Shadow!!!!

[WanabeDR]

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Today, I went to 3 doctors (eye doctors!) asking them if they would let me shadow them for couple hours during my charismas break. I was surprised with their respond. The first one was ODO. I asked his secretary to tell him that I would like to shadow him if he doesn't mind? she looked at me like I am crazy or something, and she said when she came back that Dr... will not accept me unless I am in medical school. Helloo..If I am in medical school why the hell I want shadow him. I tried to explain to here that, but it was like talking to the wall. So, I left and went to another Dr(OMD). He was more reasonable and said to me (through his secretary of course) He don't allow any shadowing in his office. The only reason I went to those ignore doctor is because they are the only eye doctors in my small township. Anyway, I had to drive almost 1.5hr to another city where there is Wal-Mart, and asked the Optometrist DR the same thing. He came out of his office with smile in his face(he was just graduate about a year ago), and shake my hand. He told me that he went through the same thing, and he would like to have me in his clinic. I said thx god, I will be Optometrist, and you know what is strange the first two doctors's office, there were no any patients, while the OD had more then 10 patients's waiting for him. aaaahhh I just waned to tell you guys that ODO/OMD's are sucks. 😡
Have good charismas to you all.

 

[UWSO2003]

Hi there,

I ran into the same problems. It seems that many people won't even give you the time of day unless you're an MD student. Luckilly, I have a great OMD that let me sit in.

My girlfriend had to jump through hoops just to talk to the MD's. Many times they would just send their secretary out, while they hid in their rooms. She finally found a great OD that let her sit in.

Most OD's I've met are very receptive to students who are interested in the profession. Unlike some MD's, most OD's are more approachable and down to earth. Before any flamming begins, I'm an OD student, and my girlfriend is an MD student ... so I am familiar with both sides.

Happy holidays all!

 

[LR6SO4]

You know I noticed the same thing when I was researching OD vs. MD school. The OD's were more than happy to have me talk to them and shadow them. The MD's were not. Even the OD's that were not happy with their jobs (there were 2 out of about 10 that I talked to) still wanted to tell me about their jobs and let me see patients. I believe that there is some "perceived" liability issues with MD's, at least that's what I have gathered even now in my second year of med school. This is over generalizing, but mabye people tend to be sicker and in worse states when they see MD's. It just seems like the patients that were at the OD's that I saw were pretty much there for either eye exams or a eye problem. MD patients that I have seen in the specialties are often there as a result of something bad. For example I worked with a plastic surgeon this summer. All boob and nose jobs? No, it was all domestic violence, near homicides, intentional child abuse-burns, etc. He constanty reminded me how confidential I had to be as it is a small community.

So I guess that got off track, but OD's seem to be more like DDS's in terms of patients are generally insured, healthy, and happy? I'm just guessing. MD's get the rest. I'm not ripping on OD's, I took the OAT and was ready to apply but decided on med school instead. And for anyone who says that the OAT is not hard, I got a 300 (not very good I believe?) and a 29 MCAT (about average), so go figure, OAT is tough.

 

[mpp]

I noticed the same thing as well and I do agree that the reason is most likely patient confidentiality.