Shadowing...
Started by EHCMD
QofQuimica
Seriously, dude, I think you're overreacting....
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Same way as a trad student approaches doctors about shadowing them. You email their secretary or call their office, and you ask. It's a numbers game: some are going to say no, but if you ask 10, 15, 20 of them, you'll find someone who says yes. If the first several give you a negative reaction, so what? There's a whole phone book full of them. That being said, you might have better luck finding someone to shadow if you contact doctors who are affiliated with a med school, since they are accustomed to working with students.
BTW, a podiatrist isn't a DO. Not that you shouldn't shadow a podiatrist if you want, but podiatry is its own career with its own degree (DPM), like how dentistry is its own career.
I'm hoping that I can woo an ER doctor into letting me shadow him or her with a really informative oral report on a patient coming from my ambulance.
Other than that I'm going to ask my PCP if I can shadow her the next appointment I have with her for my migraines. "I have these blinding migraines and the meds you gave me are starting to fail me, by the way can I follow you around for a day or two?"🙄
Other than that I'm going to ask my PCP if I can shadow her the next appointment I have with her for my migraines. "I have these blinding migraines and the meds you gave me are starting to fail me, by the way can I follow you around for a day or two?"🙄
Really?? I wouldn't want one of my patients to see what I do all day. I only say that because you would see the "other side" of what staff says about patients - its not always nice. Probably better to pick an anonymous office to try to shadow. May be tough though because of HIPAA nowadays.
I'd probably second not asking your own docs if you can shadow them. However, think about asking either your parents' docs, or ask friends, and that will generally go over better.
I shadowed several of my dad's specialists, which was interesting and aside from the patients, it was cool to see what things we had in common, with one specialist it was the love of Florence, Venice, and Renaissance art & architecture.
[Edit: I forgot to mention, docs that are nearing retirement frequently like having students shadowing, especially if it isn't commonplace in their practice, and enjoy the feeling of teaching you something. Some of my best experiences were with docs near the end of their careers. Not that the experience with the freshly-minted attending I had was bad, just the perspective was way different, as you'd expect, between someone at the beginning of their career and someone at the end of their career.]
I shadowed several of my dad's specialists, which was interesting and aside from the patients, it was cool to see what things we had in common, with one specialist it was the love of Florence, Venice, and Renaissance art & architecture.
[Edit: I forgot to mention, docs that are nearing retirement frequently like having students shadowing, especially if it isn't commonplace in their practice, and enjoy the feeling of teaching you something. Some of my best experiences were with docs near the end of their careers. Not that the experience with the freshly-minted attending I had was bad, just the perspective was way different, as you'd expect, between someone at the beginning of their career and someone at the end of their career.]
I understand what you are saying, but I already work in the medical field and have seen what doctors and nurses say about patients. My PCP has already openly warned me not to enter her field, noting all of the reasons that everyone hates about being a PCP. She seems blunt and honest, a point of view I prefer.
Check my sig.
DO mentor exchange is a good place to start.
DO mentor exchange is a good place to start.
How I found doctors to shadow : http://forums.studentdoctor.net/blog.php?b=4003
So far I have shadowed : Family, Internist, Plastic Surgeon, Nephrologist, Obgyn/Peds, and Neurologist. For the most part I've had to go a different route for almost all of them.
So far I have shadowed : Family, Internist, Plastic Surgeon, Nephrologist, Obgyn/Peds, and Neurologist. For the most part I've had to go a different route for almost all of them.
Aerospace, just curious....for how long did you shadow each doctor? Perhaps I am wrong but I am under the impression we are supposed to shadow each doctor for a while, however I have heard of people shadowing for one or two days. How did you go about it?
I was nervous when I started calling doctors, but once you get your sells pitch right "Hello, my name is __, I am a pre-med at ____ , I was hoping to shadow Dr. ____ to learn more about ____". It's not perfect, but it's quick and to the point. I found out that the more questions they ask you about yourself, the more likely you will get to shadow.
The more you call and ask, the less nervous you will be. And once you start shadowing, it gives you something to refer to when calling more doctor's; in that you will know how to shadow appropriately. I was a non-trad too, a pharmacy student which may have helped. But I still called over ten offices for each doctor I shadowed, it helps to live in a big city. Even if they say no, or don't call you back, they don't give a negative reaction.
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My doctors were very open to me shadowing them. One of my letters of reference came from my son's orthopedic surgeon.
My current totals are :
Family - 58 hours
General Internal Medicine - 5 hours (but I have more scheduled)
Nephrology - 7 hours (world's biggest a** of a doctor)
Neurology - 36 hours
Obgyn and Pediatrics - 8 hours (she did both)
Plastic Surgery - 30 hours (I will probably do more)
I'm way into overkill at this point. Some places have minimum requirements of like 40 hours, 60-80 to be competitive. Others don't care.
Yes, but it was your son's doctor. Not yours. I guess my point is that don't be upset if your personal doctor says no. It can become a bad situation. I guess I'm jaded being in Rural medicine this long.
Agreed. I have four doctors of my own, I asked three (the ones I had the best relationship with). The only one that said yes was the plastic surgeon.
I really don't see the problem with shadowing your own doctor, especially if you have a good relationship. In fact, I shadowed my OWN ob/gyn one day per week while 34-40 weeks pregnant! I even arranged my own appointments with her (weekly appts. the last month of pregnancy) to occur on Thursdays, my shadowing day! LOL Our shadowing arrangement ended the day she delivered my daughter! (...only because I was too busy with a newborn to keep following her around the hospital.)
My neurologist said it would interfere with his objectivity in treating me in the future. If I wasn't a patient of his, he said he would have said yes.
My family doctor said something similar, that it would alter our doctor/patient relationship.
I didn't ask my obgyn/endo because I hate him. My doctor/patient relationship with my plastic surgeon was almost at an end so it was ok for our roles to morph a little bit. That's very common with surgeons apparently.
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