Shadowing/Observing Surgeons in the O.R.

[nicholonious]

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Hi,

Although I am a late pre-med who has graduated from college, I am currently taking a year off and working while studying for MCATs. After leaving school, I am presented with the situation of not being exposed to internships or any other involvement concerning medicine.

To make a long story short, I was wondering if anyone could provide valuable insight/experience/information on shadowing surgical residents/assistant professors at teaching hospitals. Is this as easy as simply emailing them and expressing interest in observing them first hand? I know there are many types of surgeons out there, some being pushy and aggressive, and some openly helpful in sharing their work. I would just like to hear how others have applied themselves to showing their devout interest in surgery. Thanks!

Nick

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

If all you are looking for is exposure and to show interest then it might be easier if you went to a smaller hospital that is not a teaching facility. I spent the summer between M1 and M2 working at a small 100 bed hospital that had 4 OR's.. Went very well. At a teaching hospital the OR will be crowded with any combo of MS3, MS4, residents, maybe fellows.. You really are competing with a lot of other folks for time and attention. Smaller hospitals tend to be more laid back and do more bread and butter cases which allow for more interaction. Just a thought... Good luck!

 

[supercut]

You could also try investigating volunteer opportunities at the hospitals near you. Often you can volunteer in the emergency department. That is a good way to get exposed to a variety of things. You can start to meet the surgeons when they come in to do the consults and then figure out which ones would be willing to let you come to the OR with them.

YOu'll have to do something like that for your med school application anyway. You need some clinical exposure to get some idea of what it's like to be a doctor. I think a formal volunteer opportunity is viewed more favorably than just random shadowing. All you really need to get into med school is some kind of clniical exposure. Then when you get into med school, there are many opportunities to evaluate the various specialties, including surgery, to help you decide what to do.

 

[nicholonious]

Thank you for your responses. Luckily I did a program for a little less than a year as an intern in the ED of a major city near our college. I was able to observe many cases (mostly GSW and MVAs) and even assist (indirectly of course.) However, it was narrow in the types of surgeries that I could observe (mainly because these are the quick fix-em-up and stitch-em-up type of traumas.)

To Pir8DeacDoc: Interesting idea. Besides the nearby Kaiser, I live quite close to Stanford Hospital. I checked out their site and found surgical specialties that had staffs ranging from 10-15 surgeons. Wish me luck, because one of them might be gracious enough to take me in.