Shadowing...Just watching or more?

[juelz721]

Hey. I wanted some feedback on people's experiences shadowing surgeons. I am about to start, and I was wondering if all I can expect to do it watch. Did anyone have any other experiences as a pre-med (aka - got to try something on a patient, filled out charts, took part in some clnical research...etc). Anything that I can aspire to do?

Thanks!

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[Piyush]

I did some shadowing, pretty much followed the doc around the hospital all day. Some times, the patient would refuse to have anyone else in the room, so I just waited outside the room. Other than that, I did not do much with my hands, maybe carry a coffee or papers for the doc. However, he would talk to me about some of the cases and why he did one thing over the other, or we would speak of administrative things, paper work, liability, etc.

Dont expect much to happen in terms of your participation since that becomes a liability and risk for the hospital and the doc.

Cheers
Piyush.

 

[supertrooper66]

everytime i shadowed i was allowed to come into every room and talk to every patient. of course, you can't DO anything to the patient yourself. my shadowing was awesome, tho...definitely seemed better than most. most ppl say they get bored just standing there. the doctors i followed let me interact with the patient, explained all the charts to me, introduced me as a resident, and let me stay with the patient by myself, too. a few times they did let me do a few things, like one patient had meth mouth and the doc asked if i saw it. i said no, so he told me to go back in there and tell the patient the doctor needed me to check their mouth. first, he told me to have the patient follow my finger with their eyes and then open their mouth. it was a bunch of made up "tests" to allow me to see the meth mouth haha. basically, if you wear a lab coat, which i think most doctors make you wear as a shadower, the patient thinks you're a doctor. it was pretty cool.

 

[cbrons]

when i do mine wit hthe family practice down here (rural area), he'll do a couple minor surgical routines everyday and the patients will almost always let you watch. The doctor would let me stand near him and hand him stuff, that was the sum of my participation. But the whole time he was doing it he would tell me stories and give me insight on things.

 

[aster]

do most of the physicians have you wear a white lab coat when shadowing?

 

[boostedct9a]

do most of the physicians have you wear a white lab coat when shadowing?

I have never heard of anyone wearing a lab coat while shadowing. Patients might think your a doctor and ask you for medical advice. Anyway, I think surgeons require that you wear scrubs but when shadowing a general practice doc I don't even wear scrubs I just wear nice/decent clothes. Don't fret you will get to wear that white lab coat soon enough.

 

[8744]

I've been shadowed on a few occasions by volunteers who realize that volunteering blows and the utility of fetching blankets for patients is absolutely zero as it applies to medical education. They ask me if they can follow me around and I say, "Sure."

The person in charge of the volunteers sometimes tries to pitch a fit but I just say, "Ma'am, I'm a physician and I want this young lady (or gentleman) to follow me around so she can get a real idea of what doctors do." End of discussion.

 

[8744]

do most of the physicians have you wear a white lab coat when shadowing?

Never heard of such a thing. On whom would the medical students look down?

 

[LikeClockWork]

Never heard of such a thing. On whom would the medical students look down?

I had an ER doc lend me one of his extra coats (one w/o a name embroidered or anything) after a few patients refused to let me in the room. The doc lent it to me thinking people would just assume the best. Not something I would've thought of, but hey, it worked.

 

[shaggybill]

Panda, please move to my town.

To the OP, the ER doc I shadow is pretty cool about letting me help out when I can. He'll have me hold the skin together while he sows up deep lacerations, hand him supplies while he's doing certain procedures, removing patients from backboards, and other little things like that. I think the more I follow him around, the more he'll let me do. I have an open invitation to shadow him whenever he's working, which is great. Occasionally he'll have a medical student with him too, and on those nights I respectfully take the back seat. He usually introduces me simply as someone who will be working with him that night, and so far nobody has had a problem with me being there in the room. Of course, having a hospital ID badge probably helps.

Why am I telling you all this? I dunno, just make sure to keep looking around if you don't happen to like the first doctor that let's you shadow him/her. I'd be willing to bet there are several others in the area that would be glad to have you around.

 

[pianola]

I've been shadowed on a few occasions by volunteers who realize that volunteering blows and the utility of fetching blankets for patients is absolutely zero as it applies to medical education. They ask me if they can follow me around and I say, "Sure."

The person in charge of the volunteers sometimes tries to pitch a fit but I just say, "Ma'am, I'm a physician and I want this young lady (or gentleman) to follow me around so she can get a real idea of what doctors do." End of discussion.

I think I want to shadow you. Too bad you're probably on the other side of the country. Oh yeah, and that you've never met me.

 

[MWK]

I shadowed a gen. surgeon a few times and every time it included preround, rounding resident breakfast, (M&M on one thursday) and a fully scrubbed in trip to the OR. The last time I did it, I got to bowvie a bit and help close.

 

[serikk85]

I shadowed a general surgeon and he let me play with/pick apart anything he took out of a person. It was fun!

 

[LikeClockWork]

I shadowed a general surgeon and he let me play with/pick apart anything he took out of a person. It was fun!

Good thing you didn't shadow an OB/GYN.

 

[serikk85]

Good thing you didn't shadow an OB/GYN.

 

[wally47]

If your shadowing a surgeon I have three suggestions I wish someone would have told me. Firstly, eat breakfast. Secondly, wear compression stockings. The stockings help with circulation and for long surgeries and even long shadowing they are a tremendous help. Lastly, keep some sort of journal or at least remember some of your experiences there. You will need to talk about them in your essays and interviews. Have fun!