Need advice for getting shadowing experience

[Jorje286]

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Sorry, out of topic:

If you're not already shadowing

I've been trying to get some shadowing experience with no success. I basically call the offices of doctors, and in a lot of those cases, it was a sort of embarrassing experience. 😳 Are there any other ways, like specific programs or something? And no, I don't know personally any doctor, since I'm an international student here.

 

[solitude]

Sorry, out of topic:



I've been trying to get some shadowing experience with no success. I basically call the offices of doctors, and in a lot of those cases, it was a sort of embarrassing experience. 😳 Are there any other ways, like specific programs or something? And no, I don't know personally any doctor, since I'm an international student here.

I think the easiest way to do it, if you don't know any doctors, is to find a friend who does. Most doctors probably don't have a problem with somebody just tagging along as long as they don't get in the way, but they're not likely to take a lot of time to arrange the experience, particularly if you're just some bum off the street. My advice would be to find a classmate whose parent is a physician in the area and shadow him/her. If that doesn't work, just start asking around. Do any of your profs have friends that are physicians? Does your physician have colleagues that would be willing to do it? Does the local hospital have organized volunteer or shadowing opportunities?

 

[RxnMan]

Check out my FAQ (link in my sig). Yes, you're not a re-app, but it's still good advice for anyone applying.

 

[gouda]

I wouldn't get discouraged...sometimes emails don't go through or they check but are so busy...

I was interested in two fields and wanted to get exposure to them. Field #1 I emailed about 25 docs and heard back from ~10...and 4 have let me shadow. pretty good for my standards. Then field #2 emailed about 25 docs and heard back from ~5 docs...and 1 said she may be available in Jan.

It is a combination of fate and statistics...keep emailing, it doesn't hurt have a long list of docs, but do not expect each to respond and even if they do there are no guarantees.