<p>Currently a sophomore in high school, I have created a huge attachment to some fields of medicine. I have heard of people who are shadowing surgeons and other doctors, and was wondering how that works. I also volunteer at a hospital department, and meet a lot of nurses, and when I ask if I can watch a couple of procedures, they have a lot of things to do, and this does not always come up. I was wondering how the people who have done this before came to be able to shadow. </p>
<p>Do you know any surgeons that you can contact directly? That might be better than asking a nurse. Also, you could ask if the hospital has a specific program for this sort of thing.</p>
<p>If you want to see what happens in the OR, your best chance is to find a friend of your family that is a surgeon (or anesthesiologist,) and talk to him about shadowing in the office and OR. As a HS student, it’s tough to sneak you in for a quick look. You might need to be registered as a volunteer at the hospital in question. I’m an orthopedist, and none of my children have ever been to see me work in the OR, but my daughter was able to arrange a program through a family friend to volunteer and shadow at the med school in town. I think that shadowing in offices/clinics and emergency departments is far easier to arrange. There’s not much point in having HS students in the OR repeatedly: they will never be allowed to scrub in and help, don’t understand the anatomy and technique, and usually feel ill the first time they see a surgical procedure. Almost 50% try to pass out, and need close observation by the staff that’s supposed to be watching the patient…</p>
<p>Thank you! I would love to observe the Emergency Room. Just asking, but is it appropriate to approach busy attending physicians, or should I ask the residents/inters/nurses/secretary? Thank you again!</p>
<p>I’m part of a program hosted by a nearby public hospital, called Medical Explorers. It allows students (high school and college) to explore medical careers through monthly lectures by hospital physicians/staff and local health professionals, and sometimes there are also opportunities for interested Explorers to tour medical facilities or shadow staff. In the past few months, I’ve toured the Outpatient Surgery Center and the Cath Lab and shadowed a nurse. Other people have done simulations and shadowed physicians, watched actual birthings, even shadowed a doctor who was using electroencephalography. It’s pretty awesome; I’d definitely reccommend it for anyone interested in the medical/healthcare fields. You could see if any nearby hospitals have similar programs, or if not, maybe even suggest starting such a program?</p>
<p>Regarding contacting local physicians: it might be more likely to get a job shadow for private-practice physicians rather than in hospitals (though I’m not sure about that). Either way, if you have contacts, it’ll be easier. Even for the Medical Explorer program I’m in, we have lab tours and simulations more often than job shadows because physicians are very busy people, and they’re sacrificing their time to allow us to shadow them at work. Plus, usually, they’re available the most for shadowing during school hours. But, it can’t hurt to try asking.</p>
<p>Thanks! If you do not mind, can you please tell me which hospital you shadow at, and the Medical Explorer Group you participate in? And I do volunteer at the Cath-Angio Pre Procedure and Recovery Room, which is where all Cath Lab Patients go. But thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>Well, here’s the website for Medical Explorers Post 63, which is hosted by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California. Not the one I’m in, but it’s almost exactly the same.
[Medical</a> Explorers Post #63](<a href=“http://medex63.com/]Medical”>http://medex63.com/)</p>