Difficulty finding shadowing opportunities

[OCDOCDOCD]

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So I'm aware that I need to find a doc to shadow if I'm to get into an MD/PhD program. I work at a med school so I thought this would be easy enough, and sure enough one of the MD faculty there agreed to help me find someone to shadow. Problem is, when I told her I work 9-5 Mon-Fri, her attitude quickly changed from very optimistic to very pessimistic. According to her my chances of finding someone to shadow at a clinic are effectively zero with those hours since "no one works nights or weekends". She offered to let me shadow her at a hospital on her rounds though...in March (and I apply in June so I'm sure that timing won't look great; hell, even if I got a shadowing gig now I'm sure it wouldn't be optimal).

So my next thought was "okay, I'll just try to shadow at a hospital instead". But then I was informed that hospitals are rarely open to that sort of thing thanks to HIPAA. I was told it would be a million times easier if I have HIPAA certification, but as far as I can tell the only way to get that is for a hospital/clinic/whatever to enroll you in a course which presents a catch-22 issue.

I'm aware that volunteering at a hospital can provide a nice backdoor into shadowing as well. Problem is though that neither of the two hospitals in the area offer any real volunteer opportunities (it's all just stuff like goodie cart duty or taking baby pictures; ie stuff to give old retirees something to do) so that's not really a possibility here. There is a free clinic, but it's mostly just front desk duty from what I can tell, and even then their operating hours are such that I could probably only volunteer there for a 1-2 hours each week thanks to my work schedule.

Does anyone have any tips on how to go about finding a shadowing opportunity under my circumstances? Is cold calling hospital physicians a realistic strategy?

 

[circulus vitios]

Try contacting the department of medical education at your local teaching hospital(s). An entire course for HIPAA is ridiculous. My full shadowing orientation, including HIPAA training, will take an hour or two.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Try contacting the department of medical education at your local teaching hospital(s). An entire course for HIPAA is ridiculous. My full shadowing orientation, including HIPAA training, will take an hour or two.

Well that's the thing. The med school here doesn't have its own hospital. Rather it has a partnership with one of the local hospitals to let students learn there. I can't find anything on its site about medical education either. I'll ask around tomorrow anyway though and see if anyone knows anything about that.

 

[motrinwins]

Are there any free clinics in your area? Similar to you, I was pretty much busy 9-5 on weekdays, so it was extremely difficult to find a doctor to shadow. I decided to look up some free clinics and they were nice enough to allow me to shadow their doctors. Free clinics usually open on weekends, since the doctors basically volunteer there. Hope you will find a place soon!

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Are there any free clinics in your area? Similar to you, I was pretty much busy 9-5 on weekdays, so it was extremely difficult to find a doctor to shadow. I decided to look up some free clinics and they were nice enough to allow me to shadow their doctors. Free clinics usually open on weekends, since the doctors basically volunteer there. Hope you will find a place soon!

Like I said, there's a (emphasis on the singular) free clinic in the area, but it has bad hours for me. Only Monday to Thursday, and of those days two have hours that stop at noon so really it's just Monday and Tuesday for me. The hours start at 5 pm, which is also when I get off work, so I'd be about 30 minutes late each day. I suppose it's still worth trying though.

When you called them up, had you volunteered there at all? Reason I ask is because I'd imagine the physicians in those clinics would probably want to see some commitment, and it would be pretty awkward to ask about volunteering opportunities after being told that they want you to volunteer first. I wouldn't mind volunteering first if it weren't for the fact that I think I can get much better clinical experience through other means (eg: hospice) than through the clinic.

 

[phikapdoctor]

Walk into the E.D. Via the ambo entrance and ask if there if there are any allopathic doctors here to the whole E.D. Staff. A doctor will raise his hand/or say me, and you ask him/her if you can start shadowing him. He will say yes, and you proceed.

Worked when I did it, given it was a small hospital though.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile app please excuse punctuation and spelling

 

[ClemsonFirst]

Your best bet is shadowing in an ED since they are open all hours of the night. Also, try working on call scheduling with surgeons, too. I really loved surgery because you get prolonged time to see technical procedures and talk to the surgeons without the professional facade.

Try contacting scheduling directors, general surgeons, and residency directors as well as their secretaries through email about shadowing. I emailed a surgeon directly and he helped me get set up for shadowing throughout the summer. Would you mind PMing me the region you are in, and I can see if I have some contact information for you.

It just takes perseverance and a little luck of talking to the right person who is willing to let you shadow them or any residents they have. Medical-school affiliated hospital physicians, from what I have experienced, are interested in teaching and rather willing to let pre-meds shadow, so you are at least in the right place.

 

[Praefectus]

Your best bet is shadowing in an ED since they are open all hours of the night. Also, try working on call scheduling with surgeons, too. I really loved surgery because you get prolonged time to see technical procedures and talk to the surgeons without the professional facade.

Try contacting scheduling directors, general surgeons, and residency directors as well as their secretaries through email about shadowing. I emailed a surgeon directly and he helped me get set up for shadowing throughout the summer. Would you mind PMing me the region you are in, and I can see if I have some contact information for you.

It just takes perseverance and a little luck of talking to the right person who is willing to let you shadow them or any residents they have. Medical-school affiliated hospital physicians, from what I have experienced, are interested in teaching and rather willing to let pre-meds shadow, so you are at least in the right place.

👍 You stole the words out of my mouth. Based on your schedule, your best bet is the weekend ED or 6am rounds with surgeons. If it's possible, you could try to ask your boss to take a sick day or a half-day.