Shadowing

Introduction

The McGill Osler Society Shadowing Program, now in its 11th year, aims to provide junior medical students (Med-1 and -2s) with a glimpse of clinical life in different specialties. The program generated considerable positive feedback and participation has been very active. Our team of mentors is composed of senior medical students, physicians and residents, giving our participants different perspectives on clinical work.

Become a Mentor!

If you are a senior medical student, a resident or an attending physician and you are interested in becoming a mentor, please email to oslersociety.shadowing@gmail.com.  Your name and contact information will remain confidential. For further information, you may also reach us at the same email.  Your participation will greatly help the students with their career-planning and is much appreciated.

Shadowing Opportunities

Eligibility

• Open to all currently junior medical students (Med-1s and Med-2s) at McGill University.
• Students should follow the application instructions below to email us at oslersociety.shadowing@gmail.com with their requests. 
• Availabilities are limited and will be distributed on a first-come first-served basis.
• Should you be unable to attend, please give us a notice at least 24 hrs in advance. Failure to do so may lead to future shadowing requests being ignored.

Applying

1)    Send a shadowing request using your official McGill email with the title “Shadowing request -[Your name] ([year of study or promotion]) – [McGill ID]”.

2)    As you will be in a hospital, there are certain risks involved in your participation (e.g. violent patients in psychiatry, infectious disease, etc.) and it is very important for you to realize that you will be assuming these risks yourself. Please copy, paste and fill the waiver below in your email:

I, _____(participant’s name)___, acknowledge that this shadowing opportunity is provided as a service of the McGill Osler Society, but that my participation is entirely at my own risk. I will not hold any members of the McGill Osler Society, the McGill Faculty of Medicine, hospital staff or medical students involved responsible for any injury or damages that may be incurred as a result of my participation.

3)    Please indicate:

– The requested shadowing spot (see below) with the number between the parentheses following the name of specialty. e.g. Pediatric Surgery (21)

– The requested date unless otherwise indicated.

Please understand that the mentors’ names and contact info are not released due to confidentiality. We will give you a date, time, location and setting information once you secure a shadowing spot. Since shadowing spots are limited, you would increase your chances by emailing us with several (say, three or four) spots of choice, ranking them in the order of preference. Please note that each specialist may offer fewer shadowing spots than available dates (refer to right-hand column). We will do our best to match you to your first choice.

4)    Be sure to dress appropriately for the clinical setting (e.g. dress shirts/pants). You may wear a white coat and bring your stethoscope if you have one, and the situation calls for it (e.g. it’s unnecessary for a psychiatry ER). Please be sure to show up slightly AHEAD OF TIME.

5)    Finally, we would like to hear back from you after the shadowing; your feedback will help us greatly.

Sample e-mail:

We will reply with an exact time, place, and name of the person you will shadow as a confirmation once your spot has been reserved. The doctor / senior medical student will be informed of your arrival and may or may not contact you.

Although pleasantries are not, strictly speaking, a necessity, realize that by entertaining us, you contribute to an increase in the total amount of happiness in the universe and, as a result, influence the success of our shadowing program.

I will reiterate how important it is to show up to your shadowing appointments and to give us enough notice to inform our volunteering doctors that you won’t be coming. This is necessary for the good rapport with the doctors who volunteer their time and effort for you, as well as to show them your respect for letting you shadow them!

Please check your agendas when applying to MAKE SURE that you can make the appointment for your shadowing, if you cancel too many times we will ignore your further requests!