Getting into medicine

[tommy]

Hey all,

I'm a college undergrad with med school aspirations. I'm wondering what kind of opportunities there are to get a glimpse at a hospital atmosphere, particularly for an undergrad who is looking to see if this is what I want to do. I'm extremely interested in emergency medicine. Are there opportunities to 'shadow' a doctor (for lack of a better word) or in any other way get a chance to see the goings on of a hospital. I know there are obvious limits to what someone in this situation can do, but I'd be interested to hear what kind of opportunities are out there.

Thanks,

Tommy

[bluelava]

there are tons of opportunities to get involved. i have a some family friends who are docs, and i just asked a couple of them if i could shadow. both of them seemed excited to have me around. it was helpful because i not only was i able see what a doc does on a daily basis, but also got to talk to them about the aspects of medicine that you normally don't see (malpractice insurance, etc.) also, volunteering is a great way to get more exposure to medicine. find some hospitals nearby and look on their website to see if they have a phone number for a volunteer coordinator. if you're lucky, they might need volunteers in the ER... if you have a premed office/advisor at your school, they will probably be able to help you set something up. hope this helps!

[psychformed]

Find out if your school has a pre-health department. It's usually linked to the Biology department. They may have a pre-med intern program which would allow you to shadow a doctor in an emergency room or other similar settings. I did it in my undergrad program and it was a great experience. It also provided a recommendation letter from the medical staff I worked with.