A common area that pre-medical students fall short is gaining adequate clinical experience. Many of you will have excellent grades, excellent extracurricular activities, and excellent confidence, yet for various reasons, your exposure to the field is very limited. This is understandable because, it seems there are more and more barriers being put in place which prevent students from shadowing. Ultimately, this leads to confusion and frustration for premeds. So, here’s the BIG question that I’m always asked; “How do I find a doctor to shadow?”

The solution to your problem is that you must get to the doctor and ask him or her yourself. When I was a pre-medical student there was a time that I couldn’t even find a way to volunteer my time in a hospital. I was willing to do anything; mop the floor, wash the windows, walk patients to their rooms…whatever it took! I just wanted to be in the environment of physicians but kept being met with NO’s. It took some time before I realized why there were so many NO’s! It was because I was not asking the physicians themselves directly. Going through volunteer offices and various other levels of administration was extremely ineffective for me. While they meant good, they didn’t have the direct authority to giveaway a doctor’s time. When I began connecting with the physicians themselves, I had more success (not enough for a premed, but it helped in medical school). I ultimately got my shadowing experience from a summer program and a research mentor who was an MD.
Here are a few suggestions to help you accomplish this:

1) Go to a private community clinic. Perhaps the easiest way to find a doctor to shadow is to go to a local private clinic. Here the buffer between you and the doctor is usually only one or two people. Family medicine doctors and usually given the accolade of being some of the most accommodating doctors. Physicians remember what it was like to being premed. We understand that shadowing is tough to come by and very important. Most of us are more than happy to take a premed under our wings.

2) Attend Medical School Lectures. A second rather simple way to find a doctor is to attend a medical school lecture (not one for students, but a lecture were doctors are presenting to other doctors such as Grand Rounds). These rooms are full of physicians, many of whom are committed to helping students succeed. The key here is that you must network and introduce yourself to these doctors. Immediately you’ll go on their “good premed list” because this is not typical of premeds. When you connect with a doctor, ask for his or her email. One day after the lecture, email him or her saying you enjoyed the lecture and plan to attend again next week (or whenever you can make it back). At the next lecture, try to sit next to him or her and afterwards, pop the big question…. “Will you let me shadow you?” Of course you wouldn’t use those exact words, but very politely ask if there would ever be a good time that you could come by a spend a couple of hours with him or her (don’t ask to shadow for more than 2 hours because it can become cumbersome for a doctor to have someone following them for a half or full day).

3) Become a Scribe. When I was a pre-medical student, scribing wasn’t a very big deal. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I knew what it was until I became a doctor. Now, it’s a fairly popular concept. Scribes are paid individuals (often premeds) who take notes for the physician while he or she is seeing a patient. This is a wonderful opportunity because you not only get paid, you get to be right in the middle of the action and form great relationships with doctors!

BONUS: Here’s an extra thought for you. If you can’t find a doctor to shadow, then find a Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, Clinical Pharmacist, Radiology Technician, Nurse, just anybody who is in that environment. This will provide you with exposure to the field and by being in the environment, you can find doctors to connect with and set up future shadowing opportunities.

Shadowing is VERY important, not just because it looks good on you application, but because it gives you a strong sense of what physicians do. Don’t believe the TV dramas; it’s not really like that. Being a doctor isn’t an easy breezy walk in the park. The road to get there is long and stressful. You need to have an idea of what it is like before you start medical school. If you’ve had trouble finding a doctor to shadow, try some of the tips above and I’m guessing you’ll find success. Just be persistent and don’t give up!

Have you tried any of these techniques?  If so, how did they work for you?    Do you have any other tricks to score a shadowing opportunity?

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