Trying to get doctor shadowing, but no connections

[paul2752]

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So I m despeerate to find doctors for shadowing, but the biggest hospital in my hometown doesn't offer doctor shadowing, and I don't have any families/friends connection. What can I do to get doctor shadowing? I know my school offers doctor shadowing but the application isn't open yet for next semester.

 

[carrots28]

Maybe ask your PCP to start with. You can also start volunteering at your local hospital in the meantime. You can build connections with hospital staff and be able to get shadowing experiences that way. That is how I did it anyways.

 

[Nietzsche's Barber]

You can also start volunteering at your local hospital in the meantime. You can build connections with hospital staff and be able to get shadowing experiences that way. That is how I did it anyways.

This.

 

[paul2752]

what is PCP?

 

[21Rush12]

Primary Care Physician or phencyclidine. Choose based on context.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[deleted838145]

what is PCP?

primary care physician.

 

[hubbsbubbs]

The hospital may not have a formal shadowing program, but you can email the individual physicians and ask. Especially at smaller clinics where there isn't as much red tape, it can be a pretty simple process. I literally just emailed a doctor at a local clinic and asked. She was like sure, and so I showed up. I signed like one paper, put on a nametag and that was that.

 

[Dr. Stalker]

OP, do all of the above. The best way I got introduced to shadowing was actually through volunteering at the hospital. My job was simple; restock the supplies inside and outside of patient rooms. I occasionally bumped into residents and attendings during rounds. When volunteering was slow I'd hang out with the nurses and doctors at the nurses stations. Then, one of the nurses offered to ask the attending she was close with for me and he had seen my volunteer a bunch and was happy to take me under his wing.

Warning: Blast e-mailing physicians can be detrimental. If you e-mail all 20 attending pediatricians they will most likely, ignore it, and then talk about it. As in "Did you get that e-mail from that kid Clay? Did he just spam the entire department???"

 

[wholeheartedly]

I made a post of some of my strategies over in this thread in nontrad

Patient exposure / Shadowing in Houston

Now I'm working in a clinic and was chatting with the diabetic education nurse I know pretty well to get some insider info on which docs might be open to having me shadow so I can get some family med type shadowing.

 

[kopftonmd]

If you live in an area with an academic medical center, you could try to find the school listserv, which can help you figure out how to contact individual physicians. I used this method and got very good results - being polite, easy to work with and engaged makes the process even easier; of course, the caveat mentioned above is also important: be specific and targeted. For example, if you're looking for a surgeon to shadow, see if you can find someone whose title or interests includes teaching - they'd likely be more willing to take you on.

 

[altblue]

If you're an undergrad at an institution with a major hospital you can try cold emailing. Some departments are more shadow friendly than others, and focus on the ones that are, often indicated by a formal shadowing page for them. If your undergrad doesn't have standing at a hospital email doctors at nearby hospitals. In addition to being polite and gracious lol, be sure to mention things that make you more appealing (junior/senior status, first gen., relevant research/clinical volunteer experience) so they are more inclined to take time out of their hectic day to allow you to shadow. Even if you have little going for you, make the email personalized for their specialty. Doing these things I've gotten a decent number of replies thus far