Shadowing Request Question?

[callcar]

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I found a program at a hospital that allows students to sign up to shadow doctors. However, it states on the website that the student must contact the doctor and arrange the shadowing. How would I go about doing this? Do you call the doctor's office and inquire?

How did you contact the doctor and arrange a day to shadow?

I'm thinking about volunteering first and establishing connections that way. Is this a good way?

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

Email or call and leave a voicemail.

 

[Benedictus123]

I'm thinking about volunteering first and establishing connections that way. Is this a good way?

You could do this, but in my experience a lot of the time the doctors don't like the volunteers harassing them for shadowing opportunities while they're trying to work. I know we were explicitly prohibited from asking anyone while I volunteered at the University of Michigan Health System.

Here's what I did. I googled up all the medical faculty at U of M, wrote a form email, and sent it to everyone that seemed relatively interesting field-wise. From that big amount, I got a smaller amount of them to respond, then from there I found 2-3 that I was able to shadow for a few days. It was great. Here's the form email I wrote and sent:

"My name is Benedictus123, and I'm a graduate student at the University of BLAH. I was wondering if it would at all be possible to shadow you while you work, so I could gain a better understanding of what it means to be a physician. Please let me know what is convenient for you time-wise should you be interested. I look forward to hearing back from you! Thanks!"

And, it worked! Don't overthink this - the point is just to get in somewhere and observe as much as you can. Shadowing was a really rewarding experience for me, and I learned a lot!