Shadowing Advice?

[deleted244469]

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So over my winter break, I am VERY fortunate to have 2 DO's agree to let me shadow them 😀. I am excited, but have a few questions. First what do I wear? I figured a dress shirt, khakis and a nice pair of dress shoes. Too formal? Also, after the day is over, what should I do? Can I request another shadowing opportunity or how/do I even bring that up? I figure a nice thank you and a thank you card (later) would be great for their generous hospitality. Any thing else I missed? I would love to get LOR's in the end, but I feel dumb asking for something like that after only one shadowing experience, which is why I would like to do multiple days.

Thanks

 

[beckhunter116]

So over my winter break, I am VERY fortunate to have 2 DO's agree to let me shadow them 😀. I am excited, but have a few questions. First what do I wear? I figured a dress shirt, khakis and a nice pair of dress shoes. Too formal? Also, after the day is over, what should I do? Can I request another shadowing opportunity or how/do I even bring that up? I figure a nice thank you and a thank you card (later) would be great for their generous hospitality. Any thing else I missed? I would love to get LOR's in the end, but I feel dumb asking for something like that after only one shadowing experience, which is why I would like to do multiple days.

Thanks

Yeah, I would be dressy the first day and then you can see how they dress and follow that. At the end of the day, thank them and say you would love the opportunity to come again if they would be open to it...then they can respond. Depending on the feelings you get from the day you can see if they would be open to a LOR.

 

[mrsmith]

Yeah, I would be dressy the first day and then you can see how they dress and follow that. At the end of the day, thank them and say you would love the opportunity to come again if they would be open to it...then they can respond. Depending on the feelings you get from the day you can see if they would be open to a LOR.

+1

I couldn't have said it better. 👍

 

[Washingtonian]

I would definitely consider being more "formal" than less formal. Wearing khakis and a nice button down shirt with dress shoes should be just fine. And I would assume that this is the attire you should be wearing for every shadowing experience.

When approaching the DO regarding a LOR, I would definitely be upfront. I might ask if I could continue shadowing until the DO felt like he/she knew me well enough to write a LOR.

Good luck!

 

[DitchDoc73]

Personally when I shadowed I ALWAYS wore a long sleeve buttoned shirt, tie, dress pants, and dress shoes...If they think that you are overdressed, they will invite you to take off your tie, etc...It is always better to be overdressed than underdressed...Especially if you are even contemplating asking them for a LOR. As far as the end of the day, you can always approach them about shadowing in the future. You should have a good idea of how the day went by then. Best of luck!

 

[Mohammed1989]

I've shadowed a physician for a very long time and after a while they stopped caring what I wore to the office or the hospital as long as I had my lab coat with me (the long physican lab coats). For the first couple of times I wore a regular long sleeve button down shirt with khakis and dress shoes. After a while I seen the physician come in with jeans, t shirt and timbs. I asked if he cared what I wore, answer was no. So I just wore my everyday clothes, just made sure my clothes were clean and crisp. Didn't want to go looking like a bum now (even though I did a couple of times 😀)

 

[fitz0809]

Definately wear dress pants, shirt, tie and shoes.

Try to grab a white lab coat and bring it in. Sometimes this makes patients feel more comfortable with you being in the room. I have never seen a doc that wore jeans and a t-shirt so this definately isn't the norm.

Try to bring a small pad of paper and pen to take notes... although try to stick to mostly experience notes not neccesarily patient notes

 

[deleted244469]

Ok, so I dont plan on applying for DO school for a couple years (2012), is it OK to get an LOR right now from the doctors I shadow or will those be too old? I would really like to get LOR's as the one a shadowed today told me he would have no problem doing it.

 

[da Vincis World]

Ok, so I dont plan on applying for DO school for a couple years (2012), is it OK to get an LOR right now from the doctors I shadow or will those be too old? I would really like to get LOR's as the one a shadowed today told me he would have no problem doing it.

Sign up for an account on Interfolio where you can have the letters sent. Then when you are applying you do not need the doc(s) to send out two year old letters.

 

[da Vincis World]

Oh yeah....and definitely wear a tie. You should probably stay away from the long white coats though.🙂

 

[deleted244469]

But my question is it OK to have a LOR that old? Or should I maybe just not have him put the date on the letter?

 

[engineeredout]

But my question is it OK to have a LOR that old? Or should I maybe just not have him put the date on the letter?

Don't use one more than ~ two years old, but it shouldn't be a problem. I mean hell most people ask for LORs from professors that they've had several years ago anyway, so whats the difference?

 

[Washingtonian]

A lot of schools don't want a LOR that is older than two years. I would look around at the websites of the various schools you are interested in and find out for sure.

Good luck!

🙂Accepted at PNWU and Western Class of 2014🙂