Shadowing

[Strudel19]

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I'm by no means a doctor or someone fresh out of med school, but from working closely with many different doctors at work I learn so much and I understand a good amount of symptom etiology. I can usually guess what path the physician might take to making a diagnosis. You also don't need medical school science to understand some of the science behind basic treatments. Example: Why is a vasodilator being used? General chemistry concepts explain a lot of things.

I'm beginning to learn the basics of thinking like a physician and I feel so bored by following a guy into a room and just standing there. I understand a lot of the things that are going on in the exam room and why they are happening. I'm hoping to learn new things about the specialities that I shadow and broaden my existing medical knowledge. I feel like shadowing is something that I can really learn a lot from. Is this an expectation a little unrealistic? Or should shadowing just be following a doctor around and not actually learning? Medical schools like to see so much of it but I'd hate for these to be empty hours. I want everything on my resume to reflect how I grew as a person or how I grew as someone working in healthcare.

 

[StephanieZ]

I think some people shadow because they truly want the experience and some people do it to have something to put on their applications. I like to think it's more about knowing what you are getting into and what sorts of things you will spend your day doing as a doctor. It's great if you can actually get a jump start on your medical education and learn about pathology and treatments during your undergrad shadowing gig, but it's not necessary. You will learn all of that in medical school one way or another. Shadowing to me is more about bursting the bubble of the pre-meds whose only knowledge of the medical profession of Grey's Anatomy.
Plus it also depends on the doctor you shadow. I've heard of some who let pre-meds get alot of hands on experience and involvement, and some who literally just want them to be their shadow.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I guess in a broad overarching sense, medicine can be seen as "simple" but you shouldn't go into shadowing thinking you're going to learn anything significant about medicine and treating patients.

"Why is a vasodilator used?" Duh. To dilate blood vessels. Anybody with half a brain can figure that out. Okay now which class? ACEi? ARB? CCB? Got it? Okay, now which specific drug in that class will work best with your patient and their set of conditions? Not to mention the fact that you have to understand the receptors these drugs act on and the associated biochemical pathways.

Something as deceiving simple as hypertension has a complex set of treatment options. My point is that you should not expect to be "learning medicine" as a pre-med student shadowing a physician, because, in all honesty, what you get out of it will either be 1) wrong or 2) extremely oversimplified. Medicine and treating patients is a complicated matter and needs to be learned in a systematic manner.

The purpose of shadowing is to find out what it's LIKE to be a physician, not to learn HOW to be one. Coming out of shadowing knowing that the doc prescribed verapamil for a patient's high blood pressure is absolutely useless. What you SHOULD be paying attention to is how the doctor interacts with his patients, how happy he seems, how he spends his time, etc.

 

[Strudel19]

I guess in a broad overarching sense, medicine can be seen as "simple" but you shouldn't go into shadowing thinking you're going to learn anything significant about medicine and treating patients.

"Why is a vasodilator used?" Duh. To dilate blood vessels. Anybody with half a brain can figure that out. Okay now which class? ACEi? ARB? CCB? Got it? Okay, now which specific drug in that class will work best with your patient and their set of conditions? Not to mention the fact that you have to understand the receptors these drugs act on and the associated biochemical pathways.

Something as deceiving simple as hypertension has a complex set of treatment options. My point is that you should not expect to be "learning medicine" as a pre-med student shadowing a physician, because, in all honesty, what you get out of it will either be 1) wrong or 2) extremely oversimplified. Medicine and treating patients is a complicated matter and needs to be learned in a systematic manner.

The purpose of shadowing is to find out what it's LIKE to be a physician, not to learn HOW to be one. Coming out of shadowing knowing that the doc prescribed verapamil for a patient's high blood pressure is absolutely useless. What you SHOULD be paying attention to is how the doctor interacts with his patients, how happy he seems, how he spends his time, etc.

Really good answer, thanks!!

 

[JohnQuincyAdams]

The purpose of shadowing is to find out what it's LIKE to be a physician, not to learn HOW to be one. Coming out of shadowing knowing that the doc prescribed verapamil for a patient's high blood pressure is absolutely useless. What you SHOULD be paying attention to is how the doctor interacts with his patients, how happy he seems, how he spends his time, etc.

This is completely correct. I used to think I should learn all I can before medical school so that it is easier once I got there... but I was wrong.

Just trust me on this one- you may learn a handful of facts from shadowing, but it is a drop in the bucket. Focus on the feel of the experience and the more social aspects. You may think you can learn a lot of 'doctor knowledge', but it is just not true.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Shadowing is just there to let you know what you're getting into, not to teach you anything. You should come out of it with an idea of what a career as a physician is like. Is that what you want in a career? Did the shadowing reinforce your desire to do medicine, do you think the pros outweigh the cons you've seen, or was it not what you thought it was and now it's time to look for a new career that you'll actually enjoy?

And yes, your role in shadowing is to just stand behind the doctor silently and do nothing but watch. Hence why it's called "shadowing".

 

[StephanieZ]

I guess in a broad overarching sense, medicine can be seen as "simple" but you shouldn't go into shadowing thinking you're going to learn anything significant about medicine and treating patients.

"Why is a vasodilator used?" Duh. To dilate blood vessels. Anybody with half a brain can figure that out. Okay now which class? ACEi? ARB? CCB? Got it? Okay, now which specific drug in that class will work best with your patient and their set of conditions? Not to mention the fact that you have to understand the receptors these drugs act on and the associated biochemical pathways.

Something as deceiving simple as hypertension has a complex set of treatment options. My point is that you should not expect to be "learning medicine" as a pre-med student shadowing a physician, because, in all honesty, what you get out of it will either be 1) wrong or 2) extremely oversimplified. Medicine and treating patients is a complicated matter and needs to be learned in a systematic manner.

The purpose of shadowing is to find out what it's LIKE to be a physician, not to learn HOW to be one. Coming out of shadowing knowing that the doc prescribed verapamil for a patient's high blood pressure is absolutely useless. What you SHOULD be paying attention to is how the doctor interacts with his patients, how happy he seems, how he spends his time, etc.

QFT. Pretty much exactly what I wanted to say, but alot more well-thought-out!

 

[Doctor Strange]

QFT. Pretty much exactly what I wanted to say, but alot more well-thought-out!

I think my answer is so thorough because I've been through it. I used to have the same kind of attitude, but once I hit upper level pharmacology and pathophys courses in undergrad (pharmacology/toxicology major), it suddenly dawned on me how useless my previous attempts were. You're only getting a very small piece of the puzzle when shadowing.