Hey guys! I'm currently a senior biology major and hope to apply to Osteopathic medical schools within the year. I don't have an excessive amount of shadowing experience. Every time I shadow a physician it is only one or two times and feel very pushy if I keep contacting wanting to shadow again. How do you guys set-up long-term shadowing like over the summer? Thanks!
Settig up Long-term shadowing
- Thread starter kyvaro01
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I just contacted the ER at my local hospital and set up a shadowing. At the end of my first day of shadowing I asked the doctor if he would mind if I shadowed again. He said sure and printed off his schedule for me and just told me to feel free to come when ever I wanted. Over all I ended up shadowing 2 ER doctors for about 45 hours over the course of 2 months and received letters recommendations from both of them. I would just recomend being attentive, friendly, and ask questions the first time you shadow (allow them to enjoy teaching just as much as your enjoying the experience). For me the experience was awesome, I got to know most of the ER staff and all of the ER doctors, and would definitely consider the doctor that I set the original shadowing up with a friend that I could contact any time for advice.
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Yeah I would keep in mind that a lot of outpatient doctors probably would prefer that you limit shadowing to 1 or 2 days. The above suggestion is very good, and I think all departments in an academic medical center would be your best bet for establishing sustained experience. They're used to having a posse of residents / fellows and it's probably less of a burden to have a pre-med float along...
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I'll say that I put in 160 hours at a rural family practice with two docs.
It was pretty awesome. What might've helped was that my advisor told me to get that many hours. I had no idea that it wasn't necessary at the time, but I'm glad that I had the experience. 40 (1 week) should be adequate.
Also - I never got the feeling that the doctors saw me as a burden. As a shadow, I pretty much just dressed professionally, kept my mouth shut, and studied for the MCAT in the down time.
It was pretty awesome. What might've helped was that my advisor told me to get that many hours. I had no idea that it wasn't necessary at the time, but I'm glad that I had the experience. 40 (1 week) should be adequate.
Also - I never got the feeling that the doctors saw me as a burden. As a shadow, I pretty much just dressed professionally, kept my mouth shut, and studied for the MCAT in the down time.
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i felt there wasnt really a need to shadow for more than 20 hrs. i shadowed at a private family practice clinic and i basically got the gist of what family practice was like in my first 2 days. im sure the other specialties are more interesting tho. my doctor was basically looking at patient historys and blood tests and then prescribing medicine or referring the patient to a specialists. i was lucky cause my DO actually did OMT. that was just amazing!!!
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It's slower to be sure. On the other hand, in my 160 hours I got to see a lot of neat stuff. With patient permission, I heard a heart murmur, palpated an abdominal hernia, and watched a doctor untangle himself from a sticky situation with a psychotic patient. There was more stuff than just this but I don't really feel like elaborating.
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I am not sure what opportunities are available where you live but here is what I did...I shadowed through all of undergrad...probably over 200 hours...I shadowed my PCP..who is a DO...she was great, let me come in whenever I wanted...probably did about 40-50 hours with her. I also worked at a dermatology clinic and an emergency department...making connections at those places opened doors for shadowing whenever I wanted. Also, we have a family practice residency program in our city in a public health clinic. Anybody can shadow residents and faculty there as much as they want. Last, and more difficult, the 2 hospitals in my town have volunteer coordinators who facilitate shadowing opportunities for students. So, maybe try to give someone like that a call. Otherwise, like in all of life, try to find someone that knows someone and you can get in with them. The above advice is all great..make a good impression and let them teach---it'll make them enjoy the experience and they'll be open to having you come back. Best of luck with applying..its fun--expensive,tiresome, demanding--but fun 🙂
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If your school has a pre-med adviser or career services department, you can try contacting them to see if there are physicians that previous students have shadowed, preferably long-term, and assuming those previous students didn't reflect poorly on your school the docs are probably more likely to be willing to take on another student from the same school. Also, if you happen to know anybody that's worked in a hospital setting for some time and has any kind of an established relationship with any of the physicians they work with, talk them into probing some of the friendlier docs about letting you shadow.
Thanks for ALL of the replies guys! It helps a lot to hear all of this advice. I got to thinking after I read some of the posts and remembered my mom works with a DO. She says that the DO is super nice so maybe I could try to get some shadowing through her. Also, how many hours looks adequate for ad coms? And if I have a more than the usual does it look much better? Or not really matter too much? Thanks again guys.
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The more the merrier.
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Honestly, you just get lucky sometimes.
I don't know how you are defining "long term" (by hours or by length of time). I know it's crazy but there is a difference.
I shadowed a surgeon about once or twice a month in the OR, total hours about 30 over 6 months. We knew each other so once in a while he would get bored and basically contact me through FB and say "Yo, going to be at DMC on Monday for an 8 am tummy tuck. You in?"
I had one doctor I shadowed 6 hours a week for 6 weeks. My time with him was partially set up by my neurologist.
I spent 60 hours over about 3 weeks with a family doctor, that was set up through a professional society who I contacted for help setting up shadowing. He knew I wanted to shadow for a few days going into all of this.
I've also shadowed an internist for about 46 hours over about 5 months. (The man has the weirdest schedule I've ever seen. I can only shadow about 4 hours at a time) He knew I wanted to shadow him a few times and we really clicked. With how much effort it took both of us to allow me to shadow, I'll be shadowing him on and off for the next 7 months. I found him through an organization.
I would also say don't just do this for whatever amount of hours you think you need to do it for. This is really an educational experience. None of my doctors were DOs by the way. Couldn't find one who took on students and the mentoring list didn't help.
I don't know how you are defining "long term" (by hours or by length of time). I know it's crazy but there is a difference.
I shadowed a surgeon about once or twice a month in the OR, total hours about 30 over 6 months. We knew each other so once in a while he would get bored and basically contact me through FB and say "Yo, going to be at DMC on Monday for an 8 am tummy tuck. You in?"
I had one doctor I shadowed 6 hours a week for 6 weeks. My time with him was partially set up by my neurologist.
I spent 60 hours over about 3 weeks with a family doctor, that was set up through a professional society who I contacted for help setting up shadowing. He knew I wanted to shadow for a few days going into all of this.
I've also shadowed an internist for about 46 hours over about 5 months. (The man has the weirdest schedule I've ever seen. I can only shadow about 4 hours at a time) He knew I wanted to shadow him a few times and we really clicked. With how much effort it took both of us to allow me to shadow, I'll be shadowing him on and off for the next 7 months. I found him through an organization.
I would also say don't just do this for whatever amount of hours you think you need to do it for. This is really an educational experience. None of my doctors were DOs by the way. Couldn't find one who took on students and the mentoring list didn't help.
Thanks for the advice. I'll try to find one of these organizations that you got set-up through. Although I'm not doing this for the amount of hours I do need some shadowing before applying. I have over 350 hours volunteering with about 200 of that being hospital. I just need to get some shadowing and more importantly make sure this is what I want to do.
