Things I Learn From Shadowing.....

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anonymousername

anonymousername

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-Everyone looks hotter with a mask on
-If it's green or blue...it's not for you
-Don't speak to the patient unless spoken to
-The hairnet ruins the whole "scrubs" ensemble
-If it's too bright in the OR, don't tell the surgeon
-Residents are cool, joke around with them
-Interns are jerks, let them finish their scut
-Don't flirt w/ the nurses
-Flirt with the volunteers who are <30 y.o. and aren't volunteering because they're pre-med
-If you'll be wearing scrubs sometime in the day, bring more than dress shoes that you bought from JCPenny
-Eat something before going into the OR (it'll pay off when your stomach doesn't grumble when the nurses sterilize the patients nude body)
-Don't stare at the patients naked body....it's weird
-When a med student/patient/nurse/PA/resident/attending/staff....anyone thinks that you are someone with authority, don't correct them immediately...let the pleasant feeling of undeserved respect sink in and then let the Dr. correct them
-When the patient has 10000 questions about their "cough"....resist the temptation to take out your iphone and surf facebook
-When bored, don't yawn (unless you have your mask on)
-It takes a while to realize that you can stick your tongue out w/o consequences in the OR
-Steer clear of the 60 year old resident
-No one cares about what classes you've taken or when you've scheduled the MCAT
-If you feel like taking a nap, ask the anesthesiologist to explain what his responsibilities are
-It's cool to walk in and out of the OR, no one really gives a ****....i was surprised by this
-The inside of some human bodies can sometimes be less disgusting than the outside
-The ER sucks
-The dr. might have some medical textbooks in their office...you'll look like a tool if you start reading them while he's w/ a patient that didn't want you present
-You'll be upset when the first 5 patients don't want you to be in the room. By the 50th patient, you'll be praying that they reject you.
-Patient contact is dull when you don't serve a purpose
-The ICU is pretty much like The Matrix...with a bunch of people attached to machines, but there's a lot more noise and it smells like ****
-Cafeteria food is great, then good, then mediocre, then bad (like every other cafeteria in America)
-Everyone steals scrubs...everyone 😉
-Don't be afraid to ask the "Doctor" who doesn't have MD/DO on their white coat (but has 100 other titles) where (s)he went to medical school
-The crazy people make shadowing worth it
-Scrub nurses actually are really awesome people and serve an extremely important function in the OR so don't underestimate how well they can answer your questions when the doctor isn't there
-When you're watching a 4 hr procedure, don't ask the surgeon "so what if you need to go to the bathroom?"
-The general clinic is dull
-Doctors don't think you're hardcore if you watched a youtube video about what they do


edit..feel free to add your own
 
Last edited:
Earn respect from your doctor by not mentioning bathroom breaks, hunger, or being tired the entire day. They'll like you more (tested and confirmed!)
 
anonymousername said:
-The inside of some human bodies can sometimes be less disgusting than
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The above is also a much more peasant experience than asking those two older nurses who obviously regret their career decisions and who are always at the nursing station gabbing, a question about anything. Don't do it. A safer bet is the CNA who always talks about sports.
 
chman said:
The above is also a much more peasant experience than asking those two older nurses who obviously regret their career decisions and who are always at the nursing station gabbing, a question about anything. Don't do it. A safer bet is the CNA who always talks about sports.
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Yeah, don't even make eye contact with the older nurses. They can castrate you just by looking at you😱
 
JFK90787 said:
Boring patients are the worst. I know I'm an ******* but I don't really care about the occasional ringing in your left ear.
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I have had to sit in a room with a 75 year old client talking my ear off for half an hour about his hideous, brain-damaged pug's "personality" and pooping habits. He had one of those wheezy old man voices that makes everything sound like Ben Stein doing a reading of the NYSE closing prices.

My lesson? When the doctor leaves the room, follow. If you do not, either you will be trapped with the client/patient (best case scenario), or the patient will die (worst case scenario).

Second lesson. If you forget to leave with the doctor on your first day, the patient will always die.
 
If you shadow a plastic surgeon, make sure he does derm work too. They say girls with new implants like to show them off. They don't. And sitting in the hall is boring for 8 hours.
 
FrkyBgStok said:
If you shadow a plastic surgeon, make sure he does derm work too. They say girls with new implants like to show them off. They don't. And sitting in the hall is boring for 8 hours.
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👍
 
frkybgstok said:
if you shadow a plastic surgeon, make sure he does derm work too. They say girls with new implants like to show them off. They don't. And sitting in the hall for 8 hours, while you know girls are flashing their brand new d cups in the next room, is boring.
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fify
 
Surprisingly I had a lot of opposite experiences from what you had.

I do have a few for you.

1) Don't ask the surgeon why he has his name on things in the OR.

(Seriously, he made me write sentences 100 times before I was allowed back into the OR with him. All for asking why his name was on a few boxes of supplies.)

2) Bring an ipod in case you don't like the music that is blaring in the OR.

(It's not going to matter since he isn't going to be able to ask you anything either nor be able to hear your answers.)

3) You are not an attending, even if the attending says you can do something, the nurses will almost always say you can't. That is regardless of what it is, where it is, or anything. As a matter of fact, just check with a nurse before doing anything that the attending asks, ESPECIALLY in the OR.

4) If a surgeon says "Come closer or else I will spray you with blood" DON'T say "You can't possibly hit me from here." He can. It's just best if you come closer.
 
familyaerospace said:
Surprisingly I had a lot of opposite experiences from what you had.

I do have a few for you.

1) Don't ask the surgeon why he has his name on things in the OR.

(Seriously, he made me write sentences 100 times before I was allowed back into the OR with him. All for asking why his name was on a few boxes of supplies.)
QUOTE]

That surgeon sounds like a dousche what is this, like grade school detention? If I were you I'd be like haha no and go shadow another surgeon.
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Everyone (in medicine) who I told about him making me write sentences have thought it was funny that he made me write the definition of tact 100 times. It was the comment about him threatening to throw blood on me which is what make most people think he's unprofessional. (Both of those situations happened the same day. First the threat of blood, later the sentences.) Once I specify he is a plastic surgeon, then everyone understands his behaviour. Apparently plastics is known for being really strange.

He knows that I am shadowing him more to desensitize myself from the blood and guts of surgery. He was also my surgeon twice last year and I will be having surgery again with him in a few years for my hands. He also knows he is the only surgeon I trust to do any shadowing with and that I am almost certainly going to pursue an area that requires little to no surgery.
 
familyaerospace said:
Surprisingly I had a lot of opposite experiences from what you had.

I do have a few for you.

1) Don't ask the surgeon why he has his name on things in the OR.

(Seriously, he made me write sentences 100 times before I was allowed back into the OR with him. All for asking why his name was on a few boxes of supplies.)

2) Bring an ipod in case you don't like the music that is blaring in the OR.

(It's not going to matter since he isn't going to be able to ask you anything either nor be able to hear your answers.)

3) You are not an attending, even if the attending says you can do something, the nurses will almost always say you can't. That is regardless of what it is, where it is, or anything. As a matter of fact, just check with a nurse before doing anything that the attending asks, ESPECIALLY in the OR.

4) If a surgeon says "Come closer or else I will spray you with blood" DON'T say "You can't possibly hit me from here." He can. It's just best if you come closer.
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this is so stupid....you must suck at shadowing (which is really hard to do) or the surgeon must be a complete ***hole.
 
476515678234896 said:
this is so stupid....you must suck at shadowing (which is really hard to do) or the surgeon must be a complete ***hole.
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I think it's more that the surgeon is completely insane in the OR. And partially it depends on who else is there.

Outside that OR, he is the sweetest most gentle person person I have ever met. Inside the OR, I am a little scared to be in the same room as him since every surgical stereotype comes to life all at once. It is worse when he scrubs in with a certain person.

Last week, I shadowed him for two more days and the same scrub who was there for the operation where I learned #1 and #4 was there for the last operation. She threatened to throw about 500 g of excised tissue at me... I guess I nearly got my pound of flesh. Then she asked if I was used to being in an OR yet.
 
familyaerospace said:
I think it's more that the surgeon is completely insane in the OR. And partially it depends on who else is there.

Outside that OR, he is the sweetest most gentle person person I have ever met. Inside the OR, I am a little scared to be in the same room as him since every surgical stereotype comes to life all at once. It is worse when he scrubs in with a certain person.

Last week, I shadowed him for two more days and the same scrub who was there for the operation where I learned #1 and #4 was there for the last operation. She threatened to throw about 500 g of excised tissue at me... I guess I nearly got my pound of flesh. Then she asked if I was used to being in an OR yet.
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sounds ghey

My OR experience rocked and the surg was awesome no matter what room he was currently occupying.
 
is the don't speak to the patient unless spoken to really a rule? what do current med students have to say about this.... shadowing etiquette?
 
The former Marine who is now a nurse is still a Marine and will most definitely kill you if given the order from his superior, or if you ask where the blanket warmer is.

The lady in the waiting room who has "been here for 5 hours" doesn't want to know that she's actually only "been here for an hour and a half."

People with itchy spider bites think they need to be seen before the person in anaphylactic shock because they "were here first."
 
Trexate said:
The former Marine who is now a nurse is still a Marine and will most definitely kill you if given the order from his superior, or if you ask where the blanket warmer is.

The lady in the waiting room who has "been here for 5 hours" doesn't want to know that she's actually only "been here for an hour and a half."

People with itchy spider bites think they need to be seen before the person in anaphylactic shock because they "were here first."
Click to expand...

...what?
 
1) shadowing is pointless

2) shadowing on your own unit is somehow helpful to medical school admissions

3) shadowing on your own unit is about as educational as reading the instructor's manual for the class you just got an A in

4) docs and nurses are constantly at odds with one another

5) obeying state regulations costs a medium-sized metro-area hospital tens of thousands of dollars per day... with little or no benefit for anyone (including patients)

6) doctors may have the admitting privileges, but nurses can sure make it he** to admit someone (or not admit them)

7) EMTALA (law), CMS (agency), etc.
 
familyaerospace said:
Surprisingly I had a lot of opposite experiences from what you had.

I do have a few for you.

1) Don't ask the surgeon why he has his name on things in the OR.

(Seriously, he made me write sentences 100 times before I was allowed back into the OR with him. All for asking why his name was on a few boxes of supplies.)

2) Bring an ipod in case you don't like the music that is blaring in the OR.

(It's not going to matter since he isn't going to be able to ask you anything either nor be able to hear your answers.)

3) You are not an attending, even if the attending says you can do something, the nurses will almost always say you can't. That is regardless of what it is, where it is, or anything. As a matter of fact, just check with a nurse before doing anything that the attending asks, ESPECIALLY in the OR.

4) If a surgeon says "Come closer or else I will spray you with blood" DON'T say "You can't possibly hit me from here." He can. It's just best if you come closer.
Click to expand...

Sounds like something I'd do. Maybe not as severe, but I'm not a very serious person, and like to have a little fun everywhere I go. I'd love to shadow this guy lol.
 
OpalOnyx said:
is the don't speak to the patient unless spoken to really a rule? what do current med students have to say about this.... shadowing etiquette?
Click to expand...

Well, not a rule per se... but don't walk into a room and instantly start being a chatty kathy. If nothing specific is going on at that moment then introduce yourself or if the patient starts making small talk with you then by all means chat a little.

Just use common sense. If the doctor/resident/student is interviewing or examing the patient don't jump in and try to make conversation. It's also going to depend on the attending you're with. When I was shadowing and an interesting patient/case came up the attending would sometimes welcome me to ask the patient about their disease and how it affects them, etc.
 
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