Shadowing for two weeks, kind of unsure...

[Esviel]

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okay so for my senior (i'm a HS senior) project I chose to shadow at the local hospital for two weeks, follwing around the trauma team. today was my third day.

so, it's been pretty interesting so far, I got to see a couple of cool things, felt a couple pulses, helped move a dude from the stretcher to a CT scan bed (i grabbed the feet lol) but....i dunno...it kinda feels like i'm in the way.

I mean, nobody is mean to me or anything....just coldly indifferent, like for example today one of the guys was like "wait over there, i'll be right back".....took the other resident with him (it was just us three, them doing a bunch of stuff, me kinda just lingering) and never came back.....now i know that they're all busy and all but i dunno, my gut feeling is telling me otherwise...i heard remarks about how hungry they were (i was too!) so i strongly suspect they went to lunch, after about 15mins of waiting i went ahead to the cafeteria to eat myself, half worried that they might go back lookin for me but i wasnt really missed...but then again yesterday one of the other residents (wasn't here today) bought me breakfast, another one brought me lunch and i ate with them, etc.....so...i dunno, i mean, i offered to buy my own i'm not a moocher (maybe thats wat they thought?) i had just left my wallet in the call room with my regular clothes when i changed into my scrubs.....

sooo....i'm generally pretty quiet, don't talk much, just following around the 3 or 4 residents and the attending on rounds or when we're called to a trauma....i usually have no clue whatsoever what they're talking about but i don't wanna interfere with questions every 3 seconds.....

hmm i dunno maybe i'm just overanalyzing everything, maybe since i'm so shy I don't seem that interested, i dunno....

i've always wanted to be some type of surgeon but this is my VERY first shadowing experience whatsoever....how am i supposed to act???

 

[elwademd]

you're a high school student. just soak up the experience. to be honest, there's not really much help you can give, given your lack of medical knowledge and medical experience.

be an observer, ask some questions, do what you're told. you'll probably be fine.

 

[Top Gun]

okay so for my senior (i'm a HS senior) project I chose to shadow at the local hospital for two weeks, follwing around the trauma team. today was my third day.

so, it's been pretty interesting so far, I got to see a couple of cool things, felt a couple pulses, helped move a dude from the stretcher to a CT scan bed (i grabbed the feet lol) but....i dunno...it kinda feels like i'm in the way.

I mean, nobody is mean to me or anything....just coldly indifferent, like for example today one of the guys was like "wait over there, i'll be right back".....took the other resident with him (it was just us three, them doing a bunch of stuff, me kinda just lingering) and never came back.....now i know that they're all busy and all but i dunno, my gut feeling is telling me otherwise...i heard remarks about how hungry they were (i was too!) so i strongly suspect they went to lunch, after about 15mins of waiting i went ahead to the cafeteria to eat myself, half worried that they might go back lookin for me but i wasnt really missed...but then again yesterday one of the other residents (wasn't here today) bought me breakfast, another one brought me lunch and i ate with them, etc.....so...i dunno, i mean, i offered to buy my own i'm not a moocher (maybe thats wat they thought?) i had just left my wallet in the call room with my regular clothes when i changed into my scrubs.....

sooo....i'm generally pretty quiet, don't talk much, just following around the 3 or 4 residents and the attending on rounds or when we're called to a trauma....i usually have no clue whatsoever what they're talking about but i don't wanna interfere with questions every 3 seconds.....

hmm i dunno maybe i'm just overanalyzing everything, maybe since i'm so shy I don't seem that interested, i dunno....

i've always wanted to be some type of surgeon but this is my VERY first shadowing experience whatsoever....how am i supposed to act???

Relax. All you have to do when you shadow is observe. If you do have a question, save it for a time when the residents are not so busy. During down time, a resident will be happy to answer your questions. The residents don't mean to give you the cold shoulder. Its just that they have a million tasks to get done. The shadowing experience is nothing more than an opportunity for you to explore a potential career option. Enjoy it!