Hippa

[DO it right]

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How exactly do you guys manage to shadow a DO and get a letter? Every DO i've been calling turns me down--they say they won't do it because of the HIPAA requirement (privacy act). ..............oh well...I have five letters which are really good..but none from a physician......i guess no letter for me 😱

 

[Robz]

There are two ways of going about this. First, talk to them about the profession and your interest in studying medicine. If they are unwilling to have you shadow ask them if they could guide you in any support of finding clinical experience for learning. Heck you might even want to ask them what to do for letter cause schools require it.

The other way is asking if you can sign paperwork for confidentality. This is binding paperwork that says you are in a health care field and are therefore part of the staff of that facility. I had to sign one of these for peds physician I was shadowing.

 

[Richie Truxillo]

Don't forget shamelessly begging! 🙂 🙂 🙂 👍 😛
It is what I did!

 

[taylor92107]

I wrote letters...lots of letters explaining my interest and my desires to learn more about the field. Just send out as many as you can..someones bound to respond. I know it sucks, and you feel like your bugging people, but you gotta do it. Keep at it and someone will respond. Good luck

 

[exmike]

whats hippa? a female hippo?

oh you mean HIPAA! 😛

 

[Amy B]

How exactly do you guys manage to shadow a DO and get a letter? Every DO i've been calling turns me down--they say they won't do it because of the HIPPA requirement (privacy act). ..............oh well...I have five letters which are really good..but none from a physician......i guess no letter for me 😱

Here are some links to this very subject.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=84734

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=80500

 

[evescadeceus]

Docs who won't let you shadow them in the hospital will often agree to let you follow them in private practice.

Funny/embarrassing story: my friend arranged for us both to shadow a cardiologist on hospital rounds, and since we're both non-traditional students, he never actually asked us if we were med students because he assumed that we were. This became painfully obvious when he started pimping us with detailed cardio questions, and we couldn't answer any of them. When he found out our premed status, he pawned us off on the nearest M4 he could find, and wouldn't let us near a patient for the rest of the day.

 

[HNS]

One thing that you could do, if you have LOTS of time until you apply,1 year or so, is become an EMT. By working in an ambulance, volunteer or paid, you get clinical experience, are already bound by HIPPA, and have greater clout when asking a physician to let you shaddow. Don't forget about the EM docs whom you will have regular, personal interactions. 👍

 

[DO it right]

whats hippa? a female hippo?

oh you mean HIPAA! 😛

haha..sorry about that...its fixed now!

 

[AshDO]

When I wanted to shadow, I called my physician (who happened to be a DO) and finally he called me back and was willing to let me shadow in his private practice. However, before each patient, he explained who I was and asked permission for me to come in the room (and several patients did say no..they were not hesitant at all). Maybe you could speak to a physician and see if something could be worked out to maintain patient confidentiality and to give you the experience of shadowing...can't hurt to ask

 

[DD214_DOC]

Don't forget shamelessly begging! 🙂 🙂 🙂 👍 😛
It is what I did!

Do you really have your quote as "Dr. Yourname" and your avatar a pic of yourself with a coat and steth?

To the OP, you need to learn to play the game. If you have called a few DOs and been turned down after a week or two of trying, find one in private practice and tell him you have been looking for a few months. Tell him at least a dozen have turned you down. THis is your future we're talking about, so dump what is useless and do what works.

I eventually had to drive 100 miles to do it after asking DOs around here. I got a letter too, though I have no idea what he wrote -- I only was with him for a few hours. Better than no letter.

 

[exmike]

I did a research project on HIPAA in graduate school (before it was implemented).

You might be interested in knowing that HIPAA originally began as a way to improve the efficiency of insurance transactions by using unique identifiers for each patients. It was thought that having a unique patient ID, it would be easier for consumers to change insurance companies and doctors, hence the word "Portability" in "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act".

As it was, the HIPAA developers soon realized how difficult it was to create a secure way of storing patient information. At the same time, insurance companies themselves began moving towards electronic billing and transactions (this was circa 1996 when the internet was blossoming).

Since electronic billing had become pervasive, the efficiency aspects of were essentially already realized, so HIPAA moved away from being a way to save money and became a law ensuring the confidentiality of patients and their records because those were the issues that were first raised when developing HIPAA.

That is why the P in HIPAA stands for Portability, not Privacy. And it is also why HI stands for Health insurance, even though most things that HIPAA covers has nothign to do with health insurance OR its portability!

🙂

 

[DocWagner]

They are making excuses for not having someone shadow...HIPPA should not and does not prevent medical education between 2 individuals. HIPPA has nothing to do with asking a patient if you can come into the room...that courtesy has or should have always occurred. HIPPA deals with medical records and the sharing of medical information PRIMARILY with people who are not directly involved in the medical care of the patient...there are loopholes for medical education.