How to Shadow a Physician (PRE-MED)

How I found shadowing as a pre-med, along with 5 ways YOU can get started too! 🌚🏁🗝
➢ Timestamps -
0:02 Video Outline
0:27 What is Shadowing?
1:07 How Many Hours Should I Shadow?
1:55 My Shadowing Experience
3:51 How to Find Shadowing
6:40 What to Wear
7:46 What to Expect
➢ Check out THESE! ↴
Medical School Headquarters (Dr. Ryan Gray's channel) - bit.ly/2LGxYb2
PRE-MED PLAYLIST - bit.ly/3bGxKv7
➢ Connect w or ask me any questions on Instagram @medisyd 💫-
/ medisyd
Wahhhhh, thank you guys for watching and for 750 subbies! 💓
- Syd
#howtoshadow #medicalschool #premed #medicalstudent #howtofindshadowing #howtoshadowadoctor #howtoshadowaphysician

[@SunshineKane1]

I love Dr. Gray AND your channel!!

[@sydneyvdong]

He's so awesome! I wish I knew of him while I was applying haha and thank you so much!! :-)

[@farzanehahmadi1550]

Great information. Thanks a lot

[@sydneyvdong]

Of course!

[@jenflute]

question, depending on the specialty we choose to shadow, will we have to do anything? other than notes, like checking the patients breathing with the stethoscope and such? i just switched over to pre med and im half way through college so i don’t have that experience like those who have been pre med since day one!

[@shazibashiti2445]

When you say 1 to 3 days, do you mean in a week or total with the doctor?

[@SAGuava7]

is it okay to were scrubs if you are going to shadow?

[@digintense4973]

Please make a video for letter of recommendation from shadowing doctor

[@sydneyvdong]

Here's my video on how to ask for LORs! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqe7i6tmrsd7kKM I hope it helps :)

[@NguyenAnh-pm2fq]

Hi Sydney, do we need confirmation hours that we shadow from doctors? And, do they need proof in application. I hope you see my question. Thanks.

[@janyia3388]

You log your own hours and write them on app. You should also include the doctors name and contact info in case schools decide to reach out to them (which they likely won’t).

[@gloriacovarrubia2834]

How do you document shadowing hours? Do they need proof in application? 🙂

[@saurfish]

Am also wondering^ 😭🙏🙏

[@janyia3388]

They don’t need proof. But include your doctors number in case schools want to call and confirm (they usually don’t call tho)

[@OrganicDolphin]

Hey so how many times do you shadow one doctor? Like is 2 shifts enough? I always feel like I am in the way when I am shadowing lol.

[@sydneyvdong]

I feel that! I'd say it depends on your physician and what you two agree on before you come it :) generally, I'd say half day shifts, ~2-4, can be pretty good in learning what your doc does in a way that works w their work flow!

[@summerdow7149]

Where did you get your top from!

[@sydneyvdong]

Marshalls! The brand is 'Sweet Rain' :)

[@elizabethrhodes6089]

Just curious. You mention thanking the doctor, but you never mention thanking patients. Should we just take it for granted that this isn't necessary because they're basically props to display the physician's expertise? So they're really not doing anything for shadowers?

[@sydneyvdong]

It wasn't mentioned in the video, but patients were thanked in these encounters! Patients are always given the choice whether shadowees can oversee their visit because it's an intimate look or conversation about their health. Shadowing involves learning from the patient-physician dynamic and patient experience, so patients are just as important. They do a lot for the shadowee. Patients are usually happy to help teach the new generation of providers and should be appreciated. Patients aren't props, they're people. This video focuses more on how to ask to get shadowing experience, but it's always important to be kind, empathetic, and self-aware of the environment and the people you care for.

[@elizabethrhodes6089]

@@sydneyvdong Thank you so much, Sydney, for your thoughtful response. While I don't doubt your sincerity, I must say that after reading many physician shadowing comments on SDN and other sites, I remain unconvinced that undergrads who shadow truly comprehend they're violating patient privacy solely for their own benefit -- and thus gratitude is due. In fact the patient perspective rarely comes up. This, I believe, is a huge problem that may have huge consequences going forward. Years ago, undergrad physician hopefuls didn't shadow. Now it's a requirement because med schools have made it so. It's a useful way to cull thousands of applicants annually. But does it help patients? Look at what the University of Washington's medical school says about its 40-hour shadowing requirement: "By observing physicians at work, applicants can see how physicians deliver bad news or deal with difficult patients." Nowhere in the UW's online information is there any consideration of whether it's in the best interests of, say, a patient with a terminal illness to have an unknown undergrad eyeing them as they get the fatal news. Never is it suggested that patients be thanked for letting a medically clueless stranger watch them on one of the worst days of their life. Are doctors aware of the potential erosion of trust as what traditionally has been a private, two-way relationship between doctor and patient is eaten away by the intrusion of a stranger with no medical expertise? Are they aware that patients may not reveal crucial details because an outsider is present? Or may feel coerced into allowing shadowing, but are too intimidated to let on? None of that portends good medicine. You say patients are always given the choice of declining undergrad shadowers. Comments on SDN refute this. Here's just one. It's from a student who shadowed in the emergency department: "The patients there were never given a choice as to whether or not they wanted some kid watching from the corner." An even larger issue is informed consent. Beyond HIPAA, shadowing is wholly unregulated. Patients have no legal right to know that the shadow they assume is a medical student (with a legitimate need to be present) can be just about anybody. Think I'm overstating that? Here's a statement from the American Academy of Family Practice. "The AAFP supports shadowing opportunities for students in middle and high school, college, and medical school." So yes, that kid who looks 14 may actually be 14. And physicians may not be honest about all this. I found numerous references to doctors telling undergrad shadows to wear scrubs or even a white coat so they'll "blend in better." In other words, deceive patients for their own purposes. Again a comment from SDN: "I think shadowing often results in misleading patients. I have always been introduced as a "student doctor," "doctor-in-training," or someone who's "working with me today." None of these are clear about my status as "some random person who may or may not be a doctor some day." That last sentence speaks to another important omission. That's suitability. Up to 60 percent of pre-meds never make it through their major, according to a 2020 New York Times article. Only 40 percent of medical school applicants are accepted.Yet physicians and hospitals routinely do not screen shadowing applicants by requiring a high GPA or other appropriate metric. Thus the patient who thinks they're helping a future physician may in reality be sharing their doctor's appointment with a future engineer or landscape architect or teacher, etc. Would you reveal private medical information, while unclothed, in front of any of those people? (Granted it can be valuable for a student to learn medicine is the wrong choice. But frankly patients have no responsibility to be a de facto career counselors.) I understand that high school and undergrad shadowing is here to stay. I also understand that most patients have no idea it's unregulated and becoming widespread. Once they do...and it's just a matter of time...the more vocal will cry exploitation. That's not a good thing as medicine is under siege enough already. How to head this off? One answer is education. On KZbin, on sites like SDN, shadowing hopefuls must be made aware of patient rights, patient sensitivities and plain old good manners. Like saying thank you. For more on this, check out an article by Elizabeth A. Kitsis, a New York physician and bioethicist. Titled "Shining a Light on Shadowing," it gives a much more complete picture of the dilemmas shadowing presents. Finally I wish you much success on your medical career. You sound like a caring person.

[@gabbyread6629]

@@elizabethrhodes6089 how can they speak for the patients experience if they don’t know what it is like? What exactly are you wanting her to say? You do realize they aren’t even really supposed to interact with the patients, right? Obviously they’re thankful for the patients, I would hope no one is going to go through the difficulties of medical school and put themselves in debt to do it if they aren’t serious about treating people….