How to Shadow a Physician as a Nontraditional with a very full Schedule

[Rikkibot]

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I'm in my first semester taking post-bacc classes at UMD. Currently, I take two classes (nights, Monday-Thursday), work full-time, and volunteer at a hospital 3 hours a week Sunday mornings. I am looking into shadowing a physician, but I am having a hard time figuring out how to approach asking because of my full schedule. From what I can tell, people normally shadow a doctor a few days in a row, or at the very least a full day. I would only ever be able to do a full day of shadowing if I could shadow someone on the weekend. My question is, how should I approach asking to shadow a physician while keeping in mind that I may only be able to shadow someone on the weekend or Friday after work?

 

[CW 2010]

I am in the same boat. My guess, is that it doesn't have to be a full day or several days on a row. Why can't it be 4 hrs once a week? At least that's what I am planning to ask for. If you want to shadow somebody for a full day, doctors work on weekends, so it can be done as well. But I am curious what others have to say 🙂

 

[kraskadva]

What I did was write a letter (w/ attached CV) asking to shadow, and explaining my situation and why I wanted to, and mailed it to a couple of docs. Got calls back within a week saying yes. You can put your time constraints in a letter or discuss them over the phone. Most docs willing to be shadowed would probably be willing to work with you.

Also, you could do what most trads do, and go to the college's pre-health adviser or Career Development office, who should have experience in setting these sorts of things up.

 

[Rikkibot]

Thanks for the responses so far! I guess my concern is that I am going to come off demanding if I ask a doctor to let me shadow them and then proceed to tell them I can only do it within a very limited timeframe during the week. How off putting is that? Do you think t will severely limit my ability to find someone to shadow?

 

[theseeker4]

Thanks for the responses so far! I guess my concern is that I am going to come off demanding if I ask a doctor to let me shadow them and then proceed to tell them I can only do it within a very limited timeframe during the week. How off putting is that? Do you think t will severely limit my ability to find someone to shadow?

I shadowed two of the physicians who work at my son's pediatrician for a few hours each on two Saturday mornings. That was my only shadowing. Like a lot of other ECs, med schools don't actually expect non-trads to have the same amount of time as traditional students dedicated to various ECs. They expect us to have the activities, and the activities we have need to be "meaningful," but just because pre-allo believes students need to have multiple full days in a row of shadowing doesn't mean adcoms actually expect this. They recognize that a time commitment from someone working full time and going to school is a very different thing than one from a full-time student who MIGHT have a part-time job.

Talk to ER and urgent care physicians, as well as primary care physicians who work on the weekends. Start with your primary care doctor, and if their schedule doesn't work ask for contacts to other physicians who might have a more compatible schedule. Worst case scenario, you might have to use a vacation day or a holiday break at your work to fit a day of shadowing in. Simply be up front about your time availability when you ask the doctors you want to shadow, so all the "terms" are up front and it doesn't seem like you are adding restrictions after they agree to let you shadow.

 

[CW 2010]

I think what will limit your ability to find someone is that NOT every doctor will be excited to have some non-trad following him/her. If you volunteer at the hospital and come across some physicians, try to ask them. A short face-to-face conversation might be more effective than a letter in the mail. Also, try talking to your hospital's volunteers' department, especially if it's a teaching hospital, they might be able to help you find somebody.

 

[Rikkibot]

Thanks for the pointers. This seems more doable now.