Shadowing a Psychiatrist, Who to Ask?

[loveoforganic]

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I'd like to shadow a psychiatrist at some point, but I'm not really sure where to look, due to various issues, particularly confidentiality and liability. I've looked into a couple private practices, and none of them are really ok with it because their patients wouldn't be. I tried to undergo month-long psychiatric aide training to volunteer as a psychiatric aide, but was told that wouldn't be possible due to liability not covering their volunteers, so my hopes for finding a psychiatrist to shadow at a state hospital aren't too high.

Where would you all recommend looking?

Thanks!

Edit: Side question - Private practice guys: How much therapy do you actually get to do compared to in-and-out eval and script?

 

[notdeadyet]

One of the regulars might have some insights, but I wasn't able to find anyone willing when I was a pre-med.

On the upside, once you get in to medical school, shadowing psychiatrists is incredibly easy. It really kicks open a lot of doors.

So if you have some frustration trying to do so as a pre-med, keep in mind that it won't be a problem when you get to medical school.

 

[loveoforganic]

Well that's good news, thanks.

 

[surftheiop]

Couple things you can try
(Im going to be shadowing a psychiatrist and helping out with some research, but i sort of lucked into it)

Try a teaching hospital.
Volunteer at a teaching hospital to get your foot in the door and then get to know some doctors.
Find an academic psychiatrist and see if they would want to have someone around for part of the summer to help out with research.

Most importantly look for family friends and people who already know who you are. Thats how I found my oppurtonity.

 

[fMRI]

Hi,

I think you will have difficult finding a psychiatrist who will let you shadow while you are not in medical school or in a graduate program in psychology. That said, you could always volunteer at a psychiatric (or gerontopsychiatric) place to get some insights and maybe get to work with a team of psychiatrists & psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, etc.

The reason why it is more difficult to get to shadow in psychiatry is pretty obvious. Quite a few people have difficulties discussing the things that trouble them, and that isn't helped by having additional people around for the majority of patients. For some, it might be confusing to have an other person around. (Is this because of me? Or because of my psychiatrist? What is s/he doing here?) Also, the people who are "relatively well" might be concerned about confidentiality issues, and those doing less well might not be able to grant permission for you to "sit in" in the first place.

Please don't be disappointed -- you probably wouldn't want to have a stranger sit around (unqualified, as a mere "rubber necker") when you were to discuss your life, right? 😉 😀

 

[loveoforganic]

No, I completely understand. That's not to say I still don't want the experience though 😛

It looks like I'm going to get to volunteer with some occupational/recreational therapists at a state mental hospital, so that should hopefully be a good experience 🙂

 

[fMRI]

No, I completely understand. That's not to say I still don't want the experience though 😛

Do shadow some surgeons -- that should give you plenty of exposure to "psychiatry"... 😉

 

[erdavis]

Do shadow some surgeons -- that should give you plenty of exposure to "psychiatry"... 😉

I think you would have better luck finding a psychiatrist to shadow than finding a surgeon who you can shadow in OR. You cant even shadow an Anesthesiologist if they do OR til you are in med school and have malpractice insurance. Why .... one word~ HIPPA

 

[notdeadyet]

I think you would have better luck finding a psychiatrist to shadow than finding a surgeon who you can shadow in OR. You cant even shadow an Anesthesiologist if they do OR til you are in med school and have malpractice insurance. Why .... one word~ HIPPA

I had the opposite experience. Shadowing surgeons was not a problem; shadowing psychiatrists was.

HIPAA protects psych patients as well.

 

[fMRI]

Do shadow some surgeons -- that should give you plenty of exposure to "psychiatry"... 😉

With this, I meant to say that one can get a lot of exposure to psychiatry in everyday life, I did not recommend certain fields that were easier to shadow (like internal med).

Judging from my experience, I met a few surgeons so far that were highly-functional cases straight out of a psychiatry textbook. (Embodied psychopathology... 😱) Some might know this experience from psych class, the lecturer explains a certain pathology through examples of behavior and you think to yourself "right, sure, this is just like X". 😀

 

[surftheiop]

I had the opposite experience. Shadowing surgeons was not a problem; shadowing psychiatrists was.

HIPAA protects psych patients as well.

I second this, I shadowed an interventional radiologist and he just threw some scrubs on me and gave me a hat/mask then like 40 pounds of lead. As far as anyone knew once I was dressed up I could have been a nurse/resident/fellow/medstudent/etc.

To end up shadowing a psychiatrist I had to go through a volunteer screening process which included background checks, health screen, tons of paperwork, etc.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

If there's a medical school in the area I would go to the dept home page and look at the list of volunteer/clinical faculty. And just start emailing. Or you could try to go through your school's psychiatry dept and see if they can do anything for you.

 

[chameleonknight]

You could always try shadowing in the ER! Just tell your doc or some of the nurses that you're interested in psych---trust me, they'll find some psych patients for you 🙂

 

[loveoforganic]

Thank you all for the advice. Looking into two ER's at the moment!

 

[surftheiop]

Thank you all for the advice. Looking into two ER's at the moment!

Some places you have to be 21 to shadow/volunteer in ER (not sure how old you are).