- Joined
- Oct 27, 2016
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 3
I was shadowing some surgeons a while back and met this really cool vascular surgeon who was assisting on two of the cases I was observing. I reached out to him to ask if I could shadow him in the future and he seemed open/enthusiastic about the idea, but my hospital access was about to end and I was also going to be busy with other commitments for the following month or so, and we agreed that I would come back to shadow at some point the future.
Fast forward a little bit, and I'm calling the hospital's volunteer department (who organizes this whole thing) and they tell me that the process for them is that the DOCTOR has to be the one to reach out to the volunteer department and let them know it's okay for me to shadow. I've already handed in all the rest of my paperwork to the volunteer department and they told me there's nothing else I can do from my end and that I can't bring the forms to the doctor or get involved on his side of the paperwork (not completely sure if that last part is the case but will check).
This already kind of alarmed me because I know doctors (esp surgeons probably, and no offense to other specialities) are extremely busy people and the last two surgeons were part of a private practice who had someone in their office to handle their side of the paperwork. I emailed this doctor to let him know what the volunteer dept. said about him needing to reach out, and he hasn't responded since. I sent him a follow-up email a week later (also apologizing for giving him the extra work) but there was also no response to that. It's been nearly 4-5 weeks now and he hasn't responded. Is it likely he's annoyed with me/thinks I'm being lazy or not proactive enough? I would totally get it if he thinks that but I'm not sure what I should do to see if he's still interested/making the necessary arrangements for me to shadow.
My other commitments are mostly gone so I can go back to shadowing now, and I'm thinking of sending him a polite email to let him know I'm now free to shadow, and asking him if he's still interested, and apologizing again for not being more proactive/giving him this extra chore? I was also thinking of calling the volunteer department again to ask if there's any way THEY can reach out to HIM, and or let me cc them in the email?
Do you guys think it's likely he'll still be open to me shadowing, or is he mostly disappointed in me? He seems like a really cool person in general and I'm really hoping to learn from him.
tl;dr -- Hospital is putting me in an awkward place with paperwork and the surgeon I want to shadow, making HIM do stuff, doc hasn't replied since and I'm not sure why/what to do or what my chances of shadowing are.
Fast forward a little bit, and I'm calling the hospital's volunteer department (who organizes this whole thing) and they tell me that the process for them is that the DOCTOR has to be the one to reach out to the volunteer department and let them know it's okay for me to shadow. I've already handed in all the rest of my paperwork to the volunteer department and they told me there's nothing else I can do from my end and that I can't bring the forms to the doctor or get involved on his side of the paperwork (not completely sure if that last part is the case but will check).
This already kind of alarmed me because I know doctors (esp surgeons probably, and no offense to other specialities) are extremely busy people and the last two surgeons were part of a private practice who had someone in their office to handle their side of the paperwork. I emailed this doctor to let him know what the volunteer dept. said about him needing to reach out, and he hasn't responded since. I sent him a follow-up email a week later (also apologizing for giving him the extra work) but there was also no response to that. It's been nearly 4-5 weeks now and he hasn't responded. Is it likely he's annoyed with me/thinks I'm being lazy or not proactive enough? I would totally get it if he thinks that but I'm not sure what I should do to see if he's still interested/making the necessary arrangements for me to shadow.
My other commitments are mostly gone so I can go back to shadowing now, and I'm thinking of sending him a polite email to let him know I'm now free to shadow, and asking him if he's still interested, and apologizing again for not being more proactive/giving him this extra chore? I was also thinking of calling the volunteer department again to ask if there's any way THEY can reach out to HIM, and or let me cc them in the email?
Do you guys think it's likely he'll still be open to me shadowing, or is he mostly disappointed in me? He seems like a really cool person in general and I'm really hoping to learn from him.
tl;dr -- Hospital is putting me in an awkward place with paperwork and the surgeon I want to shadow, making HIM do stuff, doc hasn't replied since and I'm not sure why/what to do or what my chances of shadowing are.