Shadowing experiences are always interested because it’s hard to figure out what to do while you’re there. Do you stand there and just watch? Can you speak to patients while shadowing? Can you help the doctor while you shadow? These are all questions I had at some point. The good news is, once you’re in the position, you’ve already finished the hard part. Today, I’m going to walk you through how to get the most out of this opportunity and how to impress everyone at the office!
Once you have a shadowing gig, what do you do when you get there? Well, there are a lot of things looking back that I wish I did and there’s a lot of things I was very glad I took advantage of while I shadowed.
Your main priority while shadowing should be to learn the day to day of that specific physician, how they interact with patients and their staff/coworkers, and learn about the lifestyle the physician has once they leave work (work-life balance, money, paperwork, administrative duties, etc).
However, there are a lot of other things to do to be successful while there and also maybe come away with some bonuses. Let’s walk through them:
- Show interest and ask questions
This may be a no-brainer to some, but for many, they may feel nervous or like they don’t want to interrupt what is happening to ask. A lot of times, the physician will want to teach you as they go through a procedure or while filling out charts after seeing a patient. Here, you can ask things like “how did you know this case was strep throat and not an abscess?” or “how did you rule out mono?” or “why do you do your sutures that certain way, but with other suturing procedures, you place them differently?”. Any questions like this are usually great for you to learn from and explore the decision making of the physician.
As far as showing interest is concerned, this is mainly to show the physician that you’re not just checking off a box and that you actually want to be there and learn. I’ve done tutoring before and while that is different, the worst was having a student who didn’t care to be there or didn’t want to learn. Don’t be that even if you really feel that way! This physician could end up offering you a job or be a letter of recommendation one day, so do your best!
Questions are how you learn and I think you should definitely ask when you can. Along with the patient/treatment focused questions, maybe try to sit down with the physician at their lunch break or in between patients and ask them what life as a physician is like or what they love/dislike about the field. It will help you understand more of what they go through past just what you observe.
2. Try to get hands on if you can
One of the things I wish I had done earlier and in more of my experiences was ask if I could help. It seems obvious, but sometimes you’re so nervous you don’t think about it. Either that or you focus solely on watching. However, If you start helping, the physician might appreciate it and so will their staff if they have any, and they may use that time you helped them save to teach you things.
The cool thing here is you can balance a lot of things while not losing the actual shadowing part. A lot of times, I was asking to help with some of the tests or take vitals when the patient got there or while the physician was in the room. Other things could be helping the patient get up on the table, handing the physician things they need, and helping to clean and flip rooms. The other healthcare workers will surely appreciate it and they’ll most likely try to train you in what they do too!
I didn’t do this in my first shadowing experiences because I didn’t know it was allowed, which is funny because I never asked! I will warn you that hospitals tend to be strict on these things and may actually not allow it. However, private practice is usually open to this.
So by doing this, you can learn new things and maybe even get trained as the physician’s medical assistant. At the least, you gain some respect for your work ethic and willingness to help and the physician will likely see you more favorably.
3. Talk to patients
Sometimes it’s good to gain some patient interaction, especially if you haven’t had it in the past. It doesn’t take much at all, just ask how they’re doing, what procedure they’re having done, or try to comfort them if they’re nervous. It’tl help put the patient at ease and give you a chance to learn to talk to patients! It’s a win win!
This is especially important as you get to the personal statements and medical school essays since most of them will be stories from your patient care experiences. Most of my essays were all patient focused and I wouldn’t have had these stories had I not taken time to talk to them.
You don’t have to have a long conversation or anything with every single patient, just try to get some speaking in. The physician and staff might appreciate it too so they can focus on the actual vitals/procedures/other tasks while you talk to the patient. Sometimes the patient keeps staff from getting some things done because they’re telling stories etc. nothing is wrong with that, but some staff/professionals prefer to get the job done with less talk.
4. You can chart for the physician too
While this one may take you away from what the physician is doing and therefore hinder the shadowing a little, it may be worthwhile! Especially if you are going to be spending 50-100+ hours with this physician. You’ll have plenty of time to learn what they’re doing and what their life is like while also learning this skill.
Why am I saying you should chart? Well, electronic medical record programs are very difficult to learn and usually vary a lot from practice to practice. However, many practices use the same one ex: Athena or Epic. Basically, if you learn it, you will be able to put it on your resume and tell a potential employer that you already know their EMR (huge hiring factor!!)
Usually, the charting gets done while the physician does their exams and consults with the patient and you can be in the room with them and type things out so you still get to watch. This is called “medical scribing” and is also a stand alone job which you can get!
The physician’s staff or medical assistants will help you out here and can show you the ways and how to write patient notes. Essentially, this is a way to build your resume and get prepared to get a clinical job.
5. Always smile and never talk bad about patients
Remember, be professional at all times! Yes, you may know the physician and staff well, but you never know what they’re telling others or if they’ll report your comments. The physician might be your letter writer one day too and I think it’d be better if they don’t have memories of you bad talking a patient.
The other tip I have is smile! It’s always beneficial to smile and have a good attitude, but especially here. Healthcare is really all about taking care of patients and serving them the best you can. That’s what the career is, so get used to it! Everyone in the office will take note of your attitude and when the physician writes his letter, he will likely mention your demeanor and attitude. Make sure you keep it up! Not just for yourself, but for your image and for your patient’s benefit!
Patients are humans too and they often have really bad days or really don’t like going to the doctor (due to having to take off work, deal with child care, traffic on the way there, hungry, etc). Just remember this and It’tl really help with dealing with difficult or frustrating patients. It happens to everyone and all healthcare workers have angry patients sometimes, just smile and do your best to serve them!
Once you’ve shadowed and been trained, you can build on it and use it to get into your next position!