Ideas and Advice for Getting Shadowing Experience

[QofQuimica]

It seems like a lot of people are struggling to find physicians to shadow. I wanted to provide some general ideas of places to look, as well as alternative ideas besides the normal ED volunteering or outpatient clinic shadowing. In addition, if you're looking for shadowing in a specific city, feel free to post what you're looking for and what city you're looking in to find a physician to shadow. Conversely, although we don't have many physicians on our board, if any physicians who do read this are willing to allow premeds to shadow you, please feel free to offer your help here.

My advice on ways to find physicians to shadow:

• If you are currently in college or taking postbac classes at a university, see if there is a premed club, and join it. These clubs often have relationships with local physicians who are willing to allow shadowing.
• If you are not in college and/or don't have access to a premed club, start by contacting physicians with whom you have some relationship. This can be your own physician, people you know who are physicians, friends of friends, etc. Don't be afraid to ask around. Odds are that someone you know could help you set up a meeting with a physician.

My suggestions for other places to get clinical experience (not requiring significant training like EMTs):

• Nursing homes
• Hospices
• Counseling hotlines
• Free clinics
• Halfway houses
• Addiction treatment centers
• Public health outreach (ex. HIV testing, health fairs)
• Anywhere else where you are working directly with patients and physicians

Nursing homes in particular can always use volunteers, and the patients love to see younger people. Yes, even you, the nontrad extraordinaire, will be young in a nursing home. 🙂

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[pinkzebra]

thanks for posting this, Q! perfect timing for my shadowing post today 🙂

i still would like to gain some shadowing experience before i apply this cycle. i am in the boston area and do not have any relationships with physicians around here, only out west. i did call my primary care physician, but i guess they only allow medical students to shadow.

i have called and left messages today with about six physicians in the area - one's secretary has already gotten back with me and said the physician has too many outside commitments to allow me to shadow at this time. keeping my fingers VERY crossed that one of the others will get back to me soon.

 

[ChE04]

One thing I have found about shadowing academic type docs around here is that their hospital systems require a ton of paperwork/red tape to be completed before you can start. I'm talking physicals, drug tests, immunization records signed by a physician (a pain for me since I'm from outside the US), letters of reference, personal statements... It varies from place to place, but this has actually presented a significant hurdle to me.

What has worked for me has been shamelessly pestering my friends who are residents (and even residents that I barely know!). In addition to the attendings in their own specialties, they usually know other residents in other specialties through rotations, or friends from med school, etc., so I have found them to be valuable resources. Actually got one hook-up by striking up a conversation with a guy at my apartment complex's grill. We were both grilling up dinner so we started making small talk, and it turned out he was a neurosurgery resident. I asked him, and he hooked me up with an anesthesiology attending to shadow... So you never really know.

i did call my primary care physician, but i guess they only allow medical students to shadow.

I have also heard this. I asked one PCP and she was shocked that pre-med's were actually allowed to shadow! I would think academic medicine or non-academic types that are not long out of residency would be the more familiar with pre-med shadowing. I'll be checking with my own PCP in a couple weeks.

 

[OneTyme]

I had a pretty frustrating time finding someone to shadow. I ended up striking a good relationship with a doc I met who spoke at a premed conference in my home town.

Be sure to keep your eyes open through out your journey.

 

[mnze]

thanks for the advice Q! 😀

 

[Mindscrew]

I would also suggest talking to your family physician and ask if they know of someone you can shadow.

Alternatively, many of us are a bit older, so we may know people from our high school, college or grad school that went to medical school. Ask them to set you up or with someone they know.

Network is key

 

[GILT]

Hi,
I would like to know the difference between shadowing and volunteering.

Back in undergraduate, students can sign up to be volunteers in the university hospital.
We get to choose from a booklet which department we would like to volunteer.
The problem with this volunteering program is that students are placed to do mostly clerical and labor works; such as filing paperwork, cleaning up the mess and etc.
So how would this experience help you to learn more about the medical field??



I graduated about a year ago. And I will be taking some post bach classes in the summer. I would like to start shadowing a physician hopefully in the fall time.
Do you have any suggestion of physicians that I can shadow in Long Island, New York?

 

[MacVA]

I can't stress this enough... try to use other premed's parents... particularly ones you may tutor 🙂

 

[dsoz]

I have had a hard time finding shadowing experience. The hospital where I volunteer has told me "we don't do that here."

I was set up in a nearby hospital, but because I am not "part of a program" they could only give me an 8 hour shadow experience. It was a good experience. The most exciting patient had an atrial arhythmia and the doctors had to stop, then restart his heart.

I found out that my son has a friend that has a grandfather that went back to med school at the age of 44 (did you follow that). I called the grandfather up and worked out some shadowing experiences so I can get some time in before I actually submit my application.

Just like everywhere else, it is not what you know it is who you know.

dsoz

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Just like everywhere else, it is not what you know it is who you know.

One of the greatest strengths that non-trads can bring to the fight, IMO. First, we know that it is important to cultivate and maintain professional relationships. Second, we have a lot of life experience to use as sources for those relationships. Who you know, if you choose to use it intelligently, can be a huge leg up, just like you found.

 

[n3xa]

One of the greatest strengths that non-trads can bring to the fight, IMO. First, we know that it is important to cultivate and maintain professional relationships. Second, we have a lot of life experience to use as sources for those relationships. Who you know, if you choose to use it intelligently, can be a huge leg up, just like you found.

I was fortunate enough to gain the majority of my shadowing experiences through my post-bacc program, but I did manage to network and started shadowing a FP resident on my own.

Now I'm on the other side of the program and helping other students in the program gain shadowing experiences, which are usually friends of the program directors. It baffles me that some students - both undergrad and post-baccs - don't "get" that whole concept of maintaining professional relationships to the point where I'm embarrassed for them. Hello, you earn things in this world; you are not entitled to them.

HIV testing/counseling is also a great way to gain clinical experience and I've had nothing but positive encouragement from those in the public health field. Unfortunately from what I understand, at least in the state of IL, you usually need an organization sponsoring you to attend a training session.

For more information in the midwest:
http://www.matec.info/

 

[BHaus9]

Perhaps this won't be taken as good advice, and it seems counterintuitive, but if at all possible I would suggest having someone else (i.e. a friend, mentor, family member) place the initial call to a physician (preferably one of their own physicians) on your behalf. A referral is more likely to be well-received than is a "cold caller," and using an intermediary to ask about shadowship removes some of the awkwardness/pressure that would be created by a self-introduction followed by a direct request. It's paradoxical, perhaps, but I think this makes it more likely that the physician will extend an offer.

This works particularly well if the person making the referral is someone you perceive to be well-known or important 😀

 

[nanotech1112]

A little off topic, but if anyone has any experience... how well does international shadowing experiences rank? My wife has an uncle who's a high ranking MD/PhD at National Taiwan University Hospital. How much of a difference would it make on my current application to move there and shadow him for a month or so? I'd have to move my wife and two young kids there also.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mauberley]

A little off topic, but if anyone has any experience... how well does international shadowing experiences rank? My wife has an uncle who's a high ranking MD/PhD at National Taiwan University Hospital. How much of a difference would it make on my current application to move there and shadow him for a month or so? I'd have to move my wife and two young kids there also.

Thanks in advance.

My understanding is that it would not be regarded as useful for US medical school admissions.

 

[QofQuimica]

A little off topic, but if anyone has any experience... how well does international shadowing experiences rank? My wife has an uncle who's a high ranking MD/PhD at National Taiwan University Hospital. How much of a difference would it make on my current application to move there and shadow him for a month or so? I'd have to move my wife and two young kids there also.

Thanks in advance.

It won't hurt you to go see what the medical system is like in another country, especially if health care policy is an area of interest for you. But otherwise, I agree with mauberley that this is not the best venue to get shadowing if your goal is to learn about medicine as practiced in the U.S. Not to mention that it'd be a heck of a lot cheaper to shadow a local doc than to pick up and move halfway around the world with your family!

 

[Simplify]

Finding opportunities to shadow was extremely frustrating for me. I had to resort to cold calls and e-mails. None of these ever bore any fruit. About the time I had all but given up, I made a connection through a friend of a friend. This connection materialized by keeping friends and family up to date on my status. Eventually, someone I know had a physician as a client, connected us together and from that single contact I shadowed multiple docs.

Don't give up!

 

[mafunk]

Hospitals are almost impossible to get into as a shadow, in my experience. But you can get in as a volunteer. I secured a volunteer gig basically as a patient transport tech at a local hospital. But.... I found out very quickly I didn't like the vibe there. I much prefer the community clinics and free clinics. That's just me, some folks might love the hospital. It is good patient contact experience.

I've shadowing at a community clinic, free clinic and a private office. I'm my opinion the clinics are much better. Two reasons:
1. It is simply more gratifying to help people who otherwise couldn't afford medical care.
2. The clinics let you get more hands on patient contact.

 

[turkeybean]

How crucial is shadowing in the US? I only have volunteer experience in a hospital but do not have any 'shadowing' experience. I know I will have to be very selective in terms of the schools that I can apply to in the US, but is 'shadowing' really such a significant part of the application? Has anyone done it successfully without formal 'shadowing'?

 

[mauberley]

How crucial is shadowing in the US? I only have volunteer experience in a hospital but do not have any 'shadowing' experience. I know I will have to be very selective in terms of the schools that I can apply to in the US, but is 'shadowing' really such a significant part of the application? Has anyone done it successfully without formal 'shadowing'?

It can be done (example: me), but you should be prepared to demonstrate through other activities that you have gained knowledge of what the practice of medicine is like.

 

[turkeybean]

It can be done (example: me), but you should be prepared to demonstrate through other activities that you have gained knowledge of what the practice of medicine is like.

Thanks for the reply, Mauberley. It's comforting to know that this happens here, although my top choices are Canadian programs. I did check out your MDprofile, and I guess I would have to agree that you probably could have applied a bit more broadly. Anyway, congrats on the acceptance!

 

[mauberley]

Thanks for the reply, Mauberley. It's comforting to know that this happens here, although my top choices are Canadian programs. I did check out your MDprofile, and I guess I would have to agree that you probably could have applied a bit more broadly. Anyway, congrats on the acceptance!

Thanks, and good luck to you!

 

[Isoprop]

To find a DO physician as a mentor and perhaps even to shadow:

http://cf.osteopathic.org/iLearn/home.cfm

Found many shadowing opportunities there even with a DO letter of recommendation (I sent to both MD and DO schools).

For general volunteering opportunities, there's http://www.volunteermatch.org/ which a lot of nursing homes and hospices use to advertise open volunteer positions. There might also be other opportunities like halfway houses and free clinics available there too. The site also has a plethora of non-clinical volunteering as well.

Finally, if you are in the central Ohio area, here's another helpful website. http://www.volunteercentralohio.org/

 

[Eik Ooc]

To find a DO physician as a mentor and perhaps even to shadow:

http://cf.osteopathic.org/iLearn/home.cfm

Found many shadowing opportunities there even with a DO letter of recommendation (I sent to both MD and DO schools).

For general volunteering opportunities, there's http://www.volunteermatch.org/ which a lot of nursing homes and hospices use to advertise open volunteer positions. There might also be other opportunities like halfway houses and free clinics available there too. The site also has a plethora of non-clinical volunteering as well.

Finally, if you are in the central Ohio area, here's another helpful website. http://www.volunteercentralohio.org/

Thank you! I think this post has been one of the most helpful I've read on SDN in the last two years.