Shadowing an Emergency Physician

[RTC19]

I have been looking to get some shadowing done, and am very interested in EM.

I looked on my local hospital's physician directory, and for all of their EPs, they just give the general emergency department number and no email.

Forgive my ignorance, but do people call the emergency department number for actual emergencies or administrative stuff? Would it be acceptable to call that number, ask to speak to the director, and ask him/her if I could come in to shadow sometime? Is there a better way to go about that?

Thank you.

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[dedicated1989]

I work as a scribe in the ED and I have never seen someone shadow. if you want to get an idea of how the ED works I would recommend becoming a scribe.

 

[el_duderino]

I volunteered in the ED and that was great. I spent most of the time following around physicians actually. Not a lot else to do. Be friendly and ask if you could actually shadow some time.

 

[Mycoalwin]

Try asking your pre-health office if you have one for a contact. I've shadowed in the ED a few times and it's fantastic.

 

[mehc012]

I work as a scribe in the ED and I have never seen someone shadow. if you want to get an idea of how the ED works I would recommend becoming a scribe.

I've seen several shadowing students. Mostly, the doc seems disappointed at their lack of interest/questions.

 

[dedicated1989]

I've seen several shadowing students. Mostly, the doc seems disappointed at their lack of interest/questions.

maybe its just the hospital I work at then…

 

[mehc012]

maybe its just the hospital I work at then…

Only one of my docs ever has shadows. I think she's super into encouraging more women to work in medicine, though...

 

[The Buff OP]

The fastest way to get in contact with an EM doc is go up there and have a chest pain complaint. You'll see.
Have you tried contacting human resources and asked if they have volunteering opportunities?

 

[jared_the_great]

I contacted hospital HR and they gave me some forms to fill out. One required a signature from the physician I was going to shadow.

I didn't know any of the docs, so I just went in to the ED in person and asked the front desk staff about shadowing. They immediately walked me back to the handful of docs working right then and asked if any would be willing to let me shadow. One spoke up, he signed my form, and that was that.

 

[RTC19]

Thanks for the responses, folks!

 

[alexibluezz]

I would see if you can talk to HR, you will likely be redirected to them anyways for paperwork, etc., no matter who your initial point of contact is. At least that's how it was for me, even though I had been volunteering for a while. And don't listen to people who say that shadowing in the ED isn't done, I've done it several times, with different docs. It's always great, and they're super cool about it, plus it opens up other opportunities, like participating in the sim lab!

 

[RTC19]

I would see if you can talk to HR, you will likely be redirected to them anyways for paperwork, etc., no matter who your initial point of contact is. At least that's how it was for me, even though I had been volunteering for a while. And don't listen to people who say that shadowing in the ED isn't done, I've done it several times, with different docs. It's always great, and they're super cool about it, plus it opens up other opportunities, like participating in the sim lab!

Thank you for your response. This is exactly what I am going to do!

 

[Meerkatology]

Hospital i did my residency at had a volunteering program in the ED. volunteers help out with some random stuff here and there but most of the time they get to shadow the EM physicians or the residents.

It might not be the best to call the... ED number, but you can try calling the hospital operator and ask them to direct you to an admin for the ED or something.