Shadowing

[Zino]

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SDN members,

Congrats to SDN founders, moderators, and members. This is the most informative discussion board I've found on the internet.

I wondered if a few SDN veterans could help me out with a few questions. A couple years ago, I graduated pre-pt with most of the pre-reqs (save 1 credit org chem lab and psychology) for med school. Unfortunately, during my senior year I got extremely burned out from school (sciences especially) and found that pt just didn't interest me enough to pursue it as a career.

To make a long story short, I'm seriously considering investigating the healthcare arena again, especially after working in CORPORATE Hell for two years. If I were considering medicine, who would you recommend shadowing? An Intern? Experienced nurse? Medical student? What are the appropriate ways in soliciting a shadowing request?

Any advice you could give would be Much appreciated

Thanks so much!

 

[superdevil]

just go ahead and shadow a physician (def. not a med student).

there are several ways to go about this: if you live near a med school, you could call them and ask if they have any clinical faculty willing to chat with you. or, you could do what i did: just find a doctor who has cared for you as a patient with whom you had a good rapport, and ask him/her if they wouldn't mind you following them around or if they would know of someone else willing to do so.

most of the time, its pretty easy to find someone who is agreeable to this. good luck!

 

[rockstar2525]

Shadow the profession that you are interested in. If you are interested in RN, shadow an RN, if you are interested in MD, shadow an attending physician. I wouldn't try to learn what being a doc is really like by shadowing an RN, or vice versa. You may get a feel for what they all do just by being in hospital, but only someone in that profession can give you the nitty gritty.
I shadowed a doc who leads an Ob/Gyn rotation, so she was used to students and was a really good teacher. There are a couple of threads on how to find someone to shadow, do a search and I'm sure you will come up with more information/opinions than you could ever want.

 

[brats800]

most MDs are more than willing to let you shadow them for a while. its just that you gotta do the gruntwork. find a doc in a specialty that interests you. call them up and ask them. you might need to fill out some paperwork (insurance stuff for the hospital, for instance), but its a great experience. good luck!

 

[45408]

where are you from?

anyways, do a quick search as well, because many good methods for finding a mentor are out there, but the easiest might be to call your pre-med advisor from your alma mater and ask if there is a program.

 

[doc05]

if you are considering medicine, don't shadow a nurse. also consider the fact that while it's not "corporate," medicine is nothing more than another kind of hell...