Shadowing a psychiatrist

[shoenberg3]

I definitely ran a search on this topic but couldn't find any good leads..

I received acceptances from medical schools but deferred my entrance one year (still figuring my life out...) and would love to shadow a psychiatrist because I am currently most interested in pursuing this specialty.

But of course, due to the nature of the work, it seems challenging to find psychiatrists who are willing to let me shadow them.

I would love any suggestions on how to find such opportunities. Even better, if any resident/attending is nice enough to let me come into their office, I would be delighted -- I am located in SF Bay Area.

Thanks!

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[nitemagi]

Sign up at UCSF or SFGH as a volunteer.

 

[Psychotic]

Find a psychiatrist who works in an ER. Or just shadow EM docs - plenty of what they deal with involves psych pathology.

Pre med I volunteered for 4 and 8 hour shifts in the ER and saw plenty. I also shadowed a psychiatrist who also did palliative care, shadowed her on those rounds. In between, she shared a lot of insight on psych stuff, too.

 

[notdeadyet]

You might find it hard to shadow a psychiatrist in the community without any connections. It will become many, many times easier once you are matriculated into medical school. Once you arrive on campus, you can likely walk into the psych department and indicate interest and arrange for shadowing, mentoring, and all sorts of other services and access that will be very hard to get in the community.


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[shoenberg3]

Thank you for your responses. So far it seems it would be challenging to shadow psychiatrists in private practice settings, while it might be possible to shadow them as a volunteer in ER or community centers.
Any other leads would be appreciated.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Anyone who just lets you “shadow” without some sort of relationship to a school or training program is placing both you and themselves at severe risk. Any bad outcome and you can be named as being a part of the care provided, even if you were “just watching”. All treatment sites are geared up to provide malpractice coverage for employees/trainees. Most sites are prepared to cover medical students, but very few are organized to cover someone who “is a doctor who just wants to hang out”. The more likely someone is to say “sure, hang out, what the heck”; the less likely they know what is going on and have something to teach worth learning.

 

[shoenberg3]

Thank you for the response. I understand your point and am now wondering if there are any video resources which shows the psychiatrist doing his job (could be a mock-up and not a real case). I am really desperate to get an idea of how therapy is performed (esp. in private practice settings).

Thank you

Anyone who just lets you “shadow” without some sort of relationship to a school or training program is placing both you and themselves at severe risk. Any bad outcome and you can be named as being a part of the care provided, even if you were “just watching”. All treatment sites are geared up to provide malpractice coverage for employees/trainees. Most sites are prepared to cover medical students, but very few are organized to cover someone who “is a doctor who just wants to hang out”. The more likely someone is to say “sure, hang out, what the heck”; the less likely they know what is going on and have something to teach worth learning.

 

[splik]

I am really desperate to get an idea of how therapy is performed (esp. in private practice settings).

Then you need to have your own psychotherapy.

 

[splik]

watch in treatment