Medical How should I reestablish communication with physician previously shadowed?

[MusicDOc124]

Hi,

I shadowed a psychiatrist from January - April of last year. I initially let him know that I wanted to be able to shadow him when I could for 3-6 months (a couple hours a week). I didn't shadow him at all during late April and May as things got busier for me and I was involved in a summer undergraduate research program so I wasn't able to shadow at all after that. I did let him know that I was very busy during those months though. In hindsight, I wish I had handled things more professionally, but I never officially let him know I was done shadowing him. I'm starting to put my application together and I want to put his number down in my activities section for shadowing, but I'm worried that I've burnt the bridge between us. How can I go about re-establishing communication with him in the most appropriate way?

People get busy. People understand. Just reach out and be professional.

"Hi Dr. so and so, I hope all is well. I'm getting ready to apply for medical school now and it had me thinking about the time I shadowed you. I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate you having me and when this all clears up, maybe I can come observe again!"

Something as simple as that will do.

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[TheBoneDoctah]

Chances are, the doctor may have completely forgotten about you, haha. Just saying this because you may feel like you not being there has them thinking you are flaky, etc. Physicians are busy and aren't going to sit around wondering where the student was from a year ago. They were also students once trying to get into medical school and understand the process. I would reach out to them and thank them for the time they DID give you and then ask them if it is ok if you provide their information on your medical school application. At least then you have rekindled their memory of you and if (for some reason) they did get contacted, they would remember you and could verify that you did actually shadow/volunteer. This is what I did for all my shadowing/volunteering just so I could feel comfortable knowing that if they did get called, I would be covered and they wouldn't ruin my career by saying I wasn't there (because they just forgot).