Doing scut work during shadowing

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xnfs93hy

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So I've been shadowing my Primary Care Physician for about a week now. I'm only there temporarily. The thing is, today he basically made me a receptionist. I had to answer phone calls, most of which were people asking for appointments. No one ever taught me how to use the computer software to make appointments, so I had to place everyone on hold while he was seeing people. Then he told me to go make copies. I've used copying machines before, but wanted to make sure I was using the machine correctly. I asked him to come back and show me just once and he just looked at me like I was an imbecile. Then he told me to do faxes for him. Again, I had to ask. And again, he stormed back up front and told me to figure it out myself. This went on for the whole day and I had minimal patient contact.

Now, before someone jumps down my throat, hear me out. I don't mind answering phones, making copies, doing faxes, doing files, et cetera. We had a lot of patients today and were overwhelmed. However, he had three secretaries on staff and none of them would answer the phone when it rang. I was never taught how to use the office equipment, either.

Do you think what happened today was acceptable? I mean, I don't mind helping out, but I'm not there to be someone's secretary either. I'm there to see patients and ask questions.

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No. You were there to shadow, not be free office labor. How he treated you was not acceptable either.

Call the office and say you will not be returning.
 
Welcome to third year rotations.

In all seriousness, though, this is not acceptable. If this is indeed a shadowing experience, that is exactly what you should be doing. You're not an employee, so you shouldn't be doing any work. It sounds like this doc is taking advantage of you.
 
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You were his official bi&@h for the day , find a new doc brah
 
Thanks for the responses, guys. I think I'll just finish up the next two days, get the hours, and peace out. Definitely not coming back to his practice after how I was treated today.
 
A physician I shadowed asked me to do a handful of things like grab a comfort blanket or ask a unit clerk to fax a POLST. These were things done in the middle of seeing patients and were times where the physician needed help. I was not sent to do busy work.

Had I been asked to take over tasks the department's administrative assistants take care of or do front office work, I would have declined to continue shadowing. You are not volunteer labor. While the physician has every right to say, "No, you cannot shadow me," that physician should not have said yes and then turned you into a volunteer temp worker. I'm assuming your city has more than a handful of doctors you could shadow.
 
I hate that for you, man. Besides the frustrating aspect of it, I would image it very awkward/uncomfortable as well. What's odd is that you had already been shadowing for a week before he dumped all of this on you.
 
A physician I shadowed asked me to do a handful of things like grab a comfort blanket or ask a unit clerk to fax a POLST. These were things done in the middle of seeing patients and were times where the physician needed help. I was not sent to do busy work.

Had I been asked to take over tasks the department's administrative assistants take care of or do front office work, I would have declined to continue shadowing. You are not volunteer labor. While the physician has every right to say, "No, you cannot shadow me," that physician should not have said yes and then turned you into a volunteer temp worker. I'm assuming your city has more than a handful of doctors you could shadow.

I was asked to do these things as well. Things such as grab files for patients, transport them into the laboratory to get bloodwork done, get an EKG set up on a patient, grab a box of drugs from the storage room and basically facilitate what the physician already does. Things similar to what you described. In that process, I was still getting patient contact, which was fine. It was only today that he just dumped all of this office work on me out of the blue.
 
Shadowing is supposed to be a passive experience where you are with the doctor, and see how he or she interacts around the patients.

This isn't pre-med volunteering, where you're expected to do scut work and perform free labor. I'd get out of there as soon as possible! There are plenty of other fish in the sea (doctors).
 
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If he is going to tread you like free labor, I would go back one more time, but this time book all of his appointments at the exact same time and then leave.
 
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If he is going to tread you like free labor, I would go back one more time, but this time book all of his appointments at the exact same time and then leave.

Haha do what April does on Parks and Recreation and schedule them for 2:65 pm or April 34th
 
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I wouldn't "shadow" with him again unless he is going to turn that into a paid position.
 
I put the band-aids on after the doctor takes blood. Should I ask for pay too?
 
I put the band-aids on after the doctor takes blood. Should I ask for pay too?
Please, this situation is completely unrelated... At best s/he is a volunteer, still not shadowing.
 
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