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Shadowing Attire

Started by Medic2doc
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Medic2doc

Medic2doc

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I am in the process of setting up a date to shadow a physician who is on the board of my top choice school which I will be applying to this summer. What should i wear while shadowing. I obviously wont under dress, but if i overdress i am affraid that I will look foolish. I was thinking of a pair of black pants, black shoes and a solid or striped dress shirt with no tie. how does this sound? any other suggestions?
 
I have shadowed in 4 locations and this is about what I wear. I never wear a tie and could never feel comfortable enough to wear sneakers like some docs do in the ER. If this what you feel comfortable in then go with this.

Medic2doc said:
I obviously wont under dress, but if i overdress i am affraid that I will look foolish. I was thinking of a pair of black pants, black shoes and a solid or striped dress shirt with no tie. how does this sound? any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
 
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I shadowed in a hospital and wore a shirt and tie, and the volunteer department gave me a lab coat telling me to wear it with my ID. It was embarassing when people assumed I was a med student or some speculated I was a doc! lol 😉
 
hahah!

I shadowed a doc at a nursing home, and she actually might have looked younger than me. Many of the old men there thought I was the doctor, and even after she explained that SHE was the doctor, the patients would still talk to me as if I were! :laugh:
 
Well. I wore just kahis and a polo shirt with like my topsiders or quasi dresish brown shoes. If I knew I was following a surgeon around on his/her OR day I'd bring a spare back where I had my shoes, thicker socks, a spare tshirt..stuff like that. The bag also made it easier to keep my stuff together in the doctor locker room since I didn't like taking my cell into the OR....and it made um..borrowing some scrubs afterwards much easier too.
 
hsmooth said:
hahah!

I shadowed a doc at a nursing home, and she actually might have looked younger than me. Many of the old men there thought I was the doctor, and even after she explained that SHE was the doctor, the patients would still talk to me as if I were! :laugh:
Click to expand...

I got asked by everyone if I was the new surgeon. I don't even look that old. I'm just tall...really a lot of people started complaining to me and asked what i could do.....kind of an awkward situation.
 
Check to see if the doc wants you to bring a white coat. My doc asked if I had one, since I didn't, she was kind enough to let me borrow one of her spares.
 
Medic2doc said:
I am in the process of setting up a date to shadow a physician who is on the board of my top choice school which I will be applying to this summer. What should i wear while shadowing. I obviously wont under dress, but if i overdress i am affraid that I will look foolish. I was thinking of a pair of black pants, black shoes and a solid or striped dress shirt with no tie. how does this sound? any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Why don't you just ask the doctor?😀
 
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Medic2doc said:
I am in the process of setting up a date to shadow a physician who is on the board of my top choice school which I will be applying to this summer. What should i wear while shadowing. I obviously wont under dress, but if i overdress i am affraid that I will look foolish. I was thinking of a pair of black pants, black shoes and a solid or striped dress shirt with no tie. how does this sound? any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Every physician that I shadowed required a shirt and tie. I made the mistake of showing up the first day without a shirt and tie (just a button up), and the first chance the doc got, he told me to wear a shirt and tie the next day (not a great first impression). He told me he did the same thing the first time he shadowed a physician and didn't make too big of a deal out of it. BTW, he ended up writing me my LOR (DO), so apparently he didn't hold it against me (he volunteered to write the letter).

All the other physicians made it a point to have their secretaries tell me to wear a shirt and tie BEFORE I showed up not wearing it.

BTW, people take you more seriously if you are dressed professional v. unprofessional dress.
 
BruceWayne said:
I shadowed in a hospital and wore a shirt and tie, and the volunteer department gave me a lab coat telling me to wear it with my ID. It was embarassing when people assumed I was a med student or some speculated I was a doc! lol 😉
Click to expand...

Ouch, the staff at a physician's office I was shadowing at tried to find me a white coat, but none of them fit me (too tight in the arms and back). That was embarrasing!
 
Medic2doc said:
I am in the process of setting up a date to shadow a physician who is on the board of my top choice school which I will be applying to this summer. What should i wear while shadowing. I obviously wont under dress, but if i overdress i am affraid that I will look foolish. I was thinking of a pair of black pants, black shoes and a solid or striped dress shirt with no tie. how does this sound? any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you shadow in the OR, you will not have to dress up since you will be dressing into scrubs at the hospital. Keep that in mind if you shadow any surgeons.
 
I really think it depends on the general culture of the hospital as well. In an area like I am where maybe two docs where ties it is seen a little overboard to do more. A few of the docs where jeans, golf shirts and baseball hats where I am though...Ties just got in the way but that was mainly because I was following surgeons, ER, and GI guys around...and a cardiologist/pulmonologist which almost caused some problems as well.
 
Medic2doc said:
I am in the process of setting up a date to shadow a physician who is on the board of my top choice school which I will be applying to this summer. What should i wear while shadowing. I obviously wont under dress, but if i overdress i am affraid that I will look foolish. I was thinking of a pair of black pants, black shoes and a solid or striped dress shirt with no tie. how does this sound? any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Most clinical environments where I live, it is generally business casual with white tennis shoes or scrubs with white tennis shoes. I have seen employees get away with a lot less (flip flops, gators, etc), but generally speaking clinical environments aren't as up tight as med schools are. You do too much walking in health care to wear dress shoes.
 
MossPoh said:
I got asked by everyone if I was the new surgeon. I don't even look that old. I'm just tall...really a lot of people started complaining to me and asked what i could do.....kind of an awkward situation.
Click to expand...

I wear scrubs at the OR where I shadow and sometimes I'll be following the doctor into the OR and people will hold the door, saying, "Good morning, doctor."

I correct them of course but it feels great for the 3 or 4 seconds beforehand.
 
Oculus Sinistra said:
I wear scrubs at the OR where I shadow and sometimes I'll be following the doctor into the OR and people will hold the door, saying, "Good morning, doctor."

I correct them of course but it feels great for the 3 or 4 seconds beforehand.
Click to expand...

The doc I shadowed over the summer calls everyone doctor, and introduces me as doctor. He had everyone in the building and pharmaceutical reps thinking I was a doctor. He was very amused with himself.
 
i usually go with tight leather pants, no shirt, and nipple rings. it's worked out so far.
 
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i agree with all these people--unless it's the OR, go business atire. though the leather pants/nipple ring look that was mentioned might leave an impression. the physicians i've shadowed have pretty much all introduced me as a medical student. i hesitated the first time i was introduced as such, but the patients are always satisfied with that title and i'm not about to complain 😉
 
Being a balding 30 year old and shadowing....I was eating lunch with the physician one day and it was funny to observe the difference in how the pharma reps treated me both before and after they found out I wasn't a Doc...
 
I got so many great meals and sweet pens from drug reps....I actually got offered a date from this one drug rep when she found out I was the same age.....that was kind of neat.
 
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