Shadowing

BU Medical Sciences
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Generally to do this you have to know a surgeon, or know someone who knows a surgeon.

All the hospitals I have contacted require you to already know the MD you want to shadow, and to have them sign and agree to it first. So if your in the dark with connections it could be difficult, in that case you would be best to cold call Dr's who do surgeries but also have outside offices, set up a relationship with them, and then try to shadow them in the hospital. Luckily my GF is a nurse and works on a cardiac floor (and is well liked).

Could be different in different locations though. I have no idea how common it is.
 
Clocked like a hundred hours in the OR with a CT surgeon. It was okay. Some hospitals have established shadowing programs that may be able to hook you up. Otherwise, just call and ask. It's pretty boring after you get past the initial "er mer gerd sergery" phase in the beginning.
 
Shadowing in the OR is actually really boring. You should still try Try if you're interested, but you're mostly standing in the back of the room watching a monitor or attempting to peer over people's shoulders. Some surgeons might let you scrub in and put in some stitches, but I'd guess this is rare.

Shadowing in FM or EM is far more interesting.
 
Mt Kilimanjaro said:
Shadowing in the OR is actually really boring. You should still try Try if you're interested, but you're mostly standing in the back of the room watching a monitor or attempting to peer over people's shoulders. Some surgeons might let you scrub in and put in some stitches, but I'd guess this is rare.

Shadowing in FM or EM is far more interesting.
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In all my experiences (shadowed three different surgeons), I was allowed to stand at the head of the table and see everything. Then the surgeon starts rapid-firing questions out of nowhere, and I was all like 😕😕😕
 
Doctor Strange said:
In all my experiences (shadowed three different surgeons), I was allowed to stand at the head of the table and see everything. Then the surgeon starts rapid-firing questions out of nowhere, and I was all like 😕😕😕
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He's probably directing those questions to a resident/med student. It's odd for a shadowee to know the answers...

Mt Kilimanjaro said:
Shadowing in the OR is actually really boring. You should still try Try if you're interested, but you're mostly standing in the back of the room watching a monitor or attempting to peer over people's shoulders. Some surgeons might let you scrub in and put in some stitches, but I'd guess this is rare.

Shadowing in FM or EM is far more interesting.
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+1 at bolded
 
Doctor Strange said:
In all my experiences (shadowed three different surgeons), I was allowed to stand at the head of the table and see everything. Then the surgeon starts rapid-firing questions out of nowhere, and I was all like 😕😕😕
Click to expand...

If you are on good terms with the anesthesiologist, they often let you stand at the head of the bed, where it is much easier to see what's going on.

But YMMV... I imagine it's fairly easy to get in with a surgeon in a teaching hospital, but you'll likely be competing with med students and residents for room in the OR. In private hospitals, it can be a little more challenging, as you may have to jump through some extra hoops. One of the private hospitals near where I went to school, they wouldn't let you enter the hospital, even for shadowing, without liability insurance. Which was ridiculous, because it wasn't as if I was going to touch the patients. But whatever.
 
I was able to spend about 100 hours shadowing two ortho surgeons both in clinic and the OR. It was a pretty awesome experience, though the majority of the time in the OR was in an outpatient clinic, not the hospital. Shorter cases, more routine procedures, but I got to see some of the same patients from the clinic upstairs and get a better idea of the day-by-day routine of ortho surgeons. I didn't scrub in, but I was able to get a clear idea of what was going on and the anesthesiologists shared their side of the process as well. The surgeons I was with were excited to explain each procedure and teach as much of it as they could. Definitely not what you can always expect to find. If you have a good rapport with who you are shadowing, it can be a great learning experience. I liked it a lot more than shadowing FM. YMMV.
 
I did about 400 hours with an ortho. I know the guy really well though...but the opportunity is there!
 
I've been shadowing a neurosurgeon (he has his own private practice) and all I had to do was contact their office, and they let me observe all of his surgeries. I also got to stand very close to him and observe everything. If you are looking to shadow someone in private practice it really just depends on the doctor. But you should email or call their office to ask. However, for the hospitals in my area most have a shadowing program. I'm not sure if you would get to pick what kind of doctor you shadow (surgeon)
 
Ost3oclast said:
I did about 400 hours with an ortho. I know the guy really well though...but the opportunity is there!
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How the hell can u watch 400 hours of surgery? Or did u do some clinic as well?
 
Doctor Strange said:
In all my experiences (shadowed three different surgeons), I was allowed to stand at the head of the table and see everything.
Click to expand...
What kind of surgery did you get to view? I ended up shadowing a guy who only did procedures through arthroscopy...most boring time ever.
 
I was able to shadow around 20 hours in the operating room and 100+ in clinic with an orthopedic surgeon. Although shadowing an actual surgery can be interesting, often it is difficult to get close enough to see what is going on without risking getting yelled at by the scrub nurse 😳. Both clinic and the OR have their positives and negatives. Any shadowing experience is worthwhile, in my opinion.
 
wjs010 said:
How the hell can u watch 400 hours of surgery? Or did u do some clinic as well?
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Did about 50 hours of clinic. Long story short...I love surgery. Even after watching my millionth (exaggeration) knee scope it was still the best!!
 
Ost3oclast said:
Did about 50 hours of clinic. Long story short...I love surgery. Even after watching my millionth (exaggeration) knee scope it was still the best!!
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Was the surgeon your uncle or something? I can't imagine any surgeon letting some random pre-med follow them for nearly 10 weeks without kindly hinting that maybe you've seen enough of the specialty.
 
Don't let people on here decide for you if your truly interested in surgery it is not boring, both ORs I shadowed in I also followed the surgeon/ residents to clinic. I shadowed general surgeon and trauma surgeon. You see a wide variety of procedures in both. I love surgery so I was never bored just depends on what your interested in.
 
Mt Kilimanjaro said:
Was the surgeon your uncle or something? I can't imagine any surgeon letting some random pre-med follow them for nearly 10 weeks without kindly hinting that maybe you've seen enough of the specialty.
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Haha no no he is a buddy of mine.
 
I didn't know any doctors personally prior to shadowing. So over spring break I spammed some emails and doctors' offices with messages. One happened to be an orthopedic surgeon. After he got tired of my calling 500 times, he let me shadow. Got to shadow him in his private practice and during surgery.

But yeah, surgery is pretty boring to watch - and if you're a lightweight, it's easy to feel nauseous, especially when every nurse and doc is giving you a lecture on nausea.

I wrote something up on how to find a doc to shadow if you need it: http://tinyurl.com/qxu9jrh
 
Mt Kilimanjaro said:
Some surgeons might let you scrub in and put in some stitches, but I'd guess this is rare.
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This would be virtually unheard of as it opens the surgeon up to all kinds of liability.

Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's definitely a rarity. I wouldn't be too disappointed if this opportunity failed to arise.
 
Buzz Me said:
This would be virtually unheard of as it opens the surgeon up to all kinds of liability.

Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's definitely a rarity. I wouldn't be too disappointed if this opportunity failed to arise.
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This. In all my time in the OR, it was a total given that no pre-med would ever scrub in. I had an OB/GYN try to pull some strings to get me scrubbed in once...it was shot down immediately.
 
Ost3oclast said:
This. In all my time in the OR, it was a total given that no pre-med would ever scrub in. I had an OB/GYN try to pull some strings to get me scrubbed in once...it was shot down immediately.
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I basically just hung out with the anesthesiologist and stood on a stool at the head of the table to see. I was literally in the action, and they just told me not to touch anything blue.
 
Doctor Strange said:
I basically just hung out with the anesthesiologist and stood on a stool at the head of the table to see. I was literally in the action, and they just told me not to touch anything blue.
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Were u scrubbed? That sounds like my experience, I just wasn't scrubbed in.
 
Ost3oclast said:
This. In all my time in the OR, it was a total given that no pre-med would ever scrub in. I had an OB/GYN try to pull some strings to get me scrubbed in once...it was shot down immediately.
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Odd. I was allowed to scrub in for my shadowing, but I stood in the very back corner and stared at the screen.
 
Agent B said:
Odd. I was allowed to scrub in for my shadowing, but I stood in the very back corner and stared at the screen.
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Thats cool. I guess its different everywhere. Lol
 
Ost3oclast said:
This. In all my time in the OR, it was a total given that no pre-med would ever scrub in. I had an OB/GYN try to pull some strings to get me scrubbed in once...it was shot down immediately.
Click to expand...

forreal? ive scrubbed in most of mine and retracted once 😎 he was a family friend though..
 
Buzz Me said:
This would be virtually unheard of as it opens the surgeon up to all kinds of liability.

Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's definitely a rarity. I wouldn't be too disappointed if this opportunity failed to arise.
Click to expand...

I was asked a fewbtimes by residents if I wanted to scrub in and learn how to stitch, but the chief had told me I was not allowed. I would imagine it happens at community hospitals when people are shadowing relatives or friends, though.

Yeah it seemed like a terrible idea to me. I was content in the back concentrating on maintaining a meter of air between myself and the table.
 
I shadowed an anesthesiologist who was a friend's dad. BUT I also did talk to a surgeon who said that he was allowing a high school student to shadow him simply because some random student emailed him and asked. If you don't have any connections but are interested in shadowing, I would suggest emailing a ton of surgeons about interest in shadowing and see who responds.
 
you can always go to the website of a department of surgery at a med school nearby and just look for faculty members and email them. but personally, i think it's better to shadow internist (or subspecialist) or a primary care doc even if you're not interested in it just because you will get more patient interactions than surgical fields.
 
Doctor Strange said:
Clocked like a hundred hours in the OR with a CT surgeon. It was okay. Some hospitals have established shadowing programs that may be able to hook you up. Otherwise, just call and ask. It's pretty boring after you get past the initial "er mer gerd sergery" phase in the beginning.
Click to expand...

Quick question:
When you apply, do you put how many hours you shadowed or you simply receive a letter (LOE) from the doctor stating this? How do you report your shadowing on your application?
 
The surgeon that I shadowed let me stand up close to the patient (I was scrubbed up) and he would show me anatomy and explain why he did certain things! Very cool dood, and best of all, he played funk music in there! Too good.
 
Buzz Me said:
Wish we had motivated students to come into the OR here. At many points in the case it's just me in the room with the scrub tech at the OR table!
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Where are you located? I'd like to shadow you. Motivated student here! 😉
 
Even though it might seem difficult to shadow a surgeon, it's really not that bad if there are teaching hospitals around you. Most of my experience comes from asking around in the neurosurgery department at my university's hospital and the faculty was warm and responsive to my requests. I'll update this to what degree my shadowing consists of later.

So no, overall I do not think it is difficult to find a surgeon to shadow. I am shadowing a neurosurgeon despite having no prior connection to him. As long as you put forth the effort in a polite and professional manner, you will find an opportunity. It goes without saying to try to find a surgeon in a specialty that interests you, my first surgery I shadowed was a shoulder repair and I found it to be quite boring overall.
 
Jumoke said:
Quick question:
When you apply, do you put how many hours you shadowed or you simply receive a letter (LOE) from the doctor stating this? How do you report your shadowing on your application?
Click to expand...

shadowing is an activity. All activities have you list when you started, when you stopped, and how many hours per week you did the activity.
 
I shadowed a surgeon but I wasn't able to go in to surgery with them ,just in the office :/
 
If you're going literally hands-on, I would not mention it in your apps/interviews!
 
This surgeon operated on my mom and GMom and my mom asked if I could shadow. He asked for a CV and PS and I was good. I got to see a lot, but it's hard to maneuver around the sterile field. I actually got to do things that were not "scrubbed" in for like colonoscopies etc.
 
I shadowed a doctor for the first time yesterday.
 
Last edited:
At the school I was at (OSU) they had really stringent rules about shadowing. Like, you could only shadow for one day. But it's about connections. I met a doctor who introduced me to a surgeon and that is how I got my shadowing experience. See if you know any family friends or even someone who works in a hospital. If you do research you can ask your PI for advice as well.
 
I shadowed a surgeon and was able to stand at the side of the table as well at the head where the anesthesiologists were. They also set up the camera for me to see. All the residents, med students, and nurses were so nice to me too. It was a real cool experience.
 
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