Shadowing a physician???

[Dr. Matt]

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Quick question, I`m a highschool student from Saskatchewan, Canada and I`m just wondering if it`s at all possible to shadow a physician, more specifically an anesthesiologist or a plastic surgeon???? Not sure if hospitals allow this due to confidentiality, but if anyone had any information or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!!!

 

[Medstart108]

You might be able to informally but you should try emailing them, it may be tough to get an offer but you can try. You can find emails on the website of the medical school usually.

 

[JPodel]

Email or call the doctor at the hospital. Most likely you'll talk to their assistant but just ask them nicely and I don't see why they won't let you... I got to "scub" into a surgery when I was a sophomore because I shadowed an awesome surgeon. Coolest experience hands down. The anesthesiologist was very friendly and would of let me shadow him too but I was stupid back then and didn't even ask lol

 

[Doctor Dream]

Email or call the doctor at the hospital. Most likely you'll talk to their assistant but just ask them nicely and I don't see why they won't let you... I got to "scub" into a surgery when I was a sophomore because I shadowed an awesome surgeon. Coolest experience hands down. The anesthesiologist was very friendly and would of let me shadow him too but I was stupid back then and didn't even ask lol

I would probably ere away from directly calling the physician. They're EXTREMELY busy most of the time and will more than likely be a little irritated you're taking up their work time and didn't just send them an email or contact someone in human resources. You could just do what I did and email the physician recruiter of the hospital you're looking at asking about job shadowing. The recruiter I emailed was really nice and not only offered chances to shadow the specialty I wanted, but a bunch of other specialties as well throughout the hospital. If you're not looking to shadow in a hospital setting, then call the front desk or email the place you would like to shadow and just ask about job shadowing. They'll know who you should get in touch with about job shadowing anesthesiologists, plastic surgeons, etc 🙂

 

[JPodel]

I would probably ere away from directly calling the physician. They're EXTREMELY busy most of the time and will more than likely be a little irritated you're taking up their work time and didn't just send them an email or contact someone in human resources. You could just do what I did and email the physician recruiter of the hospital you're looking at asking about job shadowing. The recruiter I emailed was really nice and not only offered chances to shadow the specialty I wanted, but a bunch of other specialties as well throughout the hospital. If you're not looking to shadow in a hospital setting, then call the front desk or email the place you would like to shadow and just ask about job shadowing. They'll know who you should get in touch with about job shadowing anesthesiologists, plastic surgeons, etc 🙂

True but in my case, I couldn't get a hold of his email address. And when I called, the assistant picked it up and took down my name and what I wanted to do and then later gave the note to the surgeon. But yeah email first, call if nothing else works.

 

[SouthernGent]

Calling followed up by e-mail is rather effective. I learned the hard way that if the recipient isn't on the look out for certain e-mails they will most likely trash yours by default. This summer I e-mailed a local office without calling ahead to inquire about shadowing ( I was nervous I would bother them, etc.) and after one week hadn't heard a single thing back. At that point I just started calling around to other offices I had looked up. When I got positive news from one and left a message with the physician's secretary, I followed up by e-mailing the office to reintroduce myself as the person who called earlier that day and give a little bit of background info as well. The next day I heard back first thing in the morning and got the good news that I could start shadowing at the end of the month.

The one thing that surprised me was how helpful the secretaries were. They knew if the practice allowed for shadowing or not, and if it did not they would point me in the direction of practice/doctor they knew did allow shadowing.

 

[Strudel19]

I sent out a about two dozen letters and I had good luck with that.