volunteering/shadowing during vacation

[Bma27]

I have 5 weeks off between my summer job and when I go back to school and would love to gain some volunteer/clinical experience. Would it be a good idea to shadow for 2 days/week and volunteer 3 days/week? Should I email physicians directly to set up shadowing? Thx!

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[prmdbeach17]

That sounds like a good idea. If you don't already know someone, emailing them would be the way to go. I heard about people emailing 12-30 physicians and only getting 1 positive response, but only if you're emailing them through private practice or a non-teaching hospital would I say that many. I emailed 10 expecting not many but not thinking about the whole teaching/non hospital thing and got too many responses since I had emailed Children's and they are definitely a teaching hospital.

 

[Jonathan10]

How do you e-mail physicians to set up shadowing? How do you get their email addresses?

 

[nlax30]

Just look up the websites of some local private/group practices there. They'll usually have bios of the physicians and some contact information. If not an individual email for the doctor then just call the office and speak to the office manager and they can approach the doctor or get the doctor to call you back, depending on how willing they are.

Same for hospitals, they'll usually have a listing of physicians with contact information.

Just be upfront and clear by saying you have some time over the next 5 weeks and would like to set something up where you could come in and shadow a couple days a week.

 

[Jonathan10]

Will med schools not be impressed if you shadowed a PA in a hospital? Is it better to shadow a private practice MD or a hospital MD?