Shadowing a doctor- how should I act?

[cure0008]

When I am shadowing a doctor in a clinic...
When I go into the room with the doctor should I introduce myself to the patient and ask if it is okay for me to observe or should I let the doctor do that?
Should I have a small notebook with me to write things down or not?
Should I ask questions- during or afterwards perhaps?

Your comments will be really useful to me! Thank-you!!!!!!!!!!!

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[DrWookie]

Let the doctor introduce you. He will (or at least should) ask if it's okay for you to be in the room.

Don't ask questions during (with the patient there)...you can ask questions after. I also think a notebook in an exam room wouldn't be very polite. They patient may wonder what you are writing. Have a notebook somewhere else, or just try to remember things you want to remember and then write in a journal at the end of every day.

 

[235009]

doctor introduces you etc

absolutely don't bring a notebook...first of all there's no test or any real reason why you need to remember details later and as stated above it is impolite to the patient...even doctors usually don't do much writing in front of the patient

definitely hold your questions until afterwards....asking during might throw the doctor off or make him say something that'd make the patient uncomfortable

 

[justmoi]

agree with everything else said here.

when i shadow anyone, there are things that strike me and i really want to note them down. but you should never pull out anything and write in the session. carry a tiny notebook with an attached pen, and as soon as you're out quickly jot down some thing in annotation. i did that and once i was done with my day i'd go over and my shorthand notes would help me remember how the sessions went and what i learned and what i'd like to keep from this experience.

 

[shaggybill]

Interestingly, a doctor I shadow in the ER asks me to carry a small notepad with me into the patient's rooms so I can write down stuff and ask him questions about it later. He also introduces me as a med student, which is kind of annoying. Patients don't seem to mind when I start jotting things down though.

 

[traumasurg]

Every doctor I have followed has always introduced me. As far as the pad I have never done it, but I would ask the doctor first.

 

[justdoit31]

I always bring a pad with me but leave it in the doctors office and just jot stuff down after we see the patient... the doctor always has introduced me- one just as pre-med and the other as a med student since the hospital messed up my badge and put medical student on it... I never had a patient turn me staying in the room down... though the doctor had 1-2 patients she saw without me because it was stuff that she knew the patient wouldn't be as honest about and needed to talk one-on-one (like mother dealing with college age daughter being diagnosed with cancer the week before)... during that time I was able to either use up-to-date to look up stuff about cases we saw or read in journals/textbooks around the office (or see a patient with another doctor in the clinic)

 

[kansaskid]

I've always had the doctor introduce me and ask if it was alright for me to observe. I have not taken notes, but just watch the interaction and remember interesting things. After leaving the room, I would perhaps make a comment about something that was interesting or confusing and the doc would elaborate on my question/comment and sometimes (if she wasn't too busy of course) we'd discuss that case or the condition or the family (I shadowed peds). Shadowing rocks.

 

[yangxx2]

Interestingly, a doctor I shadow in the ER asks me to carry a small notepad with me into the patient's rooms so I can write down stuff and ask him questions about it later. He also introduces me as a med student, which is kind of annoying. Patients don't seem to mind when I start jotting things down though.

Same here. I was putting my notepad away, and he said that I could bring it in. The patients didn't mind either...

 

[goosedander]

How about just going in and observing what they do. Use your senses.

A pad to write things down? Jesus Christ. What in the hell do you need to write down? Of what possible value are your scratchings going to have? Just observe. And don't just observe medical things. Observe everything.

 

[mmmcdowe]

I never wrote down things (though recently I was asked to study up on a specific operation, given a computer and some papers, and then gently pimped by the resident. I was honestly a little bummed. I scrambled to learn all the lingo and the important chemical factors, etc and then he just made me identify organs by sight and stuff . It was kinda fun though).

I can understand why some people might. For me, I wasn't really interested in learning medicine when I shadowed, just interested in learning ABOUT medicine. The doctors manner, what he did specifically, what he didn't do, etc were more important than trying to learn about some disease or procedure. I was interested in it and did ask questions based on my memory, but I wasn't worried about actually remembering that stuff.

Its just a matter of preference though. I have a friend who would know all about what he saw, the signs and symptoms, etc

 

[zpiff]

Interestingly, a doctor I shadow in the ER asks me to carry a small notepad with me into the patient's rooms so I can write down stuff and ask him questions about it later. He also introduces me as a med student, which is kind of annoying. Patients don't seem to mind when I start jotting things down though.

Why is that annoying?

That happened to me too. Wasn't sure if it would be more rude to correct him or possibly be introduced to other people as a med student by him.

Doctors do this because a lot of the time you shadowing them is not necessarily in line with hospital policy. Its much more kosher for a med student to be shadowing then a premed. They're doing you a service by letting you shadow them as a premed so think of it as a compliment.

 

[Caesar]

Doctor will do it.

I never took notes.

Always ask after never in front of the patients.

 

[funkymunkytoes]

Don't bring junior mints, even though they're quite refreshing. Also, don't tell the doctor to move when operating, enjoy:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqnf7sLkmqs[/youtube]

Edit: video not working, here's link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqnf7sLkmqs

 

[shaggybill]

How about just going in and observing what they do. Use your senses.

A pad to write things down? Jesus Christ. What in the hell do you need to write down? Of what possible value are your scratchings going to have? Just observe. And don't just observe medical things. Observe everything.

I don't write down much, and I don't write it down thinking that its going to be of much help if I ever get into med school. I work with the doctors that I shadow, and they like to "pimp" me on the easy stuff. They tell me to write the stuff down so I'll know the answers later on when they feel like pimping. It's mostly just for fun.

Why is that annoying?

It's not as much annoying as it is just making me uncomfortable. If the patient starts asking about what med school I go to, I'm put in a situation of either correcting the doctor or lying. Either one is a slippery slope if the patient pursues the topic. Don't get me wrong, I like the few extra seconds of attention from the babes when I'm introduced as a medical student, but overall I'd rather just be called a "student." 😀

 

[Bryson17]

Cure... if you're going to be shadowing at a teaching hospital (university etc) it's expected that there may be students involved. I wouldn't ever butt in during history, diagnoses, or exams, but if the conversation turns a little bit more casual, which it usually does at some point, it may be ok to chime in. I feel like if I say something during the casual conversation, it makes me seem like less of a mannequin. Also, I like shadowing when the residents see the patients first, then they go back to talk to the attending about everything because then the attending usually ends up addressing you about a lot of what's going on during the conversation with the resident.

 

[ZFanatic]

I shadowed last fall, racked up about 150 hours. This is as a high school student. I basically just stayed pretty quiet. Occasionally she'd introduce me, but usually just when the patients gave a funny look. However, she has lots of students and lots of returning patients so I'm sure they're pretty accustomed to it.

I never took a pad or pen in, I'd be a little uncomfortable if someone was writing about me.

Occasionally she'd leave the room for a few minutes to go get something and I'd get stuck in there and the patients usually would ask "So are you a medical student?" and I said "unfortunately not, I'm just a high school student" and their eyes would get huge and they were really surprised and whatnot.

Just be a fly on the wall, stay out of the doc's way, and you'll be fine. My doctor seemed to like when I had really neat questions to ask. She really liked me a lot as well, and so I got to sit in on tons of surgeries, looking over her shoulder as she did TKA's and whatnot, getting splattered with blood and crap, and the coolest part was that I even got to help do a shoulder replacement lab on a cadaver.

 

[surftheiop]

Like other people have said - definately let the doctor introduce you (also shadowing a surgeon makes this a non-issue!)

Dr i shadowed would introduce me as a student (to the lucid patients) but it was at a teaching hospital so im sure they were used to having students around.

Also im pretty sure the doctors I saw during shadowing would have poked fun at me if i wrote something down. On a similar note some mentioned to do as little medical related stuff as posible once you make the decision to go to med school b/c you will have your whole life to do medical things once your MD.

In my experience don't concentrate too hard, just tag along with the dr, keep low profile when he is with patient, make conversation when walking around, look at all the random stuff in the hospital (the "vending" machines full of equipment in the ORs are pretty novel if you've never seen one)

Most dr's seemed to have pretty good sense of humor, I was putting on surgery hat (not sure what its really called) and mask to get ready to go watch and a patient got wheeled up to get consented for a procedure. The dr. looked at the nurse, pointed across the room to me and said "Dr. <insert my name>"" will get the consent on this one.

Dont stress to much, just have a good time.

 

[lovedocta07]

i usually try to not say much, but one time an attending asked a med student a question, she was taking a while, so i just said the answer and i was right... felt like i was the **** for a long time

 

[Superman78]

Shut up, do what the doctor tells you to, and act like you're humbled to have the opportunity to follow him/her. Most likely the doctor will be kind and there will be a lot of smiles, and since doctors love to talk, you don't have to worry about not knowing what to say - there won't be any awkward pauses when you're with a doctor talking about medicine. But at the same time don't feel like a grubby little nuisance - you're an educated person who is going to be a doctor too eventually.