the basics of physician shadowing

[med17]

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I am starting to try and figure out how/where I will be doing shadowing, and realized I am kind of lost...

-Should it be in a hospital, or can it be in a private practice?
-Is it like a one or two day thing and then I move on to another physician?
-Is it appropriate to ask some of my own physicians?

Thanks

 

[jm192]

Doesn't matter unless you go in there preaching you want to be a clinician or a hospitalist.

If you say you want to do one over the other--you probably should have seen it to know you're really interested in it.

Continuity is better than multiple physicians. One can get to know you, and write a strong letter for your application.

If you think you will apply DO, shadow a DO so you have that lined up as most DO schools require a DO letter. You could use the DO letter for MD schools as alot of MD schools don't require a letter, but accept them.

 

[somepremedkid]

Is it appropriate to ask some of my own physicians?

I don't think it would be inappropriate. Actually, it could be to your advantage since these physicians already know who you are. They may allow you to shadow them because of that.

 

[familyaerospace]

1) It can be either, but remember that some hospitals might make you do a whole song and dance routine in order to let you do it there. For example, when I was shadowing in private practice, all I had to do was sign a form. When I tried to shadow in a hospital, they wanted me to pay about $100 to redo a bunch of tests and other things which I just had done (seriously, what are the odds that my MMR titers are going to change much over 2 months, and I've just been checked for TB exposure 3 times in 6 months and they wanted me to pay them to check me two more times? No.) Yet I can sneak back into the OR of another hospital (which ironically has most of my information) and they don't even notice anything because I'm glued to the attending's side. Private practices seem to be the best bet.

2) Shadow as much or as little as you like to get an idea of their work life. I've been with a surgeon on several days. I've been with a neurologist for 6 days. I've been with a few other doctors for just one full day. Mostly it depends on you and the doctor.

3) You can always start there, but a lot of doctors don't like their patients shadowing them. I asked three of my doctors. One said "Let's go! Meet me at XXX Monday!" (he was the surgeon). Two others said no because I'm their patient and it would interfere with their objectivity. One of those was good enough to pass me on to two more doctors where I was able to shadow for a while (one was the neurologist for 6 days and one of the one day experiences). The other didn't help.

 

[FlowRate]

Continuity is better than multiple physicians. One can get to know you, and write a strong letter for your application.

If you think you will apply DO, shadow a DO so you have that lined up as most DO schools require a DO letter. You could use the DO letter for MD schools as alot of MD schools don't require a letter, but accept them.

Disagree, with the exception of applying DO. Shadow several different docs to get an idea of different specialties, work conditions, etc. IMO