I See Dead People...Shadowing a Coroner/Medical Examiner?

[aphios5]

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Shadowing experiences are hard to come by when you are a non-traditional working 40+ hours a week...I have several hours of shadowing an MD, however, an opportunity just came up to tentatively shadow the county coroner/medical examiner....does anyone foresee any issues with shadowing a this type of doctor and how it may or may not influence my medical school application...???😕 Thanks for your help...

 

[eschaton88]

Do it! It's different and interesting and there's a good chance you'll get to see/maybe help with autopsies. I'm pretty biased tho, I've been trying to get into an autopsy for a few years now. It's like surgery but you don't really have to close anything, and you can poke stuff and move it around! 😀 I'm actually really jealous of you.

Of course there are likely legal issues and such so you might not get to see too much. Find out what exactly you would be allowed in on, a lot of depends on the individual doctor. Unless you have a real worry about how you will react to the sight or smell of a dead body I would do it.

 

[236116]

Sounds neat.

Just make sure you get exposure elsewhere, too.

 

[Aiicha]

I've done this with two different ME offices because I think its pretty fascinating. You can PM me with questions about getting it started and everything. Its easy and a fabulous experience, really great for anatomy. As an added bonus, it came up a few times in med school interviews so I think it was note worthy.

 

[binko]

Sounds cool. I've been told it's totally different from seeing the cadavers in gross anatomy, an MSII highly recommended watching an autopsy if given the chance.

 

[Pedsbro]

Uh, last I checked, ME's are pathologists (specifically forensic pathologists), and pathologists = MD. What exactly is the issue? There is no reason it shouldn't count if you're potentially interested in going into forensic path.

 

[nina1985]

It will count as shadowing experience, and can be a fascinating way to see anatomy...

However, from personal experience, if you have never been in an anatomy lab or otherwise exposed to whole dead bodies before, it might be a little traumatic. People don't choose to send their bodies to the ME and often die due to accidents, suicide, etc. When I went to observe an autopsy, I had difficulty disconnecting the body from the person that had inhabited it only a half-day earlier....

I definitely preferred shadowing a hospital pathologist, where body parts were presented in buckets and tissues on slides.

 

[Druzie]

Sounds pretty cool. I would go for it.

 

[adamMD]

I don't get it. You are lucky to get this opportunity. Why would you not take it? Don't forget to steal a heart or lung to study at home. Any advantage you can give yourself will help. I AM NOT joking (besides stealing).

 

[chad5871]

Do it!

I would have loved to shadow a ME during college. Even as a forensic science undergrad student I could never get in with one. 🙁

 

[WildlifeSaver]

What is this, the sixth sense famous line in here.

 

[Gut Shot]

Shadowing experiences are hard to come by when you are a non-traditional working 40+ hours a week...I have several hours of shadowing an MD, however, an opportunity just came up to tentatively shadow the county coroner/medical examiner....does anyone foresee any issues with shadowing a this type of doctor and how it may or may not influence my medical school application...???😕 Thanks for your help...

I love the ME, so forgive my bias, but I find it a great experience for premeds. Crime is what springs to most people's minds, but there is a significant public health component to the ME office's functions. You may also come to see how the ME can act as a backstop to physician and hospital malpractice.

If you decide to go for it, please pick up a copy of Michael Baden's "Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner." Great stories, great insight, horribly written, and you can plow through the whole thing in one sitting.

Enjoy!

 

[Artimacia]

I shadowed a medical examiner through my professor who is a forensic anthropologist. It is really interesting and really not that bad to look at. I'm hoping to get back in there this summer (also shadowing other types of doctors) but I really liked it and I even learned a lot more about anatomy than I did in my actual anatomy class.

Also, if this is what one of your interests (it's one of mine, I would like to be a forensic pathologist), you might really like the book Stiff by Mary Roach

 

[amakhosidlo]

It will count as shadowing experience, and can be a fascinating way to see anatomy...

I'd tend to disagree.

Honestly, the reason you shadow a doctor isn't to get experience looking a corpse. It's to get an idea of how a doctor talks to and interacts with their patient. If this is what you see the pathologist doing when you shadow, run.
Fast.

In all seriousness though, if you're interested, do it. It's a great way to avoid being surprised by the fact that you faint at sight/smell of death...

Don't expect to get any special attention for it though.

 

[beckhunter116]

I'd tend to disagree.

Honestly, the reason you shadow a doctor isn't to get experience looking a corpse. It's to get an idea of how a doctor talks to and interacts with their patient. If this is what you see the pathologist doing when you shadow, run.
Fast.

In all seriousness though, if you're interested, do it. It's a great way to avoid being surprised by the fact that you faint at sight/smell of death...

Don't expect to get any special attention for it though.

No, I think the point in shadowing a Doctor is to get the idea of what a day in a Doctor's life is like. While most Doctors interact with patients, some specialties are light on this. Like someone else said a pathologist is a MD or DO; hence it is counted as physician shadowing.

To the OP, did you just contact the counties office or how did you arrange it? I'm interested in doing this myself. Thanks! Oh, and do it I think it is interesting and will prepare you for what anatomy will be like.

 

[aphios5]

Thanks everyone for your insight. I really appreaciate it.

I'd tend to disagree.

Honestly, the reason you shadow a doctor isn't to get experience looking a corpse. It's to get an idea of how a doctor talks to and interacts with their patient. If this is what you see the pathologist doing when you shadow, run.
Fast.

Hilarious! Exactly why I posted the question in the first place. Duh, a medical examiner is MD/DO, but the absence of the "conventional" patient-doctor interaction was slightly bugging me so I thought that I would ask.

To the OP, did you just contact the counties office or how did you arrange it?

Yes, it was really as simple as looking up my county coroner on the web and calling the office. It took me a few times to get a live person on the phone (pun intended), but things went pretty smooth from there. Good luck!

 

[LizzyM]

A medical examiner (ME) is a physician and shadowing "counts". A county coroner is government office holder and is usually not a physician.

While some of shadowing is seeing how physicians interact with patients, it is also the chance to see "a day in a life", the working conditions, the amount of interaction with other team members, the amount of variety in the the tasks performed, etc.

 

[aphios5]

Wow, I got a response from the famous LizzyM!🙂

Where I live, the terms "county coroner" and "medical examiner" are interchangeable. This person's official title is "Coroner and Forensic Pathologist" and she's a DO....should make for an interesting experience. Thanks!

 

[DubVille]

Just an fyi, I worked for 3 years as an autopsy technician at a coroner/crime lab throughout college, it has been a great experience and was my only "substantial" amount of shadowing. No schools seemed to question my lack of conventional shadowing, and thanks to goofy shows like CSI etc. etc. they were all very fascinated and I actually had a few interviews where I was only asked me about my experiences there, no tricky ethics questions or attacks on sub-par grades. I dont know where you live, but in my state (Ohio) we regularly have students, and even random interested people watch autopsies (as long s it is not a homicide).

 

[TMP-SMX]

Shadowing isn't really that useful for getting into medical school. Volunteering tends to be more important. Obviously shadowing is important for personal growth and seeing what the job is like.

As said above, a coroner is often a non-physician while a medical examiner is always someone trained in medicine.

 

[Lauren87]

A few people here gave questionable advice...

I'd tend to disagree.

Honestly, the reason you shadow a doctor isn't to get experience looking a corpse. It's to get an idea of how a doctor talks to and interacts with their patient. If this is what you see the pathologist doing when you shadow, run.
Fast.

In all seriousness though, if you're interested, do it. It's a great way to avoid being surprised by the fact that you faint at sight/smell of death...

Don't expect to get any special attention for it though.

....?

Shadowing isn't really that useful for getting into medical school. Volunteering tends to be more important. Obviously shadowing is important for personal growth and seeing what the job is like.

As said above, a coroner is often a non-physician while a medical examiner is always someone trained in medicine.

I have a TON of volunteering experience, kinda a ridiculous amount but it's something I really enjoy doing, and med schools still asked me why I had so little shadowing experience. I've only shadowed like 3 times in my life, never for more than a day. One school, SUNY Downstate,, even sent me a letter asking me to describe my little shadowing experience in more detail (I did, trying to make the absolute most of what little I had and then got an interview). So I would not say one is more important then the other, definitely get BOTH!!!

as for shadowing a ME, I did it and it was a lot of fun. Really cool-they basically gut and empty a body in front of you. For me it wasn't a problem, because the people almost seemed surreal. But if you've ever had a friend or family get an autopsy, you may be disturbed and/or upset. Anyways, it's really interesting because an ME is like detective, they have to find the cause of the death. It takes a lot of critical thinking and applying what you know and was really fascinating to me. You also get to see doctors interact with the poice, which is cool especially if you like CSI or Law & Order. I would reccommend it the shadowing experience to anyone...people should open their minds to all types of doctors.

 

[amakhosidlo]

A few people here gave questionable advice...

.....🙄
Questionable for those who can't appreciate morbid humor, I suppose...

The OP stated that he/she was having trouble fitting traditional shadowing into their busy schedule, and asked if this type of experience would substitute, or if it would cause 'problems' in the admissions process.

I'd defer to LizzyM on it "counting" or not (Didn't take into account the "varied exposure to medicine" aspect), but it'd be difficult to argue that sitting in on autopsies would fill the place of general shadowing experience (Doctors+patients+beaureucracy+managed care=?)

It's a unique experience, it's a postive experience (hopefully), but I don't think it's a good substitute for the type of shadowing one would do otherwise.

Then again I hang around this stuff pretty much all day, so maybe I'm a bit jaded...

 

[Druzie]

Technically, I don't have any shadowing experience. When I started applying, I had volunteered in an ED, where I'd worked with/observed physicians, PA's, and nurses. Now I work as an MA.

Point is, as far as I can tell, it doesn't have to be shadowing per se. What's most important is that one is able to interact with patients and to observe the interaction between physicians and patients. I think/hope the OP knows that.

But back to the original topic, OP, there's no question that shadowing an ME would be a good experience. Just be sure you cover your bases.

 

[aphios5]

@amakhosidlo --> I get your morbid humor loud and clear...👍

@Druzie---> I'm definitely going to cover all of my bases, thanks!