Shadowing: Bad that I'm running out of questions to ask?

[The Prologue]

So I'm about 3 shadowing days away from completing my 50 hours. I might do 20 hours at a speciality or two.

But anyway, I saw a variety of procedures and I enjoyed the experience. I love the patient contact and interaction, I love the variety in terms of procedures and I enjoy the hands on work that gets to be done with the cool toys😀. A large part of me would enjoy doing this kind of work. I leave the office feeling that I wouldn't mind doing this for the rest of my life and I would be very fortunate to do so. Its something I honestly wouldn't picture my self feeling. To be actually satisfied with any sort of work.

During my hours I've asked a lot of questions about what I saw and why a certain procedure was being done on one person while a different technique was being used on another. But I feel like I don't have much to ask anymore, and I'm just nearing 50 hours. Isn't that a bad thing? I'm obviously not ready to do the procedures myself but I feel like I've seen the gist of it and feel motivated to just jump into dental school and get behind the wheel.

Advice? I guess I see people with over a +100 hours so I guess this makes me wonder If I'm doing the right thing or If I should be asking more.


Thank you for your time 🙂

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[Double Bonded]

So I'm about 3 shadowing days away from completing my 50 hours. I might do 20 hours at a speciality or two.

But anyway, I saw a variety of procedures and I enjoyed the experience. I love the patient contact and interaction, I love the variety in terms of procedures and I enjoy the hands on work that gets to be done with the cool toys😀. A large part of me would enjoy doing this kind of work. I leave the office feeling that I wouldn't mind doing this for the rest of my life and I would be very fortunate to do so. Its something I honestly wouldn't picture my self feeling. To be actually satisfied with any sort of work.

During my hours I've asked a lot of questions about what I saw and why a certain procedure was being done on one person while a different technique was being used on another. But I feel like I don't have much to ask anymore, and I'm just nearing 50 hours. Isn't that a bad thing? I'm obviously not ready to do the procedures myself but I feel like I've seen the gist of it and feel motivated to just jump into dental school and get behind the wheel.

Advice? I guess I see people with over a +100 hours so I guess this makes me wonder If I'm doing the right thing or If I should be asking more.


Thank you for your time 🙂

It's not a big deal (at least not something to make a thread about 😀).

I ran into the same issue, you see the same procedure several times and you don't really have any new info. My dentist was really big on talking about how he runs his practice (ie business) from d-school to associateship to buying his own place. If you haven't already, I would suggest asking questions about that because it can be extremely insightful.

(Or you could just talk about sports like I ended up doing with one of the ortho guys that I shadowed)

 

[rockclock]

we've all been there. completely normal. as long as you're leaving thinking that you could this as a career for the rest of your life, then you're good. there's only so much you can ask while seeing the same procedures over and over. not to mention watching and doing are totally different things in terms of interest level. don't worry...you're fine.

 

[molar3]

i ran out of questions my 2nd hour there on my 1st day

 

[SeattleRDH]

The more you can find out about how each practice is run the better. Once you get out of school you'll be the competition and dentists won't be volunteering business advice so much.
Good questions to ask: How do you deal with insurance companies? Are you a PPO provider? How do you keep your accounts receivable under control? How do you motivate patients to enroll in treatment? Do you budget for marketing? Why did you choose to open/buy a practice in this location?

 

[dentalWorks]

So I'm about 3 shadowing days away from completing my 50 hours. I might do 20 hours at a speciality or two.

But anyway, I saw a variety of procedures and I enjoyed the experience. I love the patient contact and interaction, I love the variety in terms of procedures and I enjoy the hands on work that gets to be done with the cool toys😀. A large part of me would enjoy doing this kind of work. I leave the office feeling that I wouldn't mind doing this for the rest of my life and I would be very fortunate to do so. Its something I honestly wouldn't picture my self feeling. To be actually satisfied with any sort of work.

During my hours I've asked a lot of questions about what I saw and why a certain procedure was being done on one person while a different technique was being used on another. But I feel like I don't have much to ask anymore, and I'm just nearing 50 hours. Isn't that a bad thing? I'm obviously not ready to do the procedures myself but I feel like I've seen the gist of it and feel motivated to just jump into dental school and get behind the wheel.

Advice? I guess I see people with over a +100 hours so I guess this makes me wonder If I'm doing the right thing or If I should be asking more.


Thank you for your time 🙂

well, if you don't have questions then you don't have questions lol.... nothing wrong with that.

 

[Mumpsy]

I ran out of questions about the same time you did so I had a sit down conversation with the dentist I was shadowing. I asked if she would just call me when she had scheduled something that was out of the normal day to day. Also spend time with all of the specialties even if just for one day. Admissions committees want to know you have seen it all and are interested in all fields. My general dentist set me up with all of the specialists she refers cases to so it was an easy transition.

 

[Longcatislong]

Same problem here!

I've shadowed a total of 20 hours so far on three separate days (one full day and 2 half days) and have mostly run out of (good) questions to ask.

Also, is it me, or is shadowing inherently kinda awkward? Don't get me wrong, I have really loved my time shadowing thus far, it definitely confirms that I'm following the right path in wanting to be a dentist, but it's just sorta weird hanging out in a busy office and not really be able to do anything but watch and ask inane questions lol.

 

[amdrocks]

I think I ran out of questions after the first 30 hours of volunteering, but I sticked around till I reached more than 200 hours.
These 200 hours really showed my dedications to the dentist who's writing my LOR (That's what the dentist told me after she wrote the LOR).

 

[peanutb123]

Stay at a corner and look good. Watch tv. Thats what i did. you get darned bored observing the same thing over and over again. And you dont have anything to do.

 

[Kobebucsfan]

Stay at a corner and look good. Watch tv. Thats what i did. you get darned bored observing the same thing over and over again. And you dont have anything to do.

i'm just worried during an interview, they might ask questions about what i did in showdowing and procedure names and such. I shadowed for 100+ but i don really know the details and procedures

 

[jeffity]

i'm just worried during an interview, they might ask questions about what i did in showdowing and procedure names and such. I shadowed for 100+ but i don really know the details and procedures

I don't think they want you to be able to understand all the procedures and details of what you saw. It's nice if you can learn some stuff, but that's not the point of shadowing; that's what dental school is for. If you put in the honest hours, you should be comfortable answering anything they might ask if it even comes up.

 

[dentalWorks]

i'm just worried during an interview, they might ask questions about what i did in showdowing and procedure names and such. I shadowed for 100+ but i don really know the details and procedures

theyr not gonna ask you the specifics/mechanics of procedures... but they'll ask some basic questions like "whats your favorite procedure".... "whats your favorite tool".... "what did you like the most about your shadowing experience".... "what didn't you like about the shadowing experience ~ and don't tell us you found nothing, there is always something".....