Specialities that aren't 9-5 M-F?

[Pacific_Ocean]

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[aSagacious]

Just scrolling through this list, in alphabetic order (not exhaustive), you could shadow inpatient/emergent services:
anesthesiology, cardiology (consults/cath lab), critical care, internal medicine (inpatient/consults), ob (triage/L&D)/gyn (inpt consults, probably gyn onc), radiology, surgery (general)

 

[yogglo]

Your wasting your time shadowing if you’ve already shadowed a decent amount tbh

 

[aSagacious]

Your wasting your time shadowing if you’ve already shadowed a decent amount tbh

Respectfully disagree. Most premeds just shadow to check a box. The intended purpose of shadowing is to expose oneself to a wide breadth of specialties in order to pique interest, particularly in those specialties which are underrepresented in third year clerkships. There are countless med students who are late switchers or lament missing the boat on specialties due to learning about it too late.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Hello,

I'm looking for doctors to shadow, but unfortunately for my school schedule, it would be hard to shadow a doctor if they only work 9-5 M-F. I already spent a lot of time shadowing in the ER after hours at a large teaching hospital but was wondering which other specialities typically don't follow regular work hours. Thanks so much!

Are you looking for specialists only? If not you can look for urgent care clinics which are open in the evenings and weekends. Some free clinics may have evening and weekend hours.

 

[Med Ed]

The intended purpose of shadowing is to expose oneself to a wide breadth of specialties in order to pique interest, particularly in those specialties which are underrepresented in third year clerkships. There are countless med students who are late switchers or lament missing the boat on specialties due to learning about it too late.

At this stage of the game the intended purpose of shadowing is to help applicants make compelling cases for admission based on firsthand exposure to the daily practice of medicine.

 

[wysdoc]

Hello,

I'm looking for doctors to shadow, but unfortunately for my school schedule, it would be hard to shadow a doctor if they only work 9-5 M-F. I already spent a lot of time shadowing in the ER after hours at a large teaching hospital but was wondering which other specialities typically don't follow regular work hours. Thanks so much!

I'm sure you could find a pediatric clinic with Saturday office hours or evening office hours.

 

[Goro]

Respectfully disagree. Most premeds just shadow to check a box. The intended purpose of shadowing is to expose oneself to a wide breadth of specialties in order to pique interest, particularly in those specialties which are underrepresented in third year clerkships. There are countless med students who are late switchers or lament missing the boat on specialties due to learning about it too late.

Disagree. The idea is to learn how different doctors approach the practice of Medicine, and to show us that you understand what a doctor's day is like. It's all about showing that you know what you're getting into.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

I wouldn't recommend shadowing a radiologist unless you're willing to sit there and watch someone interpret images.

Doing vs. watching are very different things. I love doing radiology and would pick this field again if I had to choose my specialty all over again. Watching radiology ... if I wasn't engaged by the resident or attending, I would fall asleep without fail in the reading room.

 

[NewBalancePremed]

Hello,

I'm looking for doctors to shadow, but unfortunately for my school schedule, it would be hard to shadow a doctor if they only work 9-5 M-F. I already spent a lot of time shadowing in the ER after hours at a large teaching hospital but was wondering which other specialities typically don't follow regular work hours. Thanks so much!

Very niche but I shadowed my school's orthopedic surgeon in a sports med clinic which has weekend morning hours. You can usually find ones affiliated with a region of high schools or universities and they told me they largely have these hours to see student athletes who get injured during the week (plus other patients who don't want to miss work as well)

 

[Engrailed]

Respectfully disagree. Most premeds just shadow to check a box. The intended purpose of shadowing is to expose oneself to a wide breadth of specialties in order to pique interest, particularly in those specialties which are underrepresented in third year clerkships. There are countless med students who are late switchers or lament missing the boat on specialties due to learning about it too late.

how often does this happen (where students are undecided, regret their choice etc ) and how do people decide when they are in-between several different specialties?

 

[aSagacious]

The idea is to learn how different doctors approach the practice of Medicine, and to show us that you understand what a doctor's day is like. It's all about showing that you know what you're getting into.

At this stage of the game the intended purpose of shadowing is to help applicants make compelling cases for admission based on firsthand exposure to the daily practice of medicine.

At least in part, yes. This is obviously necessary and on the front of all applicants minds when signing up. I did overstate my position in my first reply (that piquing interest was the primary goal). My point was just that there is value in shadowing beyond simply getting a feel for what you're signing up for. There are far more specialties than are required during standard clerkships, many of which can be fairly competitive. The earlier one gains exposure, the earlier (s)he can begin networking, research, electives during pre-clinical years, etc. And it's not as if students become less busy as medical students. (I'm obviously not telling you anything you don't already know as a faculty attending; this is for the pre-med audience).

how often does this happen (where students are undecided, regret their choice etc )

I don't have a number for you, but it's not uncommon. Anecdotally was maybe several percent of my class.

how often does this happen (where students are undecided, regret their choice etc ) and how do people decide when they are in-between several different specialties?

Generally it's much easier to decide between two or three particular specialties once you've narrowed it down. There are those who regret their decision (again, don't have a number for you) and some of them even end up switching residencies. I would estimate that single digits percents end up switching. These are usually folks who went into a field for the wrong reasons or were poorly informed heading in. Some change due to significant life events outside of work.

 

[tessellations]

As an aside, make sure you get some primary care shadowing hours. You can do this in the typical office setting, but could also consider finding a primary care office that does urgent care hours on the weekends.

 

[theKingLT]

Hello,

I'm looking for doctors to shadow, but unfortunately for my school schedule, it would be hard to shadow a doctor if they only work 9-5 M-F. I already spent a lot of time shadowing in the ER after hours at a large teaching hospital but was wondering which other specialities typically don't follow regular work hours. Thanks so much!

Peds primary care often have off-hours or just get your shadowing done during winter or summer break. Shadowing is not something you need to show consistency with like volunteering so knocking out 30 hours in one week in the summer is perfectly fine