Questions to ask when Shadowing an OD???

[angeleyes86]

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Hey everyone

I'm thinking about calling or visiting a couple optometrists today and asking them if i can job shadow them.

can anyone give ideas on questions i should ask? i know people are going to say ask what you're interested in but i don't want to miss out on any important things i should know...so what are major questions i should ask for sure??

also how many hours of shadowing should i do for each optometrist? and how will OD schools have proof that i shadowed?

thanks! any advice would help a lot!!

 

[Oogilily]

That is really up to you what you want to know. If I were you, I would ask questions about how they run their practices (the business end) or why they chose private over commercial or the other way around. I would just ask them stuff that you can't learn in school, things that they have learned through experience. You will learn how to work all the instruments and tools in school, but if you aren't familiar with them look them over and ask what their names are. But I would focus on the things that you can't learn in school.

 

[Oilersfan69]

how would the optometry schools know u shadowed an optometrist?

 

[opt]

Ask lots of questions about the field. It's very easy to know if someone has shadowed a lot...they'll usually know a lot about the profession.

 

[prettygreeneyes]

how would the optometry schools know u shadowed an optometrist?

For some schools, shadowing is a required part of your application.


To the OP, you have to list on your application the number of hours you shadowed (for some schools) and it is assumed that you will be honest enough to accurately report those numbers. Your experiences during the shadowing may be the basis for an essay or interview question, so it would be pretty easy to figure out if you really shadowed or not, unless you are an exceptionally good BS'er. As for the number of hours, an afternoon or two should be good for most optometrists. If you feel that you could really learn a lot from a particular doctor or practice setting, ask to stay a little more. Try to shadow doctors in a variety of settings to be sure you get the best idea of what being an optometrist is actually like, be that good or bad.

Regarding the questions you should ask... well... what do you really want to know? Are you curious about a certain specialty? Do you want to know how the doctor got to where they are? An interesting question to ask is whether the doctor would choose optometry if they could do it all over again, and what they would do differently if given the chance? Would the doctor go to their school again? Did they feel prepared? How long did it take to feel truly comfortable?

Hope this helps!