Gaining Clinical and Shadowing Experience

[JToney]

Hey Everyone,

I’m curious to know how others have gained clinical and shadowing experiences with doctors. I live in a more rural area and all of the big providers around here don’t allow clinical/shadowing experience if you’re not associated with a program that requires it such as CNA, PA, maybe EMT. I haven’t been able to find many private practices and the ones I do find haven’t been returning my calls. I’m planning on branching out to nearby cities but most are 45 min to 1h30m.

In addition to that I was planning on taking the EMT-Basic class offered at my community college. Has anyone else done this? If so, did you get the experience you needed or was it overkill, and what did an EMT-B certificate allow you to do?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

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[bomba]

I'm getting clinical experience by volunteering at a hospice, which also led to me becoming familiar with a couple of the physicians and shadowing opportunities when they learned of my ambitions. It's definitely easier to find shadowing opportunities when you're a known quantity vs cold calling.

 

[JToney]

I'm getting clinical experience by volunteering at a hospice, which also led to me becoming familiar with a couple of the physicians and shadowing opportunities when they learned of my ambitions. It's definitely easier to find shadowing opportunities when you're a known quantity vs cold calling.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that if someone knows who you are then they’re more willing to work with you. And I’ll have to give hospice a try. To be honest I was hesitant to volunteer with hospice because of experiences that I heard from others in my area. From the people that I talked with most of the experiences led to no interaction with doctors. And I hate the way that it sounds of only wanting to volunteer on terms that benefit me, but at this stage in my journey I’m still trying to get that experience to see what a doctor does, in person, to validate making a career change into the medical field. As well as going back to school to get prerequisites that I need. As much as I think my heart desires it, I like to go into things like this with a fair amount of certainty. Fortunately, I was able to get in touch with the volunteer coordinator at a hospital that is about 40 minutes away and they have openings in the ER that has both patient and doctor interaction.

 

[Meridian32]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that if someone knows who you are then they’re more willing to work with you. And I’ll have to give hospice a try. To be honest I was hesitant to volunteer with hospice because of experiences that I heard from others in my area. From the people that I talked with most of the experiences led to no interaction with doctors. And I hate the way that it sounds of only wanting to volunteer on terms that benefit me, but at this stage in my journey I’m still trying to get that experience to see what a doctor does, in person, to validate making a career change into the medical field. As well as going back to school to get prerequisites that I need. As much as I think my heart desires it, I like to go into things like this with a fair amount of certainty. Fortunately, I was able to get in touch with the volunteer coordinator at a hospital that is about 40 minutes away and they have openings in the ER that has both patient and doctor interaction.

I would caution you about making a volunteering decision based on potential exposure to doctors. In my experience, when I was a volunteer before med school (I volunteered for a couple of years in hospice and on a normal hospital ward), I had zero interactions with doctors. Now that I am a doctor (in my last year of hematology/oncology training at an academic medical center), I have also had zero interactions with volunteers throughout all 7 years that I've been practicing. Maybe there are places where doctors and volunteers actually interact, but in my experience, doctors and volunteers perform completely separate roles in healthcare settings, so there are few to no opportunities for any interactions.

To gain firsthand experience with what doctors do, I instead highly recommend shadowing doctors. I also highly recommend informational interviews - talk to doctors over coffee/phone/video and ask about their background and work lives.

Finally, I highly recommend hospice volunteering - please see my post in the other thread today for info on why.

 

[SahilMehtaMD]

While you can shadow any doctor, securing the experience does require a bit of legwork. Not all physicians are accommodating, but if you don’t ask, the answer is always no. Here are some tips for finding in-person opportunities:

• Check the website of local doctor’s offices, clinics, and hospitals – many have online request forms specifically for students to schedule shadowing.
• Ask your pre-med advisor – if you’re already in a pre-med program, your advisor will likely have local resources for shadowing. Send them an email or schedule a meeting to talk about your interests and get advice.
• Check with on-campus facilities – if your university campus has an onsite hospital or medical facility, it’s almost certain they offer shadowing opportunities.
• Pick up the phone – if you still come up empty-handed, some good old fashioned cold calling may be necessary. Remember, there are still many small and private practices that may not have a website or use technology for requests. While it may feel awkward to call, shadowing is very common and we promise you’re not the first one to ask a front desk coordinator if their doctors are open to shadowing.
• There are also tons of virtual shadowing opportunities.

 

[misterwolf]

To be honest the EMT-B course is bit of drag , it’s not hard but it is time consuming. I ended up getting my license and applied to EMT, ER Tech and MA jobs. I ended up landing a solid MA job and so far it’s been a very valuable experience. I get to do more things than an EMT such as administer immunizations and medications, EKGs, blood draws, IVs, and casting/splinting. So overall I’m very happy that I got my EMT-B license.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

Hugely biased as I'm (likely) going into Psychiatry, but any crisis / suicide hotline is generally considered as clinical experience to varying degrees. (As if somehow getting people to put down the gun/knife is less medical than wiping someone's ass as a CNA but I digress.)

Unfortunately as well these volunteers are not classified as first-responders, even though we generally are the ones who make the call to the police / EMTs for rescues.

Good luck!

 

[karaya]

EMT-B is versatile. I planned to work on a 911 ambulance, but they weren't hiring part-time. That was my #1 concern due to taking classes. So I applied at my hospital and got a p/t PCA job. It's good clinical hours and I can transfer to ED to get more EMT-ish experience. Also, it's easier to ask the local docs to shadow. The con is that PCA rounds get repetitive after a while.

 

[JToney]

I would caution you about making a volunteering decision based on potential exposure to doctors. In my experience, when I was a volunteer before med school (I volunteered for a couple of years in hospice and on a normal hospital ward), I had zero interactions with doctors. Now that I am a doctor (in my last year of hematology/oncology training at an academic medical center), I have also had zero interactions with volunteers throughout all 7 years that I've been practicing. Maybe there are places where doctors and volunteers actually interact, but in my experience, doctors and volunteers perform completely separate roles in healthcare settings, so there are few to no opportunities for any interactions.

To gain firsthand experience with what doctors do, I instead highly recommend shadowing doctors. I also highly recommend informational interviews - talk to doctors over coffee/phone/video and ask about their background and work lives.

Finally, I highly recommend hospice volunteering - please see my post in the other thread today for info on why.

Thank you for the response. Apologies for the late reply, I don’t know how I didn’t see a notification that someone had posted. I’ll definitely keep trying to get doctors to let me shadow but like I said, there aren’t many private practices here and the big hospitals don’t allow it. I probably just need to expand my area search lol. Once the new year starts and I figure out my wife’s new schedule I’ll be on the hunt for that elusive clinical experience.

 

[JToney]

While you can shadow any doctor, securing the experience does require a bit of legwork. Not all physicians are accommodating, but if you don’t ask, the answer is always no. Here are some tips for finding in-person opportunities:

• Check the website of local doctor’s offices, clinics, and hospitals – many have online request forms specifically for students to schedule shadowing.
• Ask your pre-med advisor – if you’re already in a pre-med program, your advisor will likely have local resources for shadowing. Send them an email or schedule a meeting to talk about your interests and get advice.
• Check with on-campus facilities – if your university campus has an onsite hospital or medical facility, it’s almost certain they offer shadowing opportunities.
• Pick up the phone – if you still come up empty-handed, some good old fashioned cold calling may be necessary. Remember, there are still many small and private practices that may not have a website or use technology for requests. While it may feel awkward to call, shadowing is very common and we promise you’re not the first one to ask a front desk coordinator if their doctors are open to shadowing.
• There are also tons of virtual shadowing opportunities.

Thank you for the advice. I’m way past my university days and have been doing my prerequisites online and at a CC. But you’ve given me an idea. There is a university about 30 minutes away that has a PA program. Maybe with some emailing and calling perhaps one of the staff there knows where I can get some experience. Also, my instructor for A&P was a chiropractor. While not an MD/DO he’s still considered a form of health care provider. He has offered me a chance to shadow him at his office. Would that count towards shadowing?

 

[chilly_md]

Thank you for the advice. I’m way past my university days and have been doing my prerequisites online and at a CC. But you’ve given me an idea. There is a university about 30 minutes away that has a PA program. Maybe with some emailing and calling perhaps one of the staff there knows where I can get some experience. Also, my instructor for A&P was a chiropractor. While not an MD/DO he’s still considered a form of health care provider. He has offered me a chance to shadow him at his office. Would that count towards shadowing?

You need to shadow a physician. Chiropractor does not count.

 

[JToney]

You need to shadow a physician. Chiropractor does not count.

I didn’t think so. He has been selling chiropractics to me all year and at the end of the semester yesterday offered to let me come down to where he teaches and sit in on some classes is why I ask. He makes a compelling case but I know in my heart of hearts that is not the ride I want to wait in line for.