What is Shadowing?

[The JockDoc]

I'm actually mostly clear on what shadowing is - I've personally "shadowed" a few doctors myself. But what I've been seeing is surgery, and no patient contact otherwise - I only see the doctor working on a person with a tube down his/her mouth. So while I've been able to see a bunch of different procedures, which shows me how doctors work in one respect, I have not been able to witness much doctor-patient interaction.

Of course, the doctor-patient interaction is just as important to practicing medicine as the actual procedure, so I'd like to see it. Unfortunately, I haven't met a doctor yet who is willing to allow me to watch them in a clinical setting. When you guys shadow, have you been able to watch the doctor interact with the patient without any confidentiality issues?

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[Amy B]

I shadowed a pediatric oncologist in a hospital. I got to go in the exam rooms with him and observe all of his interactions. He would introduce me as his student and explain things to me as he went along. He was a fantastic doctor and his patients loved him.

 

[Northerner]

I would recommend (if surgery is interesting to you) to ask to see patients in the clinic with the doc if you want to see the patient contact/beside manner side of surgery. Some surgical sub-specialties don't really require that much direct patient contact (general), some very intimate (urology/OBGYN), some hands-on (ortho). Then there's a lot of different specialties, primary vs. secondary care, etc. to choose from if you want to expand beyond surgery. But the reason I love surgery so much is if you can get the whole range of care, from the clinic to the OR to rounds, there's a lot to learn and different techniques to see. So what I'd do is just ask a doc you know pretty well if you could spend, say, a day in the clinic as well as a day in the OR, and hopefully rounds too, who knows.

 

[The JockDoc]

I changed my OP so that it asked my question more clearly.

 

[Amy B]

I shadowed before HIPPA was inacted so I have no idea how that is affecting shadowing now. Is it because of HIPPA that the doctors won't let you shadow in a clinical setting? Have you asked the reason?