Wow, it's been too long since my last blog post. The last time I spoke a bit about being on the pre-med track in college and some things to keep in mind if you're considering medical school. In keeping with that theme, I thought I would talk today about why for pre-meds shadowing a physician is so important.
Let's be honest 90% of the experience you had in medicine prior to college probably came from Gray's anatomy or House M.D. While both are pretty entertaining neither give a very accurate depiction of what medicine is really like. If you stick just to watching House I'm sure you'll come to the conclusion eventually that everything wrong with a person that's sick is probably lupus. The only way to truly tell if medicine is for you is to spend some time with a doctor. Shadowing is very easy to do and relatively easy to set up. In my own experiences most doctors are more then happy to allow you the opportunity to explore their profession. The best thing to do to set up this type of thing would be to call and speak with the office of the doctor you're hoping to shadow. Most doctors have had these types of requests before so don't feel nervous or timid about asking. You most likley will have to have some form of HIPPA training and possibly some updated immunizations to be in the hospital setting. When you do begin to shadow keep these things in mind:
- Don't feel too intimidated by your lack of medical knowledge. Most of what is talked about clinically between the doctor and his staff will undoubtdly be over your head. While it dosn't hurt to learn some things along the way you'll retain little of what you do hear. It's far more important to try and see what the doctor's daily life is like, what interacting with patients is like, how often he is on call and those sorts of things. Seeing what being a doctor is all about is far more beneficial then trying to memorize drugs as a pre-med.
- Ask questions. If you do hear something interesting by all means inquire with the physician about it. More times then not they're more then happy to explain in great detail what's going on and why. Showing the doctor you're interested never hurts as they experience alot of students just shadowing to say they shadowed. Obviously wait untill the apropriate time to ask said questions. Waiting until a patient is coding to ask your questions won't get you too awful far, except kicked out of the hospital maybe.
- Don't be offended or take it personally if a patient asks you to leave. Most people are nervous enough talking to their doctor about their health issues, especially delicate ones. You'll undoubtly come accross patients that don't want you in the examination room, or watching your surgery. An already nervous patient isn't going to feel any better seeing you in the corner eagerly jotting down their diagnosis on your clipboard. Most likely the doctor will ask if it's okay if you are in the room ( per HIPPA regs) and if the patient declines it's really no big deal. Take the time to talk to some other people that may be around.
- Don't feel like you can only learn from the doctor your shadowing. In a hospital you'll encounter other doctors, nurses, clerical staff, and other health professionals. You can learn from them just as much as you can learn from the doctor, and they may be even more receptive to your questions. Once a nurse I had talked to quite a bit while shadowing a surgeon allowed me to scrub into a surgery to get a better look as opposed to looking from afar. That was obviously a very cool experience for me as a freshmen and it would not have happened if not for her.
- Never too early to network. Maybe it's a byproduct of all my buisness major friends but meeting people and making connections is very important. If possible try and connect with as many people as possible in the hospital setting as possible. You never know who you may be able to approach later about a job, internship, or letter of recommendation.
Well that's all for now, hopefully it's not another nine months until my next post ( although I fear it will be.)
Cheers,
-Matt
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