How to go about shadowing?

[MDwannabe09]

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I really want to find a doctor or surgeon to shadow but I'm confused on how to actually ask them. Do I just call or email and ask if they'd allow a mature college freshman to shadow them? Also, how do you go about finding people to ask? My sister broke her femur earlier this year(and had to have two steel rods put in the bone to help it heal) and I was wondering if it would be ok to ask her surgeon if I could shadow him, since she has another check-up with him in a couple weeks. Other than him, I don't know any other medical people...

 

[Shinobiz11]

Can someone answer this for me too please. 🙂

 

[ILikeDrugs]

Here's a link to your answer:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/search.php

 

[Stratego]

I think it would be fine to ask the orthopedic surgeon whom you've met, if you go with your sister to see him again. Besides that you might also ask your doctor back home if you could do some shadowing time over a break. Another way is to meet docotrs while acquiring clinical experience and hit on them. I have also seen posts about candidates cold-calling total strangers and asking, who get a positive response. Personally, I would feel uncomfortable asking someone I'd never met.

If you're in the first year there's no rush. Shadowing can be acquired in chunks of time here and there while on break. Aim for two-three types of doctor for a total of maybe 80 hours.

 

[dr zaius]

It can't hurt to ask your sister's physician.


Many schools have programs through pre-health societies/clubs (AED, for instance) that put students in touch with physicians willing to allow students to shadow them. I suggest asking your pre-med advisor if you have one. They are usually a wealth of information.

I also went through my university's medical school website and found physicians working in areas I was intersting in gaining exposure and sent them an email. It worked about 90% of the time. It seemed the physicians either responded very enthusiastically or not at all. No one ever bit my head off for asking.

 

[dr zaius]

I think it would be fine to ask the orthopedic surgeon whom you've met, if you go with your sister to see him again. Besides that you might also ask your doctor back home if you could do some shadowing time over a break. Another way is to meet docotrs while acquiring clinical experience and hit on them. I have also seen posts about candidates cold-calling total strangers and asking, who get a positive response. Personally, I would feel uncomfortable asking someone I'd never met.

If you're in the first year there's no rush. Shadowing can be acquired in chunks of time here and there while on break. Aim for two-three types of doctor for a total of maybe 80 hours.

I also used the above method with my family doctor.

 

[J ROD]

I asked my med school if they knew of any docs I could shadow.

I got to shadow several of the docs on the admin com.

One was even my interviewer....talk about lucky or meant to be!


We had already discussed alot of my stuff, 🙂


I also got some shadowing ideas from those docs. They hooked me up with some of their friends....

Word of mouth can help...👍

 

[MDwannabe09]

Here's a link to your answer:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/search.php

Thanks, but I already did a search prior to posting this thread and I didn't get specific answers to my questions.

 

[JFK90787]

For the OP, I find the names and emails of doctors at a local hospital on their website and email about 20 of them and usually 1 or 2 get back to me saying I can come in. Getting into an OR requires a lot of paperwork and I get the feeling most surgeons aren't very keen on it. I'm getting to do one at the end of this month but I think one time is enough.

I would recommend trying to shadow pathologists. You might get the chance to see some really cool things without the bull**** paperwork that most of the other 'cool' specialties require. In a day of following around a pathologist I got to go into the cutting room where they chop up organs and saw a lung, a fetus, boobs, a placenta, and a colon. I know someone else who got to see an autopsy. Or you might just end up looking under a microscope for 12 hours.

Good luck