What to expect from shadowing a hospitalist?

[RN-2-Medicine]

I am going to be shadowing an internal medicine / infectious disease hospitalist. I am a bit nervous because this will be my first shadowing experience and I'm not sure what to do or say, or if I'm actually expected to do or say anything at all lol. Peeps, tell me about your shadowing experience!

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[EmilKraepelin55]

Follow, observe, speak when spoken to. Save questions for downtime in between patients. That’s all of shadowing in a nutshell. Nothing fancy.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

They call it shadowing because you’re just following them around and watching. You can ask questions, just do it at an appropriate time, like between patients. Otherwise just watch and observe.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

What everyone else said.

Also, keep in mind that you will need to write (or, rather, "reflect") about your shadowing experiences when you apply to medical school. It would be a good idea to take some notes, as appropriate, while you shadow. At the end of the shift(s), you should write up a summary of that day's experiences while they're still fresh in your mind. Obviously, do not include any identifying patient information/data in your notes.

Keeping good records of your shadowing experiences will make your life that much easier when it comes time to apply.

 

[ACSurgeon]

Don’t sit down or play with your phone in patient rooms. Pretend to pay attention if you’re having a hard time actually paying attention.

 

[Moko]

What to expect from shadowing a hospitalist?

If they have a high patient census with poor ancillary support, expect lots and lots of chaos.

 

[Redpancreas]

What everyone else said.

Also, keep in mind that you will need to write (or, rather, "reflect") about your shadowing experiences when you apply to medical school. It would be a good idea to take some notes, as appropriate, while you shadow. At the end of the shift(s), you should write up a summary of that day's experiences while they're still fresh in your mind. Obviously, do not include any identifying patient information/data in your notes.

Keeping good records of your shadowing experiences will make your life that much easier when it comes time to apply.

This thread is probably better served in the pre-med forum, but I like this response. Also OP don't underestimate how much you'll want to fall asleep. For me, the biggest challenge was staying awake. Drink some coffee beforehand. You don't want to make a bad impression. I shadowed GI, Cards, and Heme/Onc back in the day and all were office settings so it was difficult not to close my eyes in the desk chair at their office while they reviewed labs I didn't understand as an undergrad.

 

[theendisnigh]

You may feel "in the way" of their job or the runnings of the office even though you're just kinda standing in the corner, but don't let that bother you at all. If the physician didn't want you to be there, they wouldn't have invited you to shadow. Be appreciative of the experience and like many others said ask questions when appropriate.

 

[sylvanthus]

Get rdy to watch them write notes, “coordinate care” and deal with an ass-ton of social issues. Im only partially kidding.

 

[Chads2]

I am going to be shadowing an internal medicine / infectious disease hospitalist.

The question at hand is...who are you? Are you a pre-med? About to start first year? Already in Med school? It really gives us a better perspective to tell you what to do/expect. We can give you general info, but we can fine tune it for you if you tell us about yourself.

Your username is RN-2-medicine and if you’re already an RN, one thing that you should expect and notice is how different a physician mindset and approach is. That’s just one example.

 

[solitarius]

Don't get in the way. Observe. Expect to be confused and/or bored.

Get their coffee. Honestly, they probably won't let you do anything.

They may teach you something. Sound interested. It's okay if you're not.

 

[Welshman]

Just a tip about the taking notes part. Ive shadowed with some students who write down everything they hear, this is unnecessary and could make the doc concerned that you’ll inadvertently write down a piece of PHI and then leave it laying around somewhere. From my perspective i would sit, observe, and mentally note everything but particularly the emotional aspects of what’s happening (this is the gold for app essays). Taking notes during the event can distract you from this and if it was actually anything worth writing about you should at least be able to remember it still by the time you get home where you can then write it down and reflect more.

I also second the falling asleep part, if possibly try to plan a half day. If they have clinic and hospital duties do both in two separate days. For a GI I shadowed I did one morning of procedures and one morning of clinic, worked perfectly.

 

[Lem0nz]

Don’t sit down or play with your phone in patient rooms. Pretend to pay attention if you’re having a hard time actually paying attention.

This is important and I would extend this to say don’t be on your phone at all once you walk into the building. Give it your full attention. Your preceptor/doc will really notice.

Ask for a letter of recommendation on your way out.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

This thread is probably better served in the pre-med forum, but I like this response.

I agree. Moving to pre-MD.

 

[RN-2-Medicine]

Hey guys thanks so much for the responses. Here's a bit more information!

I am a med-surg RN at NYP-Cornell in NYC. I'm guessing Med-Surg = Internal Medicine because the hospitalist that I am shadowing is the attending for some of the patients that I care for.

I will definitely take some notes. I doubt I will be falling asleep, that's just disrespectfully haha.

 

[RN-2-Medicine]

The question at hand is...who are you? Are you a pre-med? About to start first year? Already in Med school? It really gives us a better perspective to tell you what to do/expect. We can give you general info, but we can fine tune it for you if you tell us about yourself.

Your username is RN-2-medicine and if you’re already an RN, one thing that you should expect and notice is how different a physician mindset and approach is. That’s just one example.

A RN finishing up pre-reqs at a Post-bacc.
Excited to see the difference in approach.

 

[Chads2]

A RN finishing up pre-reqs at a Post-bacc.
Excited to see the difference in approach.

Excellent! So I teach some interdisciplinary forums - Med students, nursing students and pharmacy students and we go over cases with different approaches from the different disciplines.

While it’s true that you should mostly stay out of the way, you do want to make it meaningful for yourself. I would try to key in on what that primary diagnosis for the patient is. Med/surg nurses have their hands full all day with things like glucose control, coordinating procedures or imaging, etc and sometimes it’s not clear what the primary condition is, that’s being treated. Especially in infections.
I sat down with a nurse the other day who is in NP school, showed her the local antibiogram and it kind of blew her mind regarding the different Abx being used for different infections. Opened up a new world for her.

 

[gyngyn]

Try to get some shadowing in a primary care setting!

 

[LiteralLungs]

Just a tip about the taking notes part. Ive shadowed with some students who write down everything they hear, this is unnecessary and could make the doc concerned that you’ll inadvertently write down a piece of PHI and then leave it laying around somewhere. From my perspective i would sit, observe, and mentally note everything but particularly the emotional aspects of what’s happening (this is the gold for app essays). Taking notes during the event can distract you from this and if it was actually anything worth writing about you should at least be able to remember it still by the time you get home where you can then write it down and reflect more.

I also second the falling asleep part, if possibly try to plan a half day. If they have clinic and hospital duties do both in two separate days. For a GI I shadowed I did one morning of procedures and one morning of clinic, worked perfectly.

Can you speak more to writing about the "emotional aspects" being gold for application essays? Are you talking about noticing aspects of bedside matter, validation of emotions, and psychosocial factors in patients' lives?

 

[Welshman]

Can you speak more to writing about the "emotional aspects" being gold for application essays? Are you talking about noticing aspects of bedside matter, validation of emotions, and psychosocial factors in patients' lives?

Pretty much. It was a bit tongue in cheek but also accurate lol.. If you had to stereotype an essay on why medicine it might read something like, "ever since I was 5 seeing how caring the oncologist was taking care of grandma, the way he confidently assured her that he would do everything he could until he found a cure put her made her, made everyone, feel at ease. Day and night he was by her side, leaving no stone unturned until she was cured, while also doing the same for 50 other patients! This role model inspired me to this day to attend JHU, to learn from the greatest doctors in the world, so I can cure cancer just like for grandma and reassure patients that I was doing everything I could."

If you just wrote "my grandma had cancer, a doctor cured her and that's why I want to be a doc", people would be underwhelmed. You need the deets to tell the story, to keep people's attention, to make them want to meet you. The interactions/emotions you observe are the heart of that story.
Identifying salient themes from experiences will be good when you apply and write the essays, you can identify a theme to brand your app with

 

[RN-2-Medicine]

Try to get some shadowing in a primary care setting!

Do you recommend emailing local doctors for shadowing opportunities?

 

[gyngyn]

Do you recommend emailing local doctors for shadowing opportunities?

Use your contacts, even your own doc and hospitalists you shadow will know primary care folks.
The real value of shadowing is the opportunity to see physicians caring for awake patients that they know.

 

[DigNewton]

Just chiming in to second the suggestion of finding a primary care physician to shadow. As someone who's been mostly interested in acute care all along, I was semi-dreading primary care shadowing... ended up loving it. Got a mentor out of it, and won't be at all surprised if I end up choosing primary care when the time comes.