Confused about shadowing

[cfx]

I'm confused about how physician shadowing works...do most people shadow someone for the entire day, every day for a week or two? long term/short term? Is it a one time only thing (one day with one md, another time with another md, etc.)? Once a month with the same md? How many times to most people shadow, with how many mds, etc.? I'm just generally not clear about what shadowing usually entails. Any details or personal experiences would be helpful.

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[carlogu]

I'm confused about how physician shadowing works...do most people shadow someone for the entire day, every day for a week or two? long term/short term? Is it a one time only thing (one day with one md, another time with another md, etc.)? Once a month with the same md? How many times to most people shadow, with how many mds, etc.? I'm just generally not clear about what shadowing usually entails. Any details or personal experiences would be helpful.

get out there and talk to doctors.......try to shadow a substantial amount of time (longer than a few hours).........those same doctors can later write you a letter of rec........so get to talking with different people and get somebody who is in a field you may be interested in............the longer, the better the chance that A) you will get a good letter of rec, and B)the better you will be assured that this field is one you want to get into...........I am sure a few hundred people will agree/disagree with me here, so just talk to as many people (docs included) as you can........communication will get you to unbelievable places.........that speaks for current prof's too! you never know who may be in the admins com.........

 

[MSUSpartan642]

For me with one of the doctors I shadowed all summer, once a week at about 6-8 hours per day. She wrote me a great letter and I still keep in touch with her. The next doctor that I have been shadowing I have been doing it nearly like a full time job. I go there for about 8 hours a day but have only been doing this for one week (approx. 26 hrs). I plan to do this one for another week like that and then jump to another specialty. Hope that helps at all.

 

[Aladdin]

I'm confused about how physician shadowing works...do most people shadow someone for the entire day, every day for a week or two? long term/short term? Is it a one time only thing (one day with one md, another time with another md, etc.)? Once a month with the same md? How many times to most people shadow, with how many mds, etc.? I'm just generally not clear about what shadowing usually entails. Any details or personal experiences would be helpful.

It completely depends. Personally, I used to go in around 9AM or so and stay with the doc usually until 2 or 3 (when the afternoon crowd starts to thin out). I did it a couple of times a week for a few months.

What you actually get to do with the doctor also depends on who the doc is, what kind of doc they are, and the setting. For example, when I shadowed a family practice physician, he got comfortable with me being there and started to allow me to go in and interview patients, getting their history and documenting their primary problem. When he would come in, it was very much like I was a med student. He would talk with me and ask me what I thought he should do. Most of the time, I didn't know, but he would explain to me what/why he would do. He was GREAT in terms of learning. Most of the time, doctors are a little hesitant to let non-med students be too involved in fear of liability.

The best way to find some doctors to shadow are just email/call as many as you can in the field you are looking for. You can even start with multiple docs in the same field and then pick the one that you are most comfortable with or that lets you be involved the most.

Hope this helps some?

 

[olemissbabydoc]

I shadowed one (GI) for all of spring break and then on Fridays for a while when I went home for weekends.

A few docs I just spent one full day with (specialties I wasn't as interested in).

I spent one day a week + weekend call with an OB/GYN for a couple of months. Call was the cool part about this... Whenever he got called in, I went with him. Gave me a really neat perspective... plus, all our babies seemed to come in the middle of the night, so I saw lots and lots of vag deliveries/sections! 🙂

Last summer, I shadowed in the NICU all day a couple of days a week for 2 months or so.

 

[alibai3ah]

I think it completely depends on the person and what the doctor is comfortable with. Shadowing is important, because adcomms basically want to gauge whether you know what the profession is like. The best way to do that is to follow doctors around. You can do 4 hour or 8 hour shifts for a few days or a week. I personally think shadowing one doctor for a long time is not as good as shadowing multiple doctors in a variety of fields. Sure you may get a good letter of recommendation; however, shadowing multiple doctors allows you to see which field interests you and which does not. So I would recommend shadowing multiple doctors.....unless you really want a letter of recommendation from the doctor or you have already found your speciality

 

[alibai3ah]

Also after shadowing 20-30 hours of one doctor, you eventually do not see anything new anymore unless you are shadowing a surgeon or EM doctor