<p>I'm about to approach the summer of my senior year and since this may be my last real "free" summer, I want to get a chance to really see what doctors do, or what hospitals are really like.</p>
<p>I've volunteered and worked in the hospital my last two summers but each time I go they stick me with parking permits or some other paper work. Though administration is a key part of the medical system...i'm really tired of alphabetizing things. I plan on doing pre-med and really want to be a physician. But I feel like I should get some more first hand experience or see what it really is up close, if I plan on jumping into it.</p>
<p>A surgeon I know had been telling me he would take me to see a surgery in the OR but as of late he said it would not be possible for me to get in. The only medical internship programs at my school were not offered to me and now i'm at a loss as to where or who to go to.</p>
<p>Has anyone here managed to shadow a real doctor, or see a surgery or just get to intern? Anything really, I just want to know if any programs exist where HS students can do more than carry coffee mugs in a hospital.</p>
<p>If you want to shadow a doctor, just ask them! You guys need to get used to taking initiative in the hospital. Otherwise, you’re going to be stuck doing paperwork because you don’t have any qualifications to be doing anything else.</p>
<p>The hospitals around where I live have “volunteer” pages on their websites and that’s where I found applications for job shadowing. (Just a note, all applications I have seen don’t offer things like emergency medicine or surgery). I also went to one of their volunteer orientations and am about to start as a volunteer in the ER. You just have to take the initiative and seek things out. Check with the hospitals directly. Hope some of this helps and good luck!</p>
<p>^ Thanks guys, and nate763 i’m so glad you revived this. I’ll definitely be seeking out the volunteer office this summer when I go to work there. </p>
<p>Let us know how your experience goes. =D</p>
<p>But yeah I managed to get a small office job there and I managed to visit upstairs and shadow some ultrasound technicians I new personally. Hopefully i’ll find some more opportunities in the next few months.</p>
<p>I’ll let you know how it goes. From what I hear I get to clean things up, stock shelves, and direct people and ask if I can get them anything… Oh well it’s a start. I’m just happy to be able to do that much. (Working in OB-GYN bathing babies and weaving blankets was another alternative…) :)</p>
<p>^ That sounds really cool, you seem to have a great program available. The hospital here starts its volunteers off with paper work usually. :P</p>
<p>One of my best friends is really into OB-GYN though. She got to observe babies being delivered and things through a special program. Best of luck and i’m sure you can get to know a few doctors there and maybe get a chance to really shadow one. =)</p>
<p>Just ask! I’m telling you it works…or sometimes fate brings you a doctor who’s willing to take you under their wings. I went on an interview for Brown University and my interviewer found out I was doing this half school, half internship thing at a nearby hospital. Come to find out she works at that hospital-as an OBGYN! So she said she would love to have me twice a week, and now I shadow her twice a week while doing other tasks around the hospital throughout the week. When I’m with her, I’m able to observe the procedures she has with her patients; such as pap smears, general talking with the patients, & recording data. For all her patients she has given me the opportunity of doing sonograms (listening to the baby’s heartbeat), ultrasounds (I was able to determine breathing patterns, sex of the baby, and observe how babies practice breathing while in their mothers womb), and I also am able to speak with the patients and do clerical work! It’s very exciting b/c I get to wear a doctor’s coat and everything. Although the doctor I work with wants me to be an OBGYN really bad, I’m more interested in Pediatrics…but who knows, I’m graduating high school this year lol, so we’ll see! :)</p>
<p>p.s. you never know what can happen to you when it comes to luck!</p>
<p>I shadowed a Dr. the summer going into my sophomore year of high school. I really enjoyed it and i learned a lot as well. I had the chance to actually oversee a surgery. I’m not sure if i would have had the same opportunity if my mother was not friends with the doctor however I’m sure you can find a doctor out there willing to help you. After all, they were once curious kids just like us :)</p>
<p>Yep, just ask around and they’ll maybe let you watch! I volunteered at the hospital, and since I asked around I was able to work for minumum wage minus the tax. It was in the ortho, and it was super awesome. I got to see pin removals, which was pretty horrifying with the cutting of the skin and whatnot watching the patient cry in pain, and even do splints.</p>
<p>But this summer is a different story… I called too late, a day after the dead-line, and now there’s no space… :(</p>