Shadowing for older non-trads

[doctorold]

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So, I just turned 39 and I'm gonna be applying in the 2016-2017 cycle (3 more semesters. I'll be 40 then ).
I have zero shadowing hours so far. I want to start shadowing some doctors but don't know how to go about it. I fear that nobody will want me to shadow them because of my age. I think it will feel weird for a doctor to be shadowed by an older applicant like me. I'm terrified to ask.
For those who applied when they were 40+, how did you approach volunteering and shadowing?

 

[BluMist]

I'm not quite THAT old 😛 but I have the same question.

thought about just going to the primary & urgent care clinic next to where I work and just ask the front desk, though I've yet to muster up the courage

So, I just turned 39 and I'm gonna be applying in the 2016-2017 cycle (3 more semesters. I'll be 40 then ).
I have zero shadowing hours so far. I want to start shadowing some doctors but don't know how to go about it. I fear that nobody will want me to shadow them because of my age. I think it will feel weird for a doctor to be shadowed by an older applicant like me. I'm terrified to ask.
For those who applied when they were 40+, how did you approach volunteering and shadowing?

 

[Eccesignum]

Nobody will care how old you are.

If it's a clinic/group practice/hospital, etc, call the office first. Be upfront so they understand the situation and explain to the front desk that you're a pre-med looking to shadow a doctor. They'll transfer you to the right person (if they don't know where to send you, ask for HR or staff development).

Due to HIPAA, many places will have you fill out a few forms and want you to go through some kind of training or orientation before you go around patients.

 

[petyr_baelish]

If you become a scribe you'll be an employee and among nurses, techs and administration who are both younger and older than you. Your fellow scribes will all be 22 but you don't work directly with them ever anyway.

The other thing to do is leverage family/friends for connections to a physician.

You won't be the first or the last older applicant to shadow. My mother shadowed a dentist in her mid-late 40s.

Here is a crazy idea: can you shadow an American doctor who is doing work overseas for organizations like medicins sans frontieres?

 

[Eccesignum]

If you become a scribe you'll be an employee and among nurses, techs and administration who are both younger and older than you. Your fellow scribes will all be 22 but you don't work directly with them ever anyway.

The other thing to do is leverage family/friends for connections to a physician.

You won't be the first or the last older applicant to shadow. My mother shadowed a dentist in her mid-late 40s.

Here is a crazy idea: can you shadow an American doctor who is doing work overseas for organizations like medicins sans frontieres?

That's a question for the organization itself. I suspect there are many hoops to jump through given safety considerations, etc, and they undoubtedly carry on what they will allow. But when I was overseas doing nursing with an org there was someone shadowing a pulmonologist, so I'm sure it happens elsewhere too (not sure exactly how easy it may be though).

I would contact the organization directly.

 

[el_duderino]

No one asked me how old I was before they agreed to let me shadow them.

 

[doctorold]

No one asked me how old I was before they agreed to let me shadow them.

How old was you? Did they act like they was expecting someone younger?

 

[el_duderino]

How old was you? Did they act like they was expecting someone younger?

31, 32, something like that. No one cared.

 

[Ad2b]

I asked, they said yes; never acted like my age was a big deal, neither did they. I am now 51.

 

[Dullhead]

I'm in the same situation as you, except that I'm 41 and I'm targeting the 2017 cycle. It's all in your head. The doctor won't care about your age. I'm shadowing in 2 days. I found the doctor on the OPSC website where he was listed as willing to provide shadowing opportunities. I emailed him, he asked me to give him a brief biography which I did (my age would be apparent because I listed the year I graduated with my BS). He called and asked me to come over on Wed. Contact the osteopathic physician society in your state to see if they can give you leads.

 

[familyaerospace]

No one asked my age.

 

[doctorold]

It's all in your head.

I wanted to make sure it is. Very happy that is the case 😀

I asked, they said yes; never acted like my age was a big deal, neither did they. I am now 51.

The answer I was looking for. Greatly appreciated 👍

Thank you, everybody!

 

[Ad2b]

I still have a hard time saying I'm 51... seriously - HowTH did I get "here" ??? 😆

 

[Dullhead]

I wanted to make sure it is. Very happy that is the case 😀

No different than class, really. In Bio II, I'm the only one that appears older than 25. In Physics I, I'm one of maybe 2-3 - one other guy looks to be in his 50s, almost 60 and the third looks 30. In no class so far have I ever felt out of place. In fact, on most labs, my young classmates look to me to take the lead, which I usually end up doing. I'm just fine being the old man in class and shadowing will be no different.

 

[doctorold]

I'm just fine being the old man in class and shadowing will be no different.

I was just afraid that it may be very unusual for doctors to be shadowed by someone my age, that I won't find someone to shadow.

 

[QofQuimica]

I was just afraid that it may be very unusual for doctors to be shadowed by someone my age, that I won't find someone to shadow.

You're not exactly the first person over the age of 30 ever to go back to med school, you know. I have no problem being shadowed by nontrads. In fact, it's something you and I would immediately have in common that I don't have in common with a college student.

 

[doctorold]

You're not exactly the first person over the age of 30 ever to go back to med school, you know. I have no problem being shadowed by nontrads. In fact, it's something you and I would immediately have in common that I don't have in common with a college student.

Thanks for the encouraging words. you're so sweet.

 

[Eccesignum]

I was just afraid that it may be very unusual for doctors to be shadowed by someone my age, that I won't find someone to shadow.

It'll be a big deal if you make a big deal of it. Otherwise, as Q said, you're not the first and you won't be the last.

I shadowed several local doctors that I had barely known until I started this process, and found out things I never knew about their paths. One of our family practice docs went to med school in his late thirties in the face of everyone's lackluster expectations of him, having originally dropped out of high school. Our neurologist talked about my age -- but that was only because I asked about his office photos of himself in his former career in professional football. Turned out he'd gone to medical school at 34 and likewise had a fascinating story of getting there. And that was back in the 70s and 80s when non-trads were much, much rarer than they are now.

Both of those docs became two of my most wonderful supporters over the next few years.

So go in with open mind. You never know what the stories are behind people you'll come across.

 

[LingoLaine]

I think it will feel weird for a doctor to be shadowed by an older applicant like me.

Looks like we hit this med school thing at the exact same age. (I enrolled at 41.)

Take it from me, this age issue is something you're going need to get used to if you're serious about med school because finding a shadowing opportunity is only the very first of many MANY times that you'll wonder if "it will feel weird for a doctor to be shadowed by an older applicant" like you. When you're matched up with preceptors during the pre-clinical years, again you'll wonder if it will feel weird for a doctor to be working with a student older than him/herself. Every time you start a new rotation, you'll wonder if the residents will feel weird to be working with a med student so much older than them. When you're rounding on the wards, you'll think it feels weird for patients that you, the oldest member of the care team, are actually the lowest on the medical totem pole.

The fact is, you'll always BE older than people are going to expect. The trick is not to make a big deal out of it.

 

[QofQuimica]

One of the things you have to realize too is that in medicine, the hierarchy is very formal. And where you fit on that hierarchy is not age-dependent, but experience-dependent. So if you're a student, it doesn't matter if you're 50, your attending is 35, your senior resident is 30, and your intern is 26. By virtue of you merely being a student, your age automatically is less important than the fact that you don't know squat compared to everyone else on the team. And if you're a premed shadowing, just be glad that you're "allowed" to breathe the same rarefied air as the rest of us. 😉

 

[doctorold]

And if you're a premed shadowing, just be glad that you're "allowed" to breathe the same rarefied air as the rest of us. 😉

Lol. It will be an honor indeed 😉

 

[doctorold]

finding a shadowing opportunity is only the very first of many MANY times that you'll wonder if "it will feel weird for a doctor to be shadowed by an older applicant" like you.

OMG. I didn't even think about all of that.

 

[Dullhead]

I just returned to the office from the shadow appointment I had. I had no issues with my age bothering the physician, but I was not so sure how the patients would handle it. Strangely, there were zero issues. Two teenagers, two older people, one middle aged person - none of them had problems with me being there, or talking about personal stuff such as birth control and periods (was pregnant). What especially surprised me was that I was not given anything to sign, not told to keep details confidential - it's like he knew that I was aware of all of this. I don't know how typical my experience was.

 

[Ad2b]

I had to sign many documents for "large, domestic clinic/hospital chain" ... for another, just an acknowledgement that HIPAA rules were in place and I agreed to abide by them; and the last one ... nothing.