shadowing gyno

[ten10]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey, so obviously, i'm still an undergrad pre-med..but uhhh, so I my gynecologist is this really nice guy, who I know well personally and is even into the idea that i'm considering a career in medicine.. and so I was thinking about asking to shadow him.
Um, is that okay? I mean, is it "allowed", are there any kind of regulations to shadowing a gynecolost?
he's just a regular gyno btw, not like surgical or anything.
I mean, another thing is, will the women be okay with me around, shadowing?
does anybody else have experience shadowing a gyno during their pre-med years?

Edit: I suppose this is obvious from my post, but I'm female, if it matters any.

 

[BluePhoenix]

I would imagine it's ok, I mean really it's just like shadowing any other specialty. My GP always seemed to have people shadowing and they'd just ask if it was ok with the patient, and if you said yes, then it was cool. There may be a few patients that aren't comfortable with it, but most are probably fine with it.

 

[Geekchick921]

Hey, so obviously, i'm still an undergrad pre-med..but uhhh, so I my gynecologist is this really nice guy, who I know well personally and is even into the idea that i'm considering a career in medicine.. and so I was thinking about asking to shadow him.
Um, is that okay? I mean, is it "allowed", are there any kind of regulations to shadowing a gynecolost?
he's just a regular gyno btw, not like surgical or anything.
I mean, another thing is, will the women be okay with me around, shadowing?
does anybody else have experience shadowing a gyno during their pre-med years?

Edit: I suppose this is obvious from my post, but I'm female, if it matters any.

I've been wondering the same thing. I was planning on shadowing a regular Ob/Gyn, and hopefully a REI and a MFM doc as well, since it's the specialty I'm most considering.

 

[namsoon]

I've had some experience with shadowing gynecologists in both my internships and my research. There are some issues with patient privacy, though this is true of shadowing any doctor (private practice might be different). All you really need to do to get around that is be HIPAA certified (I think I had like a 1-hour lecture once and was "certified"...it's really easy and all common sense). Other than that, you just have to make sure the patient is okay with a student being in the room (again, true of shadowing any doc). You're at an advantage because you're female, so you'll likely get more yes's than no's. Though really, I'm male and haven't really had that many no's myself. But then again, I was in a big research hospital, which may have played a role. Those are the two big things that I remember, anyway. Perhaps someone with more recent shadowing experience can add some of the other things that need to be done, if there are any.

 

[skimom]

Hey, my first post! Anyways, my son asked our next door neighbor, a gynecologist if he could shadow. The gynecologist declined, saying that, because of the way his compensation works from the insurance companies, he is only allocated 8 minutes per patient. He likes to average 6 minutes and save up the extra 2 minutes for difficult cases. So, by the time he explains the privacy issues and gets the patient's consent to have a shadower, much of his 6 minutes has been used. Sad, so, my son shadowed his wife, a GP.

 

[Concordia]

It wouldn't hurt to ask for the opportunity. But don't be disappointed if you hear a lot of patients ask that you do not be present--it's not the most comfortable situation in the world.

 

[kyidmnmaiv]

When I shadowed a gyno, the nurse asked the patient's permission to have me in the room as she escorted her into the exam room. Then I sat behind the exam table (at the patient's head) during the appointment. In this particular practice, a NP did the annual exams and other "boring" stuff, so I got to see some really interesting cases with the MD. Definitely ask, and if your doctor says no, keep asking until you find someone who will allow you, because for me, it was a great experience.

 

[doinmybest5840]

It doesn't hurt to ask, but it doesn't seem all that likely, from what I've read here and heard elsewhere. I asked my gynecologist if I could shadow him and he also declined due to office policies (only med students and beyond, no undergrads).

 

[FinchHead]

Hey, my first post! Anyways, my son asked our next door neighbor, a gynecologist if he could shadow. The gynecologist declined, saying that, because of the way his compensation works from the insurance companies, he is only allocated 8 minutes per patient. He likes to average 6 minutes and save up the extra 2 minutes for difficult cases. So, by the time he explains the privacy issues and gets the patient's consent to have a shadower, much of his 6 minutes has been used. Sad, so, my son shadowed his wife, a GP.

Sounds like an ass-backwards system to me... How could it possibly work like that?

I can just imagine a woman coming in, in labor. The gyno looks at his watch, and yells, "PUSH HARDER! You've got 4 more minutes until I have to leave!"

 

[LizzyM]

Sounds like an ass-backwards system to me... How could it possibly work like that?

I can just imagine a woman coming in, in labor. The gyno looks at his watch, and yells, "PUSH HARDER! You've got 4 more minutes until I have to leave!"

Don't be a twit. Let's say that a doctor has office hours for 12 hours per week for routine gyn care(the remaining time is spent in OB care and in the hospital with surgical cases, deliveries, etc). Let's say that the cost of running the office (cost of rent, staff salaries, utilities, etc) is X and reimbursement for an office visit is 1% of X. That physician needs to see 100 patients in a 12 hour week (8.3 per hour or one every 7 minutes) to cover the cost of running the office.

The reimbursement for a delivery is calculated figuring the standard number of prenatal and postnatal visits plus the cost of caring for the patient during labor & delivery and the subsequent hospital stay.

 

[Boogsie]

I shadowed a FM physician, and he did a least one pap a day. He would just ask the patients if it was OK if I stayed in the room and observed. All the patients said yes without hesitation. I would stand behind him so I could get a full view of what he was doing, and he would point out things to me or tell me what he was doing. The patients did not seem to mind my face being about a foot from their vaginas and never complained. Sometimes they made jokes..."see any thing interesting?"...."having fun?"...."get a good look!!"...stuff like that....

I also observed when pregnant women came in and was allowed to feel the babies in their bellies and put the gel on for the ultrasound!! It was so much fun.

I think it depends on the relationship the physician has with his patients (mine was really cool and they all loved him) and if you look nice and friendly to the patients. I'm also a girl, so I think that helped as well.

 

[kuhlguy]

i havent shadowed a gyn ... but shadowed a lot of other doctors in the hospital and i've seen everything ... on both guys and girls ... honestly ... the patients I've encountered are all fine with it ... and i mean we're gonna have to do it sometime ... so unless the patient made a verbal protest then it's all just part of the learning process

 

[ten10]

Please make sure you never say anything like this again.

All ob/gyns are trained in gynecologic surgery. And they get really annoyed when you suggest they're not really surgeons (which is what real surgeons say all the time to get under their skin).

okay, i'm sorry. but i was just trying to make it clear to the people of SDN that i wouldn't be necessarily be in on surgeries all the time as part of my shadowing. i didnt' know that real surgeons regularly annoyed gynecologists with that (no offense, but how could i know that?)

 

[ten10]

thanks everybody else for your replies

 

[MattD]

okay, i'm sorry. but i was just trying to make it clear to the people of SDN that i wouldn't be necessarily be in on surgeries all the time as part of my shadowing. i didnt' know that real surgeons regularly annoyed gynecologists with that (no offense, but how could i know that?)

Just as an FYI, you may find it easier to shadow in the OR, depending on the policies of the hospital or surgicenter. In my time shadowing I never had a surgical patient decline for me to shadow the procedure, but I had several patients decline to allow me to observe their 'lady exam'. Granted, I'm a guy, which may have had somethign to do with that 🙂 Point being, the OR may not be off-limits if you're interested in seeing that. IMO it may be more interesting than watching pap after pap after pap. Even if it is TKA after TKA after TKA 🙂 If you do shadow in the OR, i suggest an ENT or orthopod if you can find out. Abdominal surgery can be hard to see (unless it's scoped), but big joint replacements can be seen from across the room, scopes are up on the tv for ya, and head and neck stuff isn't too buried either. Have fun with your shadowing wherever ya go! 🙂

 

[ten10]

Just as an FYI, you may find it easier to shadow in the OR, depending on the policies of the hospital or surgicenter. In my time shadowing I never had a surgical patient decline for me to shadow the procedure, but I had several patients decline to allow me to observe their 'lady exam'. Granted, I'm a guy, which may have had somethign to do with that 🙂 Point being, the OR may not be off-limits if you're interested in seeing that. IMO it may be more interesting than watching pap after pap after pap. Even if it is TKA after TKA after TKA 🙂 If you do shadow in the OR, i suggest an ENT or orthopod if you can find out. Abdominal surgery can be hard to see (unless it's scoped), but big joint replacements can be seen from across the room, scopes are up on the tv for ya, and head and neck stuff isn't too buried either. Have fun with your shadowing wherever ya go! 🙂

hmmmm thanks for the insight, i think i'll look into it! 🙂

 

[futuredrcrawfor]

Hey, my first post! Anyways, my son asked our next door neighbor, a gynecologist if he could shadow. The gynecologist declined, saying that, because of the way his compensation works from the insurance companies, he is only allocated 8 minutes per patient. He likes to average 6 minutes and save up the extra 2 minutes for difficult cases. So, by the time he explains the privacy issues and gets the patient's consent to have a shadower, much of his 6 minutes has been used. Sad, so, my son shadowed his wife, a GP.

Thats crazy!!! My GYN spent over 30 mins in his office with me before he did my exam as we were diagnosing a chronic disease- then always had time for me asking about school etc- he is surgical too though and I didn't stay with him once diagnosis because he didn't like cases that weren't challenging.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I dunno. Even third year students (male AND female, male more of course) have patietns refuse to have them see them during OB/GYN rotations. I'd worry about you spending a lot of time standing in the hallway.

 

[etf]

I dunno. Even third year students (male AND female, male more of course) have patietns refuse to have them see them during OB/GYN rotations. I'd worry about you spending a lot of time standing in the hallway.

maybe they just questioned the intentions of "peepshowjohnny"