjoyed the most/least?

I have heard that its good to shadow at least 3 physicians rather than just one for many hrs.

So what has been your experience?
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N surg has been the most fun for me. Awesome technology, engaging attendings, and pimp surgical caps.
 
I have heard that its goof to shadow at least 3 physicians rather than just one for many hrs.
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It took me about 2 minutes to understand that you meant "It's good to shadow 3 physicians," not "It's a goof to shadow more than one physician."

I suppose it depends on what you're interested in, but I think some of the best are surgery (pretty much any specialty) and emergency physicians. You see some in-depth things in surgery, but you only get to see one patient per X amount of hours; in the ED, you'll get to see a lot of patients, see the diagnosis/ treatment often.
 
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Trauma Surgery by far, especially if you get in good and get exposed to it all. Carrying a code 88 pager sucks but is also awesome (especially speeding through town trying to get to the hospital).
 
Cytotoxic said:
N surg has been the most fun for me. Awesome technology, engaging attendings, and pimp surgical caps.
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Yeah I saw the chief resident wear all black scrubs, all ninja-like and full of stealth.
 
My favorites were orthopedic and colorectal surgery.
 
I really enjoyed shadowing a medical examiner. I've always been interested in the forensic side of medicine and it was really cool to see all parts of a human right in front of me. The most interesting part was when the doctor took the brain out and showed me all of the parts. The doctor also took out many parts, telling me why he takes them out, what he looks for, and dissected each part in front of me, showing me different parts inside each organ. Very cool if you really like anatomy.
 
Artimacia said:
I really enjoyed shadowing a medical examiner. I've always been interested in the forensic side of medicine and it was really cool to see all parts of a human right in front of me. The most interesting part was when the doctor took the brain out and showed me all of the parts. The doctor also took out many parts, telling me why he takes them out, what he looks for, and dissected each part in front of me, showing me different parts inside each organ. Very cool if you really like anatomy.
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Agree. It is very interesting to understand how someone died and under what circumstances. And since the patient is dead, you don't have to worry about having proper social etiquette. Unlike in other specialties where things can get a bit monotonous, each case in forensic path is totally unique and engaging. Suicides, murder/car crash victims, death by swollen genitals, etc. It can get a bit morbid at times so I would not recommend it for the faint-hearted.
 
I can tell you I WOULDN'T want to shadow an OB/GYN. Being a pre-med guy (i.e., no medical reason to be there), I feel like most of the women wouldn't want me in the room for any procedure and everything would always be tense.
 
TexasFight said:
I can tell you I WOULDN'T want to shadow an OB/GYN. Being a pre-med guy (i.e., no medical reason to be there), I feel like most of the women wouldn't want me in the room for any procedure and everything would always be tense.
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I saw a pap....👎

got to ultrasound a pregnant lady and found the baby's heartbeat....👍

this was with a FM doc though....
 
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good question. I have witnessed a vast majority of medicine--nothing tops the robotic heart surgery I saw one time. Fascinating. 😛
 
DRMRL said:
good question. I have witnessed a vast majority of medicine--nothing tops the robotic heart surgery I saw one time. Fascinating. 😛
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I still loved watching saggy, flappy breasts reborn as beautiful melons that I would die to play with!! Amazing.....😍
 
MexicanDr said:
I am sure this depends on many of our interests, but overall which specialties have you enjoyed the most/least?

I have heard that its good to shadow at least 3 physicians rather than just one for many hrs.

So what has been your experience?
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Emergency medicine in an academic center. Lots of docs, lots of exposure and we are open 24/7.
 
I had lots of fun in EM and trauma surgery. Lots of great stories.

For instance: One day I was about to leave and was washing my hands when one of the attendings came around the corner.

Doc: Are you busy?

Me: No, ma'am.

Doc: Come with me. I need you to chaperon a rectal exam.

Me: 😱

We walk into the room and the patient doesn't speak english so she tells him in spanish what is about to happen. He looked at me with this anguished look, and all I could think was wow, this extremely awkward.

She explained everything to me while she dug around, which was nice though.
 
ive shadowed a pediatric oncologist/hematologist. very depressing experience but really opened me eyes up to the realities of life and medicine. i had a lot to discuss in my applications and essays about my experience doing this
 
so at least we know jdub wants to be a plastic surgeon? 🙁
 
muhali3 said:
Agree. It is very interesting to understand how someone died and under what circumstances. And since the patient is dead, you don't have to worry about having proper social etiquette. Unlike in other specialties where things can get a bit monotonous, each case in forensic path is totally unique and engaging. Suicides, murder/car crash victims, death by swollen genitals, etc. It can get a bit morbid at times so I would not recommend it for the faint-hearted.
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Forensic Pathology can get pretty monotonous sometimes just like any other specialty, but also, like other specialties, a great case can peak your interest again. How long did you shadow?
 
I enjoyed shadowing the pediatric cardiologist and a cardiothoracic surgeon.

I didn't really care for shadowing the neurosurgeon.
 
The GI department was my first shadowing experience. I thought it was surprisingly cool. Broncoscopies were pretty dang cool to watch.

I think any sort if ER, surgery, trauma, etc is something everyone should have. Just to say you've done it.
 
sustentacular said:
Forensic Pathology can get pretty monotonous sometimes just like any other specialty, but also, like other specialties, a great case can peak your interest again. How long did you shadow?
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I shadowed for about a week, around 50 hours. The cause of death is usually the same (mostly suicide/murder), but I guess it is more interesting because each person has a story behind their death, since only people who died under unusual circumstances are examined. Seeing the "patients" in forensic path has more of an emotional effect on me. It makes me realize how easy it is to die, and how grateful I am to be alive.
 
muhali3 said:
I shadowed for about a week, around 50 hours. The cause of death is usually the same (mostly suicide/murder), but I guess it is more interesting because each person has a story behind their death, since only people who died under unusual circumstances are examined. Seeing the "patients" in forensic path has more of an emotional effect on me. It makes me realize how easy it is to die, and how grateful I am to be alive.
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How many homicides did you manage to see in a week? Did you have assigned times to shadow or did they call you in when they had a case they thought you'd want to see? I find that the majority of cases end up being natural (manner of death, not cause) yet unexpected deaths or individuals with known health problems who either hadn't seen a physician in a long time or there was some additional factor that caused their physician to not want to sign the death certificate. There are a surprising number of suicides and accidents though.
 
Anything that lets you get some hands on experience will be interesting. Surgery is fun to watch for the first day or two but then it gets really monotonous.

If you can shadow a trauma surgeon, that's probably the most exciting thing you can do without actually touching a patient.
 
Anesthesiology, in my opinion. You get to see two surgical specialties at once. The anesthetic aspect, and the surgical aspect (the actual surgery itself). For me, I get to shadow an Anesthesiologist at a hospital known for its orthopedic surgeries. So in a sense, I get to see two surgical specialties I'm interested in. It's a pretty good deal if you think about it. You need to actually like surgery though.
 
J DUB said:
EM and Plastics were great....

Derm was boring.
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I'd like to shadow a Derm doc at home. It'd be like MTV Cribs, and they'd showcase their cars and swimming pools and fountains and drawbridges with moats...
 
J DUB said:
dont have the artistic talent to make them so pretty!!

I want to do EM!! and shadow plastics for "research" purposes....😀
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was never going to but ive pretty much decided im never going to get mine done....just in case some kid on sdn ends up watching....just weird...

:scared:
 
Ativanigans said:
Anything that lets you get some hands on experience will be interesting. Surgery is fun to watch for the first day or two but then it gets really monotonous.

If you can shadow a trauma surgeon, that's probably the most exciting thing you can do without actually touching a patient.
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The OR is a magical place. It can also get very crowded and cold. I recommend eating something before going in in the morning because being sleepy, hungry, feet hurting from standing, and looking at someone's innards are not a good combination. My shadowing experiences have also taught me that people do a lot of dumb things. I mean really, What do you think is going to happen when you jump out of a window? Sprout wings and fly away?
 
How do you guys set up shadowing with ER or Trauma Surgeons that are mostly in the hospital? Whats the best way to approach them and explainig your desire to shadow them?
 
DocMcCoy said:
Everyone should try to shadow a surgeon and see an operation in an OR. AMAZING
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That's what I did on Monday! I was supposed to watch the whole op (it was a tummy tuck), but the surgery started 2 hours late so I only was able to watch 15 minutes before I had to go get my daughter. 🙁 I thought the 15 minutes I did see was pretty cool.
 
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