Guest first monkey in space Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on getting the opportunity to shadow doctors in your area or far from your area. I have been volunteering in various hospitals in the past and have asked the volunteer office about this, but they refuse to "hook" anyone up with a doc...I don't know why. Is it all about making your own connections? The only doc that I am really good friends with is in primary care. I would like to observe other parts of medicine especially surgery. Does anyone have suggestions on what I could do? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 Likely very difficult until you are actually in medical school... The best thing to do would be to approach the doc that you know and find out if he/she knows anybody in the field that you are interested in observing that would be willing to have someone 'observe'. You might also want to check out the thread 'preparing for first year' in the med student forum for some more thoughts on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Biochem10 Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 Unfortunetly with regards to this it really is about making connections. I was working in a lab in a hospital and I had the opportunity to meet many doctors there. Aneliz's suggestion about asking your doctor friend if she/he has any friends is probably your best bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DrSahsi Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 A number of institutions in larger centres will throw up a lot of bureaucratic friction when presented with the thought of granting access to formal doctor-patient medical interactions to people who aren't medical professionals in-training. Confidentiality issues give them the willies. Heck, some of 'em make it tough enough for those of us who already have MDs! As for finding out if you can do any sort of job shadowing, most hospitals will give you the runaround. They generally don't keep rosters of physicians willing to do that sort of thing, and when you talk about volunteer experience and medical aspirations, they'll probably tell you to get in line. Your best bet (as has been stated) is to talk to your prospective preceptor directly... preferably if you're already introduced or connected in some way. Good luck! - Rupinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wassabi101 Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 A lot of research opportunities (volunteering or work experience) with clinicians will give you that route. All the volunteers that work with us as well as my colleagues have gotten the opportunity to shadow my supervisor (who's a cardiologist) at CCU, clinic, treadmills, cath lab as well as sign up for seeing some heart surgery (bypass, valve replacement) with some of his "friends." It's very much a personal decision some docs will make as a bonus for working for them on their research projects. Hope this helps! -wassabi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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