<p>How do you shadow a doctor? I've asked my family doctor, but he says he's unable to due to privacy concerns. He runs his own clinic.</p>
<p>How do you guys do it?</p>
<p>Well where I’m from it was really easy for me. I got in to contact with him, he said okay. He’s a cardiothoracic surgeon and he let me sit in on patient consultations and I also got to be right next to him during surgeries!</p>
<p>Just be persistent. Call a bunch of doctors not just ones you know. And how old are you? because age plays a factor for most of them.</p>
<p>My children’s pediatrician had someone shadowing him years ago. He introduced her at the beginning of the appointment and asked if it was okay with me (the patient was an infant). The shadower watched the beginning of the visit, and when I had to tell the doctor something personal at the end, she stepped out of the room. </p>
<p>You might have better luck asking a pediatrician than a family doctor.</p>
<p>I should have added at the end of the last sentence: …because there might be fewer privacy concerns with young children and their parents than in a practice that includes all ages.</p>
<p>Kinda off topic here but my 2nd child’s delivery was at UMich hospital – a huge teaching institution. The continual stream of med students who came in to the labor room got to be too much. I support med education as much as anyone but I had to put a stop to it (there were extenuating circumstances). Any “short coats” who came through the door, I asked to leave.</p>
<p>Focus on hospitals, especially those that have residency and medical school programs.</p>
<p>Because of Clinton-era privacy laws (HIPPA) it is more difficult for most hospitals to approve ‘shadowing’ of their doctors by students who aren’t either interning or in special circumstances. The best way to get to shadow a doctor is to first become a volunteer at the hospital, because then you should get free-reign to follow him/her wherever without the patients being worried about perceived privacy violations. I’m planning to do this myself and will let you know how the process goes.</p>
<p>Interesting discussion… it’s got me interested. I might look into something like this to do over the Summer… :)</p>
<p>Knowing the doctor will definitely make the doctor more at ease in allowing you to shadow him. The main concern with shadowing is what accidents you may incur during events like operations, if you were allowed to shadow, as well as the identity of the patient. For instance, if you were to shadow a surgeon during an operation, the patient is required to provide consent for you to observe his operation. As well, if you are not a member of the hospital, you will likely be required to go through an identification process where you may be subject to a drug test, TB test, and/or other test(s) wherein you will receive an ID card.</p>
<p>You should shadow beyond the operation rooms, and into the office areas where your doctor may be sitting at a desk filling out charts for hours. Keep in mind that shadowing is certainly vital for getting in groove with medicine and to see if that life is really for you. But do realize that shadowing bears little weight on a medical school application. In no way am I dissuading pre-med students from indulging in the activity, in fact I think every pre-med student should shadow doctors, but it’s something you should take with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>My son (HS junior) has been a volunteer in a local hospital for a year. He was somewhat bored because the most he was allowed to do was passing the water and escorting patients on wheelchairs. This summer, he enrolled into a week-long training session (including some shadowing) in another local hospital. He has to take the TB test and will be admitted as a volunteer also. He will check if he would have a chance to do some more shadowing in either hospital after that. I will report back if he gets the opportunity.</p>