Clinicial Shadowing

[predentmom221]

How is everyone finding shadowing opportunities? I live in Maryland and with COVID, it's been impossible to find in-person shadowing opportunities.

To make things harder, I can't just take a job in a dental office. I have a full-time job, am the primary bread winner, and have a 1.5 yo. I have every other Friday off which is how I was squeezing in shadowing hours pre-COVID and pregnancy but there are no opportunities to be found. Does anyone have any suggestions or leads in the DMV area? I need at least 10 more hours.

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[deleted1109581]

Hi. I struggled with the same problem last year but ended up finding an in-person shadowing opportunity near my house.

This may not be what you are looking for, but when I asked my pre-health advisor about ways to gain dental experience during COVID, she made the following suggestions:
(1) Try "interviewing" through Zoom to gain information on the profession, practice, etc. Start with your own dentist.
(2) Get involved in outreach initiatives that depend on volunteers and offer dental services to underserved populations.
(3) Take Coursera courses. Penn Dental Medicine has 2 free courses available through the Coursera platform.

Hope this helps...

 

[alexteethdocman]

Do the programs that you're considering allow/accept virtual shadowing? There are tons of videos on youtube that cover many procedures and have a ton of helpful information. Plus, sometimes it seems like the camera angles are even better than anything you'd get to see in person anyways. If you think that you only need about 10 more hours, I think virtual shadowing could be a great option.

Do any of the colleges near you have predental clubs? If you are looking for in person shadowing opportunities, they may have some great suggestions for you.

Finally, I also don't think that 10 extra hours of shadowing is going to qualify/disqualify you necessarily as an applicant. It seems like you are very busy and the schools will likely also take that into account when considering your application. Unless there is a minimum on shadowing hours for the program that you are trying to apply for and you're below that, I wouldn't worry too much.

Hope that helps!

 

[PerioDont]

Hi. I struggled with the same problem last year but ended up finding an in-person shadowing opportunity near my house.

This may not be what you are looking for, but when I asked my pre-health advisor about ways to gain dental experience during COVID, she made the following suggestions:
(1) Try "interviewing" through Zoom to gain information on the profession, practice, etc. Start with your own dentist.
(2) Get involved in outreach initiatives that depend on volunteers and offer dental services to underserved populations.
(3) Take Coursera courses. Penn Dental Medicine has 2 free courses available through the Coursera platform.

Hope this helps...

Imo most busy private practice dentists will not want to spend time on zoom talking to some person they don't even know.

on the Fridays you have off, just show up to random dental offices twenty minutes before opening. do not waste their time by calling or whatever. just show up and ask the front desk if you can shadow. if they say no, go to another office.

I've done this with 20+ doctors. literally only one said no, and that was due to him not seeing patients that day. even he invited me back the next day.

my advice is just to show up.

 

[predentmom221]

Hi. I struggled with the same problem last year but ended up finding an in-person shadowing opportunity near my house.

This may not be what you are looking for, but when I asked my pre-health advisor about ways to gain dental experience during COVID, she made the following suggestions:
(1) Try "interviewing" through Zoom to gain information on the profession, practice, etc. Start with your own dentist.
(2) Get involved in outreach initiatives that depend on volunteers and offer dental services to underserved populations.
(3) Take Coursera courses. Penn Dental Medicine has 2 free courses available through the Coursera platform.

Hope this helps...

Thanks, I hadn't checked this forum in a while but I did reach out to my advisor who emailed a bunch of people she knew for me and I finally managed to secure those last hours.

I did do options 1 & 3 last year and I volunteer in other capacities. Hopefully, this is enough.

 

[predentmom221]

Do the programs that you're considering allow/accept virtual shadowing? There are tons of videos on youtube that cover many procedures and have a ton of helpful information. Plus, sometimes it seems like the camera angles are even better than anything you'd get to see in person anyways. If you think that you only need about 10 more hours, I think virtual shadowing could be a great option.

Do any of the colleges near you have predental clubs? If you are looking for in person shadowing opportunities, they may have some great suggestions for you.

Finally, I also don't think that 10 extra hours of shadowing is going to qualify/disqualify you necessarily as an applicant. It seems like you are very busy and the schools will likely also take that into account when considering your application. Unless there is a minimum on shadowing hours for the program that you are trying to apply for and you're below that, I wouldn't worry too much.

Hope that helps!

Thankfully, I managed to find the hours I needed. Some of the schools I'm applying to had very strict in-person shadowing requirements and refused to review my application until I met the requirement.

 

[predentmom221]

Imo most busy private practice dentists will not want to spend time on zoom talking to some person they don't even know.

on the Fridays you have off, just show up to random dental offices twenty minutes before opening. do not waste their time by calling or whatever. just show up and ask the front desk if you can shadow. if they say no, go to another office.

I've done this with 20+ doctors. literally only one said no, and that was due to him not seeing patients that day. even he invited me back the next day.

my advice is just to show up.

Wow, I actually hadn't thought of that. Thankfully, I got the hours I needed but that's very helpful. Thank you.