For shadowing is it best to email head of dept or individual docs

[Bodysurfer]

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Hey all

I'm Interested in getting shadowing experience. Would it be best to email the head of a hospital department, say the head of neonatology and seeing if they can set me up with a specific doc or should I email individual docs, such as a specific neonatologist?

Thanks!

 

[HughMyron]

I dunno. Cause I didn't know any DOs personally, I literally coldcalled 20 of them before getting one "yes."

Finding an MD to shadow was way easier hehe.

 

[pandemia]

Hey all

I'm Interested in getting shadowing experience. Would it be best to email the head of a hospital department, say the head of neonatology and seeing if they can set me up with a specific doc or should I email individual docs, such as a specific neonatologist?

Thanks!

Contact them individually

 

[jena2nsu]

I would recommend contacting the physician directly. Our office gets quite a few shadowing requests. Our docs prefer to be contacted directly by students because there's a direct line of communication between the student and the physician. This helps with scheduling, etc.

In the past when students have contacted the department head, the doctors tend to get irked because the department head usually just tells the docs to expect so-so on a certain date. The docs like to be able to make their own decisions about who they allow to shadow. 🙂

 

[circulus vitios]

I dunno. Cause I didn't know any DOs personally, I literally coldcalled 20 of them before getting one "yes."

Finding an MD to shadow was way easier hehe.

That's messed up considering most DO schools 'strongly recommend' a DO letter of recommendation.

If anyone else is in this situation, the AOA has an osteopathic medicine mentoring program. http://cf.osteopathic.org/iLearn/home.cfm Their FAQ explicitly mentions shadowing:

How do I shadow a DO?
It is a requirement of most colleges of osteopathic medicine to submit a letter of recommendation from a DO along with the application. Shadowing an osteopathic physician is the best way to obtain a letter of recommendation. To find a mentor to shadow log on to the site by visiting the Mentor Exchange page (if it is your first time logging on you will need to create a profile) and search for a mentor.

I live in the middle of no where and I found 2 DOs who I plan on contacting for the purpose of shadowing. 👍

 

[HughMyron]

That's messed up considering most DO schools 'strongly recommend' a DO letter of recommendation.

If anyone else is in this situation, the AOA has an osteopathic medicine mentoring program. http://cf.osteopathic.org/iLearn/home.cfm Their FAQ explicitly mentions shadowing:

I live in the middle of no where and I found 2 DOs who I plan on contacting for the purpose of shadowing. 👍

Wow, that's really cool. I wish I would have known about it earlier haha.

Would have saved me a lot of awkward "who is this I don't even [yes, someone DID say this]" and "how did you get our number"s. But oh well, it's all a learning experience.

 

[Jojokarade]

I would contact the physician directly. Also, check to see if your city/state has a mentoring program. There is a program in Seattle that set me up with a primary care physician in a low-income clinic who then set me up with about 15 other physicians. I was able to get about 100 hours shadowing at that clinic alone.

Honestly, it just takes a lot of perseverance and networking. Once you get in with one, you can see if they know anyone else you can follow and so on and so forth. Good luck.