shadowing question

[batista_123]

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Hi
so I shadow this surgeon. I love it when patients completely ignore me and pretend I am not there.
However, sometimes, patients also look at me while they talk.
for example, they look at the doctor and they say "well, my husband smokes occasionally...." and then they look at me and they say "so sometimes I also join in"
Usually I nod. Sometimes I say "right right right"...in both cases I feel like an idiot. What are you supposed to do when patients talk to you?

 

[NickNaylor]

Be a normal person and talk back? 😕 Don't give medical advice.

 

[rosh18]

I thought that it was against patient confidentiality to even be in the same room as the Patient when the Doctor is treating him/her. Is this not true?

 

[minerva3121]

Hi
so I shadow this surgeon. I just have a question because I feel awkward about this. I love it when patients completely ignore me and pretend I am not there.
However, sometimes, patients also look at me while they talk.
for example, they look at the doctor and they say "well, my husband smokes occasionally...." and then they look at me and they say "so sometimes I also join in"
Usually I nod. Sometimes I say "right right right"...in both cases I feel like an idiot. What am I supposed to do?

Really??? I loved getting to interact with patients, even if I couldn't do anything to help them directly. I'm sure it makes them feel better just to be able to talk about their problems. Even acknowledgement in the form of a nod to show that you care is fine.

 

[Iso4ane]

I thought that it was against patient confidentiality to even be in the same room as the Patient when the Doctor is treating him/her. Is this not true?

Well, usually the patient has to agree to let you in the room (and in my case [I shadowed a hand/arm/shoulder surgeon] I was rarely denied, in one case I knew the other guy, and in the other the guy was just a nervous wreck), and I did have to sign some paperwork, stating fact that I would share confidential details with anyone.

 

[kpcrew]

When I did shadowing, the doctor always asked the patient if it was okay for me to be there, so if they say yes, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[HH Holmes]

I shadow a plastic surgeon, so on his 'cosmetic' days when you get the Botox and Hyaluronan crazed patients who are always fun to talk to. I like talking to them, and since the surgeon is often quiet and sticks to the job, they turn to talk to me.

It's always an eye opener to me that barely any of the public knows of the medical school process, or really higher education in general. I tell them I am first year undergrad just shadowing to 'get a taste' of plastics whenever they ask what I'm doing in the room and they always ask what medical specialty I am going to school for. I used to try to explain but it always failed as most people have an attention span of < .5 seconds, so now I just say 'I don't know yet' and smile.

 

[Web MD]

You either talk back or resign yourself to a future career in pathology. There usually isn't a problem with having a student in the room so long as they're HIPPA trained and the patient okays it. It's a good chance to work on that
"empathy" thing all the schools are talking about these days

 

[Gnomes]

What are you supposed to do when patients talk to you?

I just reply in a brief but friendly fashion to whatever they said, unless it's a medical question, of course. I try not to initiate conversation other than pleasantries, though, because I figure it's a waste of time for me to talk to them - they're here to talk to the physician.

Incidentally, I don't know where you guys are shadowing, but at the large teaching hospital where I've been, shadowing premeds follow the attending around on rounds as if we were exceptionally lazy medical students (i.e. ones who never do anything other than watch.) On rounds, I've never had an attending introduce me to a patient or ask their permission for me to be present; the most I've gotten is "I'm Dr. X and these are some students" indicating me and a pair of medical students. I think they just feel that having a bunch of random students in all stages of medical training in the room is part of the teaching hospital experience, or something.

In clinic, I've been introduced as "a medical student" or "a student doctor" more than anything else, if I'm introduced at all. I suppose it's sort of true, in a broad sense, but it makes me uncomfortable. I, obviously, am not qualified to be a third-year medical student, although I guess "medical student found in hospital" probably doesn't imply the same skills and knowledge to the public as it does to premeds.

In the radiology private practice I went to, it was different. They would ask the patient first. (Still, nobody refused.)

 

[NewYorker9]

I usually don't say anything unless the patient directly speaks to me or asks a question. I view it as a privilege that the physician allows me to shadow, and tend to take "shadowing" literally when a patient is present. However, once I'm alone with the doctor, I chew their ear off with questions and comments.

 

[flatearth22]

Hi
What are you supposed to do when patients talk to you?

Tell them to lift heavy and take fish oil and a multivitamin daily.