Shadowing... stupid question.

[MedMommy]

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A stupid, idiotic, girly question, but I'm trying to make sure I present myself correctly/professionally for my shadowing experience. I'm currently a nurse tech in a neuro/trauma/surgical ICU and will be shadowing two of the Intensivists I already work with (who have been mentoring me along the way). Upon signing the shadowing paperwork, he asked if I had any scrubs that looked less... volunteer-y. (It should be noted that these docs I'll be following wear scrubs all the time- and rarely wear lab coats.) So obviously... the oversized royal blue, Grey's Anatomy nurse tech color scrubs are out (thank God). I went shopping today for some and ended up with somewhat tailored-looking black scrubs in the size that actually fits me. I think they look ok. Black seems to be a common scrub color for this particular Intensivist team to wear, so I think I'll be ok... just feeling... nervous? Does this sound reasonable?

I'll be rounding on three different ICUs and the ER. He told me to be prepared to assist and wants me to 'blend in' with the team so it just looks like I'm someone new to the team- not a student.

 

[NoDakDok]

I'd be more concerned with you actually assisting while shadowing - that's highly frowned upon and in most cases not legal. I'd definitely suggest looking into that. This was addressed in my shadowing paperwork and strictly said that it applies regardless of your qualifications (e.g. a phleb can't draw blood while shadowing). As far as clothes go, no one will care as long as you fit in.

 

[frosted_flake]

A stupid, idiotic, girly question, but I'm trying to make sure I present myself correctly/professionally for my shadowing experience. I'm currently a nurse tech in a neuro/trauma/surgical ICU and will be shadowing two of the Intensivists I already work with (who have been mentoring me along the way). Upon signing the shadowing paperwork, he asked if I had any scrubs that looked less... volunteer-y. (It should be noted that these docs I'll be following wear scrubs all the time- and rarely wear lab coats.) So obviously... the oversized royal blue, Grey's Anatomy nurse tech color scrubs are out (thank God). I went shopping today for some and ended up with somewhat tailored-looking black scrubs in the size that actually fits me. I think they look ok. Black seems to be a common scrub color for this particular Intensivist team to wear, so I think I'll be ok... just feeling... nervous? Does this sound reasonable?

I'll be rounding on three different ICUs and the ER. He told me to be prepared to assist and wants me to 'blend in' with the team so it just looks like I'm someone new to the team- not a student.

Personally when I shadow a doctor such as ER, ICU or cath lab I will wear black scrubs and carry my stethoscope/pen/notepad in my scrub pants pocket.
If I shadow a cardiologist (in clinic), oncologist, etc., I will wear business casual clothes (nice shirt, slacks and flats)
I have never had a doc say anything about my attire. I figure if I have a chance of getting dirty, thrown up on, etc. then I won't wear my nice clothes 🙂

 

[MedMommy]

By assist, I'm sure he means more of the same of what I've already been doing occasionally in my unit: Helping set up the surgical field, handing him things, punching buttons on the ultrasound when he tells me to. I won't cut, stick, or do anything that was forbidden in the shadowing paperwork. I'm a 'by-the-rules' kind of girl and don't want to screw up my chances for anything.

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

Relax, be yourself, and remember that you're in an environment you are familiar with. He wants you to blend in probably because of his hospital rules & regs. The first attending I shadowed at a teaching hospital introduced me as a medical student to all the residents on rounds & his other colleagues.

My recommendation: don't assist unless necessary.

 

[Mr Roboto]

The hospital doesn't have scrubs service? Yeesh.

Sounds like you're going to be dressed appropriately.

For the love of all that is holy, people who are shadowing: Please stop wearing your $25 stethoscopes draped over your neck. You don't need it—you're shadowing. And even if you were to use it, you wouldn't hear anything clinically valuable with it.

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

By assist, I'm sure he means more of the same of what I've already been doing occasionally in my unit. Helping set up the surgical field, handing him things, punching buttons on the ultrasound when he tells me to. I won't cut, stick, or do anything that was forbidden in the shadowing paperwork. I'm a 'by-the-rules' kind of girl and don't want to screw up my chances for anything.

If that is what he means by assist then it's fine. I was asked to mask ventilate a patient because everyone thought I was a student *lol

The hospital doesn't have scrubs service? Yeesh.

Sounds like you're going to be dressed appropriately.

For the love of all that is holy, people who are shadowing: Please stop wearing your $25 stethoscopes draped over your neck. You don't need it—you're shadowing. And even if you were to use it, you wouldn't hear anything clinically valuable with it.

How about you wouldn't even know what you needed to hear 🤣

 

[frosted_flake]

I only carry mine (in my pocket) because I was shadowing a cardiologist and he has me listen to various things. One day I was in he clinic with him and he asked me where my stethoscope was (but I didn't have it that day... and I never forgot it again 🙂)

 

[Mr Roboto]

How about you wouldn't even know what you needed to hear 🤣

Yeah, that's kind of what I mean. If a student has a Cardiology III, and is told exactly what to listen for, they might hear something interesting. But even a cardiologist, using the crappy stethoscope their mom got them for Christmas when they switched to pre-med, would have a hard time hearing anything but fuzzy thumps.

 

[MedMommy]

The hospital doesn't have scrubs service? Yeesh.

Sounds like you're going to be dressed appropriately.

For the love of all that is holy, people who are shadowing: Please stop wearing your $25 stethoscopes draped over your neck. You don't need it—you're shadowing. And even if you were to use it, you wouldn't hear anything clinically valuable with it.

I don't have a Cardiology III, just a Classic II. I'll leave it at home. ;-)

 

[MedMommy]

If that is what he means by assist then it's fine. I was asked to mask ventilate a patient because everyone thought I was a student *lol

Um... yeah. Nope. That's not gonna happen!

 

[Palmetto40]

There will be plenty of opportunities to "borrow" some from the hospital. At least in my experience.

 

[edgerock24]

Who the hell actually buys scrubs? What kind of hospital doesn't have them available for workers?

 

[armybound]

I think he was hitting on you

 

[MedMommy]

We have scrubs I could borrow... and I probably will at some point when I finally get thrown up on.

As for him hitting on me... yeah right. I'm cute, but I'm not that cute. The hospital I work at is smaller.... (600 beds)... and there's not much of a class system. Doctors, nurses, and even techs are friends outside of work.

I knew I was making myself a target with such a dumb question. I'm not a f*cking idiot though. I got A's in college without trying too hard most of the time.

(EDITED TO REMOVE, BECAUSE IT WAS RANDOM 3 A.M. RAMBLING)

I have a lot of regrets about how much time I've wasted getting to the point in life to have the guts to pursue med school, but my son's first two years in the hospital... living in hospitals, being put through such a stressful situation and coming out of it a stronger version of myself made me realize how much I want to do this now. I know I'm rambling, and this is entirely off topic of my original post, but I felt the need to explain what has brought me here, to this point. And it's 3:00 a.m.... so I'll probably regret posting this tomorrow. (ETA: And I do.)

 

[mehc012]

We have scrubs I could borrow... and I probably will at some point when I finally get thrown up on.

As for him hitting on me... yeah right. I'm cute, but I'm not that cute. The hospital I work at is smaller.... (600 beds)... and there's not much of a class system. Doctors, nurses, and even techs are friends outside of work.

I knew I was making myself a target with such a dumb question. I'm not a f*cking idiot though. I got A's in college without trying too hard most of the time.

I know my gpa is terrible now and people judge me off of that. I had a really bad car accident my junior year and it was too late in the semester to withdraw from classes. I had one semester of D's and F's and it royally f*cked up my gpa. I tried to contest it, but the university was falling apart at the time and I ended up just leaving that school totally disillusioned. It took me a year to fully recover from the accident.

After that I had a really hard time refocusing on the degree I never wanted in the first place. I hated nearly every minute of my business degree, but was too burnt out to realize I could refocus.

I have a lot of regrets about how much time I've wasted getting to the point in life to have the guts to pursue med school, but my son's first two years in the hospital... living in hospitals, being put through such a stressful situation and coming out of it a stronger version of myself made me realize how much I want to do this now. I know I'm rambling, and this is entirely off topic of my original post, but I felt the need to explain what has brought me here, to this point. And it's 3:00 a.m.... so I'll probably regret posting this tomorrow.

What? No one said anything about your GPA, or even knew it, until this.

 

[MedMommy]

Another post I made earlier yesterday referenced my low GPA. Please just ignore my rambling last night. I'm half inclined to remove that post entirely. Dear God... at least I wasn't drunk posting. I'd hate to think how bad it would have been then.

 

[Plecopotamus]

Who the hell actually buys scrubs? What kind of hospital doesn't have them available for workers?

A shadow is not a worker. Attendings who don't spend time in the OR fairly often like to have cleaner/nicer/better fitting ones than you get from the hospital.
While plenty just let you take them off a shelf in a laundry room, a lot of hospitals keep strict quotas on the amount of scrubs you can take out and begin to charge you if you're over quota. It's a big money sink for hospitals -- you think it's no big deal, b/c you're borrowing 1 set, but there are plenty of med students and residents who have 30+ pairs sitting in a laundry bag . . . and that gets so inconvenient or embarrassing to bring back that they never return them.