Shadowing

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Cera

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Hello. I have a couple of questions about shadowing a doctor. First, what exactly does shadowing entail? Do you follow the doctor for a day or is it multiple visits?

Second, those of you who are shadowing or have shadowed doctors did you know them beforehand? I've found several DOs in my area through the AMA website, but I don't know how to approach them. I'm unsure on the protocol for this kind of thing. (...if there is a set standard at all, that is!)

Any ideas or experiences on shadowing will be greatly appreciated!
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The length of your shadowing is usually up to the doctors. Physicians are obviously busy but they'll try to fit you in if they can b/c they were once in your place. Shadowing might be for just one day or it might be once a week. I had the opportunity to shadow both a MD as well as a DO. In the case of the MD, i went once a week for about 4 hours. He was the director of the peds. ICU and i would simply follow him on his morning rounds (along with residents and med. students). In the case of the DO, i shadowed him for one day at his private practice. My role was basically a fly on the wall as he visited his patients. I would simply watch, listen, and ask questions. The best way to find a dr. to shadow is to simply ask. I found my DO through the phone book. I opened the phone book and started at the top of the alphabet. The secretary will usually answer and i would tell him/ her that i'm a pre-med and that i would like to shadow/ talk to the doctor if it's at all possible. By the time i reached the Bs i found a dr who agreed on letting me come in. For the case of the MD, it was part of a volunteer program at a hospital. You might want to try your local volunteer services at a big hospital to see if they have any special arrangements with one of their physicians. I hope this helps.
 
The length of your shadowing is usually up to the doctors. Physicians are obviously busy but they'll try to fit you in if they can b/c they were once in your place. Shadowing might be for just one day or it might be once a week. I had the opportunity to shadow both a MD as well as a DO. In the case of the MD, i went once a week for about 4 hours. He was the director of the peds. ICU and i would simply follow him on his morning rounds (along with residents and med. students). In the case of the DO, i shadowed him for one day at his private practice. My role was basically a fly on the wall as he visited his patients. I would simply watch, listen, and ask questions. The best way to find a dr. to shadow is to simply ask. I found my DO through the phone book. I opened the phone book and started at the top of the alphabet. The secretary will usually answer and i would tell him/ her that i'm a pre-med and that i would like to shadow/ talk to the doctor if it's at all possible. By the time i reached the Bs i found a dr who agreed on letting me come in. For the case of the MD, it was part of a volunteer program at a hospital. You might want to try your local volunteer services at a big hospital to see if they have any special arrangements with one of their physicians. I hope this helps.
 
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My first shadowing experience was aranged through a pre-med program through KU Medical Center. I was fortunate in that it placed me in a residency program and while I was assigned to one physician ( 1 was there being paid for 6 weeks last summer) when he wasn't seeing patients I could be with any of the other physicians there which included some DOs.
I found that I started the shadowing as a silent bystander as we saw the patients and then as the docs got to know my better they got me more involved in everything from patient assesment to helping with procedures. I just let them know I was interested, at night I looked up interesting topics that came up during the day and brought questions back to the physician. My main physician even had me working through a patient assesment text and we would discuss what I had read the previous evening and work on it.
Two of the DOs that I met in that program have left their residency and are now in their own practice. I follow them one afternoon a week and really love it. They include me in explaining what they are thinking and have me loooking up stuff in books as we are waiting for labs to be done etc(It is a small office in a very small time so we generally have time to do this.)
It is a great experience and I would highly recomend it. If you are stuck on what physicians to ask check with any local schools and see if any advisors there have any suggestions.
 
i've also shadowed both a DO and an MD. i must say that these experiences were well worth the effort. they really fortified my decision in attending an osteopathic program. i shadowed a pathologist,MD, for about two weeks. this was originally my field of choice but i quickly realized differently. and i also shadowed a pediatric pulmonary specialist,DO, at the U of Iowa. these were quite easy to set up. i basically called up these docs and told them my situation. i said i was applying for med-school and was very interesed in their specialty and asked if i could shadow them. each doc was very eager to allow me to shadow and was very insightful on the "in's and out's" of the medical profession. each doc was even willing to write me references for my application....HUGE BONUS. all in all, the experience is very worth it because you get the inside exposure to what doctoring is about, dabble in certain fields of medicine, and build connections. hope this helps. rene
 
Just go ahead and give the DO a call and see what happens, but you may also be done with residency already.
 
cera,
The AOA website was helpful for me.

www.osteopathic.org

It has a city & zipcode search for DO's in your area. It also lists the physicians by specialty. The link will take you to their contact information.

There is no set procedure, especially if you don't know them beforehand. Learning to cold-call network is an important skill to learn & practice (helps for job searches in the future). Call them up and identify yourself as osteopathic pre-med student wanting some shadowing experience and that you are very interested in (specialty). I informally interviewed my doctors, and they too informally interviewed me, before I followed them around the clinic or private-practice.

If possible, try to shadow a range of specialties, primary care/family practice to specialist DO's for the variety of experiences.

The doctors that I talked to & shadowed are busy but mostly happy to help & teach a little too. I watched procedures, discussed OMT & ostepathic philosophy with them, and asked questions. It helped to prepare a list of (specialty-related) questions to ask, & squeezed them in when possible.

One day is short, but a week per doctor would be good. Just show interest & ask questions! Gather experiences for you to talk about on your future med school interviews! You want to establish some professional rapport in the event that later you politely ask them to write you a letter of recommendation. Most adcoms want to know that you shadowed a DO physician & have a letter of recommendation from him or her.

Good luck!
 
kealaq said:
cera,
The AOA website was helpful for me.

www.osteopathic.org

It has a city & zipcode search for DO's in your area. It also lists the physicians by specialty. The link will take you to their contact information.

There is no set procedure, especially if you don't know them beforehand. Learning to cold-call network is an important skill to learn & practice (helps for job searches in the future). Call them up and identify yourself as osteopathic pre-med student wanting some shadowing experience and that you are very interested in (specialty). I informally interviewed my doctors, and they too informally interviewed me, before I followed them around the clinic or private-practice.

If possible, try to shadow a range of specialties, primary care/family practice to specialist DO's for the variety of experiences.

The doctors that I talked to & shadowed are busy but mostly happy to help & teach a little too. I watched procedures, discussed OMT & ostepathic philosophy with them, and asked questions. It helped to prepare a list of (specialty-related) questions to ask, & squeezed them in when possible.

One day is short, but a week per doctor would be good. Just show interest & ask questions! Gather experiences for you to talk about on your future med school interviews! You want to establish some professional rapport in the event that later you politely ask them to write you a letter of recommendation. Most adcoms want to know that you shadowed a DO physician & have a letter of recommendation from him or her.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

This advice is 8 years too late. Hopefully Cera is attending by now : )
 
I was 10 years old when this thread started.
But I guess the requirements for shadowing haven't changed much.
 
I think 33.6kbps internet was still hot when this thread was made.
 
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