Troubles contacting a doctor?

[Exalya]

I have not had a lot of experience shadowing or dealing with physicians in any way. Through the AOA mentoring program, I got in touch with a physician and shadowed one of his surgeries. It was awesome, and the experience was positive. I let his office manager (who arranged the date/time and everything) know that I would be out of town for a week but would like to shadow him again if that was okay. She was very enthusiastic and said it would be fine, and the doctor would be happy to have me back as soon as I returned from my trip.

I emailed her when I got back, but received no reply. I called and left a message (she always has it go to voicemail) a week later, because once before she had lost track of my email and I had to call her. However, it's been another week and I still haven't heard anything. :/ I don't know whether to wait longer or try calling again... I don't want to seem pestersome, I know they're very busy, but at the same time I really hope to get a letter of rec out of it so I can finish some secondaries.

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[Semicolon]

I have not had a lot of experience shadowing or dealing with physicians in any way. Through the AOA mentoring program, I got in touch with a physician and shadowed one of his surgeries. It was awesome, and the experience was positive. I let his office manager (who arranged the date/time and everything) know that I would be out of town for a week but would like to shadow him again if that was okay. She was very enthusiastic and said it would be fine, and the doctor would be happy to have me back as soon as I returned from my trip.

I emailed her when I got back, but received no reply. I called and left a message (she always has it go to voicemail) a week later, because once before she had lost track of my email and I had to call her. However, it's been another week and I still haven't heard anything. :/ I don't know whether to wait longer or try calling again... I don't want to seem pestersome, I know they're very busy, but at the same time I really hope to get a letter of rec out of it so I can finish some secondaries.

So...what's your question?

You're in a difficult situation where you need to be tactful and mix persistence with enthusiasm. If the office manager was so happy to let you shadow again, I doubt they're just ignoring you and there must be a reason they're not responding. Also, I doubt they'd get annoyed if you were trying to get in contact with them.

Hope you get this resolved.

 

[QuackaDO]

Why not just drop by with a sealed thank you note for the doctor and mention that you would have done this sooner but you were out of town? It gives you a valid excuse to be there and opens up the door to talking to them about going back for another shadow...

 

[matrica]

Just show up, that's what I did and they were happy to see me again.
Make sure you go early or late when there are fewer patients.
Good luck

 

[Exalya]

I appreciate the advice, although *showing up* is hard since he has 5 offices spread around Dallas. He's that kind of crazy busy. I guess I'll keep calling though, hopefully they'll get back to me soon.

 

[beckhunter116]

I appreciate the advice, although *showing up* is hard since he has 5 offices spread around Dallas. He's that kind of crazy busy. I guess I'll keep calling though, hopefully they'll get back to me soon.

Does the office manager rotate through all of those offices too? It will be much easier to get into contact with the office manager and set up a time through them.

 

[Exalya]

She might. I actually have no idea of her physical location--I've only spoken to her via phone/email.