Can you share how a college student find a doctor to shadow or satisfy shadowing hours for medical/dental schools? Thank you for your answer.
I would reach out to your family physicians, or friends in the medical field. The student can ask if they can shadow during school vacations or summer.
If the student is applying to DO schools, they used to have a way to find DOs who were near you to ask about shadowing.
And lastly…is there pre-med advising at the undergrad school? If so, the student should reach out there.
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In my D’s case, she works with the pre-health advisers on her campus. She had a summer internship at a health clinic (edit: in our home city) after freshman year and now, as a sophomore, shadows a local doctor weekly during the school year (primarily shadowing out-patient surgeries). She attends a rural LAC so the pre-health resources have been invaluable to finding these opportunities. She did need to take the initiative to meet with them and continue to check in… a good lesson in persistence paying off.
In high school, she did some volunteering and shadowing found through personal connections, but this was limited due to covid.
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Definitely check with your pre-Health adviser. They should know what options are out there if they’re used to having successful pre-meds.
My guy was fortunate that his University’s med school was right across the street from campus and they’re very used to having students shadow, so it’s part of the culture there. That’s how he got his hours.
You have to reach out and network. Networking is a critical skills for any career.
As @thumper1 suggested, start by asking your own physicians and any family friends that are physicians. if they can’t accommodate you, ask if they can suggest someone else you can ask.
Some health professions advising offices maintain list of local doctors who have allowed students to shadow them in the past so be sure to check with them.
But the most common way students find doctors to shadow is through their clinical volunteering activities. When you are volunteering at a hospital, public clinic or other clinical site, let your supervisors and any doctors whom you work with that you would like to do some shadowing. Doctors are much more likely to allow someone they know to shadow them–esp. if you have already demonstrated appropriate behavior around patients and medical professionals.
The AAMC has some great tips about how to go about finding shadowing opportunities here:
Every clinical site will have health and safety requirements for visitors that you must be willing to meet. These include wearing a mask and being vaccinated for Covid.
Be aware that Covid has changed the willingness of many physicians to allow students in their practices due to the risk of exposing patients unnecessarily to those not directly involved in their care. Expect to get a lot of "no"s before you get a yes.
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Another option to gain shadowing experience is to work in a paid clinical position: medical scribe, medical assistant (MA), emergency medical technician (EMT), certified nursing assistant (CNA), etc.
With the exception of medical scribe, all positions require obtaining a state certification to be employable. Certification requires coursework plus passing a state or national level certification exam. Classes for MA, EMT, CNA are offered at most local community colleges.
Medical scribes usually receive training from their hiring company, but the training period is unpaid. Companies require a minimum typing speed for hiring consideration