How do I shadow a doctor?

[FiannaLove]

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Hihiii everyone!!

I am incredibly appreciative of this forum being a thing, and I do apologize for the incredibly basic question here.

Simply put, how do I manage to shadow a doctor? Do I just email some front facing desk if any doctors are willing to have an interested student volunteer to help them?

Additionally, how many hours of shadowing are typical for a student to do?

I don't have anyone in my life that is at all in this field, so I do greatly apologize for inconveniencing you all with this question.

 

[Goro]

Cold call their offices

50 hrs should suffice

Do you have a family or personal physician to ask?

 

[FiannaLove]

Cold call their offices

50 hrs should suffice

Do you have a family or personal physician to ask?

I appreciate this! And no, I do not have any sort of connection with any doctors unfortunately.

Is 50 hours shadowing a relevant experience to put into the application if I were to go through with it?

 

[wook]

Consider also reaching out to your local hospital and inquire about shadowing opportunities with physicians. Hospitals may welcome this type of activity.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Articles! Read from our archive:

You searched for shadowing | HPSA’s Student Doctor Network (SDN)

www.studentdoctor.net

 

[wook]

Articles! Read from our archive:

You searched for shadowing | HPSA’s Student Doctor Network (SDN)

www.studentdoctor.net

Love it!!

 

[Goro]

I appreciate this! And no, I do not have any sort of connection with any doctors unfortunately.

Is 50 hours shadowing a relevant experience to put into the application if I were to go through with it?

It's a required competency that you know what a doctor's day is like. The will be space in your EC list to mention this. You can also mention in secondaries what you learned, and who inspired you.

 

[deleted1163194]

Shadowing was really hard for me to get too. I tried the cold-calling thing and it only worked once, but the rest of my doctors were connections within my personal network. I'd ask your parents if they have any doctor friends or friends with doctor friends. Many hospitals also offer summer fellowships for people to work in a hospital and shadow doctors for a summer. UCLA has a program like that, I think.

 

[LizzyM]

I would also recommend contacting your college alumni office and asking if there are any alumni in your area who are physicians. Then get the alumni office to help you with the outreach. It gives the doc an opportunity to give back and helps the alumni office get alumni engagement that isn't just asking for money. Win-win-win.

 

[LunaOri]

Even if you don’t have a personal physician, chances are that a parent or family member has one—start by asking them!

 

[karaya]

I'm curious why it's so hard. Everyone I've asked has said no, or said nothing. Even at the hospital where I work. Do doctors realize this is a required step of the process? Are they simply too busy? It seems that the only way to shadow is if you have connections. So the process favors people who can afford doctors, or who are related to doctors. As a low-SES applicant I find it incredibly frustrating. I'm starting to feel that this is by design.

 

[wook]

I'm curious why it's so hard. Everyone I've asked has said no, or said nothing. Even at the hospital where I work. Do doctors realize this is a required step of the process? Are they simply too busy? It seems that the only way to shadow is if you have connections. So the process favors people who can afford doctors, or who are related to doctors. As a low-SES applicant I find it incredibly frustrating. I'm starting to feel that this is by design.

While I understand your frustration, your experience is not uncommon. Physicians are being stretched more and more and have very limited limited bandwidth.

With that being said, continue to persevere! I had limited options for shadowing but was fortunate enough to connect to a couple of physicians late in the cycle. Previous posters have made some excellent suggestions, consider trying some of them out as well. Perseverance is also a desirable trait in the medical field. Only those who are motivated will continue to pursue this goal when there are easier goals which can be more easily attained.