How to Shadow a Doctor?

Started by studentdoc22
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
S

studentdoc22

New Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
I'm located in New York City and would like to shadow a doctor to gain some insight into whether a career in medicine is right for me. Anyone have advice on how I can go about doing this?

Thanks.
 
Just go to your school website and look up clinical faculty that suite your area of interest (for me, it was ortho). Then email him. He will say yes, but the only thing these days that may stop you is the patient confidentiality law in some overly strict hospitals that don't allow for shadowing, especially in the surgical fields.
 
Whenever I have shadowed, I e-mailed the residency director/coordinator and they set up the shadowing for me. I have done this for orthopaedic surgery (MD), thoracic surgery (PA) and Emergency Medicine (MD). I have never had any problems with it - just had to sign a HIPAA form. If you can't find that person's contact information, just call the department in which you want to shadow and they can get you in contact with the right person.
 
Protoss said:
Just go to your school website and look up clinical faculty that suite your area of interest (for me, it was ortho). Then email him. He will say yes, but the only thing these days that may stop you is the patient confidentiality law in some overly strict hospitals that don't allow for shadowing, especially in the surgical fields.
Click to expand...

I would do what this guy says and avoid contacting the program directors of residency programs-- they're busy and it might be considered inappropriate for an undergraduate student to contact a PD to set up a shadowing gig whent the student could easily do it himself. I'm a med student, and I wouldn't ask a PD whom I've never met whose number I obtained over the internet to ask them to do me this favor. But that's just me.
 
Guess it depends on the hospital. That is who is required by the hospital to set up shadowing visits because their job is just purely scheduling. I contacted a doctor directly and they forwarded me along to their residency coordinator to set the shadowing up.
 
Thanks for the help. It sounds like the safe-bet is to start by contacting the department head's office and requesting a shadow. I'm currently a student at a post-bac premed program. Will any hospital or clinic be willing to accommodate me if I'm only a pre-med student? I'm also thinking that I might follow a pediatric track, should I request to specifically shadow a pediatrician?

Thanks again, all!!
 
I also have a question about how to shadow a doctor.

I noticed the replies here assume you're in school, but I graduated three years ago as an engineer, and am now thinking of switching careers to medicine. Before I start the process though I want to shadow a doctor, what I am particularly interested in is pediatric intensive care and neurosurgery.

I'm located in Houston, so there are plenty of hospitals, but I'm not sure how to arrange something -- the same way others here suggested even though i'm not a student (and didn't go to school in Houston)?

I have a doctor I used to see regularly in Houston, but he works in an office and is not in intensive care or neurosurgery so i'm not sure I could arrange anything through him.
 
thewalrus8 said:
I have a doctor I used to see regularly in Houston, but he works in an office and is not in intensive care or neurosurgery so i'm not sure I could arrange anything through him.
Click to expand...
..call him up; see if you can shadow him to begin with; maybe he might hook you up with some other doc in your area of interest.
 
Methodist Hospital Neurosurgery Program -- "The Program Director, David S. Baskin, M.D. ([email protected]) and the Chair of the Department and of the Institute, Robert G. Grossman, M.D. ([email protected]), welcome your inquiries."

For additional information regarding the Baylor College of Medicine Neurosurgery Residency Program, please contact:
Raymond Sawaya, M.D., Professor and Chair

Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine
Faculty Center - BCM 650
1709 Dryden
Suite 750
Houston, Texas, USA 77030






It is those type people I have always contacted when I wanted to shadow. They have either directly helped me or referred me to someone who could. I have always reached people who were happy to help and excited that someone was interested and wanted to shadow.


Good luck!
 
Dude, don't email the department chair to shadow a physician. From what I have seen over the years people who tell others they want to be a "neurosurgeon" or "other sub sub sub specialty" get eaten alive. Stay humble and start small. Try to have a strategy, the road is long, very long.
 
Trail Boss said:
Dude, don't email the department chair to shadow a physician. From what I have seen over the years people who tell others they want to be a "neurosurgeon" or "other sub sub sub specialty" get eaten alive. Stay humble and start small. Try to have a strategy, the road is long, very long.
Click to expand...


For starts, I said residency coordinator. Secondly, must depend on the hospital. I e-mailed these people at OSU Medical Center, Akron General Hospital, and The Cleveland Clinic and had very good success. I've shadowed in thoracic surgery, EM, orthopaedic surgery, and trauma. The residency coordinators hooked me up with doctors every time and were very friendly.
 
To get my shadow experience, I emailed the dept. head. They forwarded around my email and another doctor responded. It was great!

The disclaimer is that I'm interested in a very small field--pediatric physical rehabilitation. It might not work with other departments. Can't hurt to try though, right?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.