How to shadow? give me some tip

[Duon89]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I had done some shadowing previously with a trauma surgeon.
But i do not think it was that productive, as I could only observe her doing surgery or some rotations. I did not really have chance to have a talk with her or anything. She was just to busy and it was hard to arrange meeting everytime. Obviously I did not ask for recomendation, because she does not know me, she just cant, because we had little conversation.

What do people do while shadowing, any critical questions people ask?
how should it be done in terms of getting recommendation?

I think next time I will try to shadow a primary medicine physician or emergency medicine..

ANY TIPS or Refer me to other posts THANKS

 

[ShinyDome19]

I have shadowed a couple differnt physicians, mainly ER, Peds and IM (pretty much the primary care docs).. the ER docs at times are extremely busy, but from my experience, the people that go into that specialty are extremely good at multi-tasking. So, talking to them about what they are doing, why they are doing it, while they are actually doing it, has never been a problem. Actually, even the family docs I have shadowed seemed to like explaining things to me in front of patients...

If you are looking to get a rec. letter from a doc, I would let them know up front that you would like to shadow them in hopes of earning a letter from them for you applications. That way, if they know they are going to write a letter about you, they will be more likely to try and get some information out of you as well...and if they are to busy to write a letter, you'll know before you spend the time shadowing them.

In my opinion though, ER docs are the best to shadow because you can shadow them at any time of day and all the ones I have seen are a lot more laid back than the family/IM/Peds docs I have seen.

 

[kansaskid]

I loved shadowing! Just listen to whatever the doc feels is important to tell you and be honest about your knowledge base! No one expects you to really know anything at this point anyway. I shadowed a peds physician in both hospital and office settings and would ask a couple genuine questions after seeing patients. While with patients I would be as unobtrusive and respectful as possible. Kids are great though and can definitely lessen the awkwardness that having a pre-med in an examination room can cause. The doc was very friendly and open with me and I ended up baby sitting her kids a couple times. She's writing me a recommendation, too which is wonderful. Just be friendly and respectful and show some sort of passion for your chosen career!

 

[175961]

how to shadow:
first of all, show up, duh. then observe every movement the doctor makes and listen to every word that comes out of his mouth. always walk a step behind the doctor, never in front. dont speak until spoken to. see a fly on the wall, be the fly on the wall. go home.
repeat steps if necessary

 

[J ROD]

Just ask questions about what the docs are doing....most are happy to explain.

I found my shadowing experiences...great!! Since I am a pharm student, they asked me stuff and I asked them stuff...it was more a team approach 🙂

 

[randombetch]

Getting a recommendation from a physician is unnecessary. It won't help - he/she doesn't know you well enough to comment helpfully.

 

[Poliscidoc]

Getting a recommendation from a physician is unnecessary. It won't help - he/she doesn't know you well enough to comment helpfully.

For DO school (some not all) you need a letter of recommendation from a DO that you have shadowed with. Im not sure about MD schools

 

[Duon89]

Getting a recommendation from a physician is unnecessary. It won't help - he/she doesn't know you well enough to comment helpfully.

Yeah...I was thinking that too...and...thought it is not important obviously..
because the relationship is so transient and that they should have no say on anything...not only I am not showing any skills but mainly just some interests toward the medicine....

but I guess medical schools want those kind of things...a prospective from doctor. I know D.O. schools acquire LOR from M.D. if not from D.O. and this seems like there is a good reason behind this getting LOR from physicians.

Anyway thanks for the tips guys...Do anyone wants to share how often during the week you shadowed?

 

[Hope4Ever]

Wow, I was actually going to ask this question as well. Thanks! I remember shadowing one cardiologist before, however, he was really busy with his post-doc and it took me quite a long time to schedule one day to shadow him. I asked him questions about his passion for cardiology, whether he applied directly to medical school, etc.
I think for this coming winter, I'm going to try to get some shadowing experience done.

 

[Vulcan]

Getting a recommendation from a physician is unnecessary. It won't help - he/she doesn't know you well enough to comment helpfully.

I got one from a doc and it was mentioned at 4 out of 5 interviews as being a big point on my app...get to know your doc well and the LOR could be a big help