<p>I'm planning on shadowing a doctor this summer after I take the MCATs in April. </p>
<p>1) Should I start contacting doctors now (I want to shadow an ER physician or anaesthesiologist if possible)?</p>
<p>2) Will my shadowing be too late if I apply to med school in the fall?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>I would contact the hospital administrators asap. No harm if you are early. Most hospitals actually have lengthy waiting lists of students who want to be involved in doc shadowing.
I recall that my DS had to wait a full year to get called. </p>
<p>I would also apply to multiple hospitals just to increase your chances.</p>
<p>I would start as early as possible. I've learned that contacting hospitals doesn't always benefit you (i called about 10 different hospitals in my area last Spring and I have yet to shadow a doctor), so try to ask a specific doctor at his office. Call up a bunch of doctors, preferably ones that you go to, and see how that works. I've been stressing a lot about never shadowing a doctor before, and I went for a physical at my family doctor's and said, what the hell I'll ask him. And before I even got the chance to ask if I could shadow him, he offered! (he asked what I'm doing in college and I told him I'm premed) So don't always depend on calling up hospitals, although you should try that as well, but contact some Doctor's offices, too.</p>
<p>what goes on when you shadow a doctor? is it simply a matter of following them around for a certain period of time or are you more involved?</p>
<p>It depends on the doctor. Some are happy to let you do little tasks, and others demand that you stand in the corner and stay out of their way.</p>
<p>Can anyone who has shadowed a doctor before describe what they did?</p>
<p>Personally, I followed and "stood in the corner" and then bombarded him with questions that he was happy to answer :) it was a slow day and he told me which days would be more interesting and invited me back...it was a good experience and i didnt really expect to be able to "do" anything...after all...you are just being their "shadow" :P...but it is possible that other doctors let you do stuff?</p>
<p>not much of an "experience" is it?</p>
<p>Ummm let's see....sat in the corner and observed what he did. Observed him doing all the paperwork for the patients. Asked questions after the day was over and during breaks in the day. I have several pages of notes that I wrote down.</p>
<p>I've heard some people shadow different doctors and switch after about 2 weeks or so...is this wise or should you just stick with one type? Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing what different doctors do.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Can anyone who has shadowed a doctor before describe what they did?
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</p>
<p>I got to perform open heart surgery. But the surgeon did call me "precocious."</p>
<p>Okay, I don't expect to do anything like that, but I hope to at least be useful...</p>
<p>^the point of shadowing isnt to teach you anything specific or train you to become a doctor...thats what med school/residency is for..</p>
<p>shadowing is for you to see how doctors spend their time, witness their interactions and get an idea of whether it is right for you..</p>
<p>if you pick up cool bits of information or see something awesome good for you(and i dont mean that in a condescending way...seriously,good for you) ..but its not a good idea to expect it because any shadowing experience is "useful" since you are there to observe ..not to actually do anything..</p>
<p>I shadowed a pediatrician for 5 days last year over winter break, and it was a great experience. I followed him throughout his daily schedule, from examining babies in the nursery, to making rounds, to seeing patients at his private office, to interacting with med students, and everything in between. He tried to get me involved as much as possible (even let me do a basic eye check on an infant!), answered all of my questions, and quizzed me throughout the day to make sure I was actually learning something. The doctor I shadowed was an alum of my college, and the whole thing was set up through school. I would suggest checking with your pre-med advisor or career development office to see if your college offers something similar. Hope this helps a little!</p>
<p>OP,
Here's what I recall from my DS's description of his experience.
He shadowed in Oncology. His experience began in pathology lab watching how tissue samples are collected, assessed, diagnosed based on cell/tissue type, and cataloged in a National Oncology database. This was followed by attending meetings where case reviews with a panel of doctors occurred, and then shadowing his mentor Oncologist when he met with patients and their families to review results of pathology evaluations, diagnosis, and therapeutic options.</p>
<p>He thoroughly enjoyed his experience from what I recall. I may be missing out some of the info but this is all I know from him.</p>
<p>Thank you all. That gives me a better idea of what I should expect. How long/how many hours did you usually spend (in total)?</p>
<p>Also, do most people get a letter of recommendation from the doctor they shadow when they apply to medical school?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>No, not usually. Given that most shadowing experiences are short-term, the doctor generally doesn't know you anywhere near well enough to write you a great recommendation.</p>
<p>I´ve been meaning to ask about this letter of rec thing myself. I shadowed a doctor for two weeks last summer, but he had just returned from vacation and didn´t have a full load of patients scheduled (he was a surgeon in a hospital), so he passed me around to a different colleague each day.
We only talked once or twice, tho in enough detail for him to learn my major, my goals, a little bit of how college is going, etc. Well, he offered to write me a letter of rec but when his secretary CC´d me a copy it was pretty much a regurgitation of my resume combined with phrases like ¨he is polite and dependable¨ thou there is a ¨he´s thoroughly committed to medicine¨ at the end and a ¨please don´t hesitate to contact me¨ at the end but not much more than that. So I don´t know what to do in terms of actually using it.
When I apply for internships this summer, should I use it? </p>
<p>I only ask becuz some of the internships I´m applying for want 3 letters of rec and I only have two professors that I know well enough to ask, and if I don´t use his, I´ll have to use one from HS (albeit a glowing one).</p>