Shadowing Opportunities

[vanasme]

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I have a couple of questions regarding shadowing (I'll be shadowing M.Ds and D.Os so I thought I'd post here). I've contacted a handful of physicians (all with a different specialty) who are willing to let me shadow them. I still have to iron out all of the details, but I'd thought I'd post here first to see what the protocol is.

1. How long is an appropriate time to shadow a physician? Most just gave me the hours that they work and told me to send them an email with which days/times work for me. I'm not ultra busy right now so I'm essentially free to shadow them at any time. How long should I expect to spend with each physician? One day... one week... one month? They all seem pretty open to letting me chose the hours and I just want to make sure I don't overstay my welcome.

2. What do I wear (I'm female)? I'll be shadowing doctors in both the clinical and hospital setting and I want to make sure that I'm dressed appropriately. I'm assuming dress pants, a nice top (light sweater or button-up), and dress shoes. What do you think?

3. What do I bring with me? I'm guessing I should bring a pencil and some paper, but what else?

4. When is it an appropriate time to ask for a letter of recommendation? I'll be shadowing in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully, one of the doctors will be willing to write me a letter or rec. Is appropriate to ask for a letter after shadowing them for a week or is that not enough time? Should I ask for the letter in person on my last day or should I wait a little while?

5. Is it appropriate to send the physician I shadow a thank-you card? (My mom always tells me to send them for practically everything, but I don't know if this is necessary/ required in this situation).

Ok, I think that's all for now. Thanks for the help!

 

[doctor712]

I would do a bit of a search on "shadowing" maybe use my moniker Doctor712 to help as I've posted some good tips re: shadowing. But, I'll answer your questions quickly...

1. How long...

Depends. Are you looking to build a relationship where you can get some research done? Or are you sort of going in, watching, and getting outta there? If the later, I would say a day or two is ok, and a week even is ok, depending. I've done both. As long as you are professional and follow all the common sense rules of shadowing, and people like having you around, a full week is fine. Equally, a day is fine if you just want to see what Ob/gyn, for example, is like. Start thinking shorter than longer and go from there.
Maybe 2 days to start and see if an invite comes for longer, or, see if you are even interested in those specialties and want to see more. After a while, some specialities are really monotonous. As amazing as beating heart surgery is, once you've seen one, from an observers POV, heart number four is pretty similar. It's different when you're the surgeon of course. 🙂 If you're looking for LORs, I'd plan on spending more than a day.

2. What do I wear...
I'd dress exactly as you described. Of course I'm a male, so, not EXACTLY, but you get the idea. Professionally is the way to go. You might be amongst residents, med student, etc, and you always want to make a good impression.

3. What do I bring with me? I'm guessing I should bring a pencil and some paper, but what else? That's it. At the most. No use in bringing a laptop to quickly look up Disease X when you're having lunch in the cafe. Bring pens, docs seem to always lose pens and they are always asking people around them for pens. I wouldn't take notes at all though. Listen. Watch. Enjoy. Read up on cool surgeries, that your Doc may be doing, if you want to be prepared and you're an avid reader. Nobody is going to expect you to respond like a 4th year but it never hurts to have a few answers up your sleeve. Shows an interest. If you're interested.

4. When is it an appropriate time to ask for a letter of recommendation?
This is always a tricky one, for me that is. And I'm not much younger than most of these docs that are just out of residency. First off, it's always nice to wait and see if one is offered to you, typically when things for the day or week are wrapping up, or anytime. If it's offered, just say, "that would be wonderful, how do I best follow up on that letter...etc?"
There's no rule here. I wouldn't ask for one after a day, just me, others might have gotten a stellar LOR after 3 hours, I cannot make that ask. I just feel there are some unspoken rules there and I don't wanna break any.

5. Is it appropriate to send the physician I shadow a thank-you card? (My mom always tells me to send them for practically everything, but I don't know if this is necessary/ required in this situation).
Sure, nothing wrong with a nice, handwritten note after a week. Make sure it's not timed with the LOR request though. 😀 And keep it short and sweet. I once shadowed a Doc, who, by the end of the week was sharing personal things with me, and in my thank you email, I sent back an anecdote, with my thanks. I could tell he laughed, but was confused if the email was a joke or a thank you. He forwarded it to his Dept Chief though (edited surely), and thats always something nice for an attending to be able to do. Email works too then.

Good luck. ENJOY. What specialties are you shadowing?

D712

 

[vanasme]

Thanks for the response... it definitely helps! I'm shadowing an Ob/Gyn, a general surgeon, a family practitioner, a pediatrician, and an anesthesiologist (it's a lot, I know, but I wasn't expecting to get so many responses and I would feel bad saying no after telling them how interested I was...)

 

[doctor712]

No no, that's a great list. Includes my favorite, Anesthesia! Have a blast and please report back! Make contacts and keep at it.

D712

 

[FutureMD129]

Agreed with doctor712, never hurts to send a thank you note. I always send one when I shadow a doctor and interview for jobs.