Hello everyone! 🙂
I contacted a podiatrist and he says I can shadow him sometimes next week.
What questions are you all curious about? I will ask him and then come back on this forum tell you all the answers to the questions.
So again, do you have any good questions you want me to ask him? He graduated a long time ago... so he can probably tell us a lot.
So far, these are my potential questions that I might ask:
- What's the best thing you like about being a podiatrist?
- What's the least thing you like about being a podiatrist?
- How's the lifestyle?
- Was it hard to find a residency at the time?
- How has podiatry changed from when you started until today?
- How many patients do you see per day? Do you have to advertise?
- How do you find a job after residency?
Add to the list!
I personally would not ask how many patients the doctor sees/treats per day, but that's my opinion. As I've stated in the past, the number of patients seen per day can vary drastically and is dependent upon the TYPE of patient you are treating. If you are treating routine palliative care patients, you will certainly treat more patients per day vs. treating more complicated patients or seeing a lot of new patients.
I've gone over this before, so sorry to repeat myself for those who have read similar answers, but here it goes. Yesterday, one of my partners treated 74 patients. Yes, you read that correctly, 74 patients. He worked from 8 am to about 7 pm, but a lot of the patients he treated were routine palliative patients.
I worked 8-4 and treated about 40 patients and treated only a handful of palliative patients, but treated quite a few fractures, saw several post op patients and saw several pre-op patients, several new patients and a few relatively complicated patients. So the number of patients you treat per day will depend on the hours worked and the type of patients you treat.
Additionally, some doctors may find that a very personal question, and if they don't tell you or it's not obvious when you shadow, it may not be a question you should ask. Similarly, I don't believe you should ask the doctor his/her income. I personally don't believe that's appropriate.
I would also caution you regarding shadowing only one doctor. You can get skewed. If this doctor only treats little old ladies for corns and calluses, you may be disillusioned. If this doctor only treats patients with great insurance who have major trauma, that also may not be an accurate cross section of the profession. I would also caution you against ANY doctor who is constantly bragging about his/her success, how much money he/she makes, tells you about his/her vacations, summer homes, boats, cars, etc., etc. That's NOT what you are there for, and if the doctor keeps tooting his/her own horn, I would find another doctor to shadow.
And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do NOT answer any questions if you are in the room with a patient and the doctor leaves. If a patient asks you any medical questions, politely tell the patient you are simply a student who is visting the doctor and that she/he should ask the doctor when the doctor returns.
Simply use common sense, and ask questions you would consider appropriate if someone was visiting your office. And visit a few doctors in different areas who are in different age groups for a better overall idea of the profession.
