Shadowing a Job at a Hospital

[High School Homeschool Dad]

My daughter is interested in becoming a nurse anesthetist but is not sure exactly what the job is like.

Does anyone know how to set up a shadowing opportunity with a nurse anesthetist?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Lanny]

I suggest that she contact the Anesthesiology Department of the hospital and ask them how to set that up.

[Porridge]

If she doesn’t know anyone at the hospital, best would be to contact the anesthesia department and ask. I would suggest she write a letter or go in person, rather than calling. It’s easy to brush someone off or forget about someone by phone, by a well written letter can make more of an impression.   If there is an academic teaching hospital in your area, the best bet is to try there first.

You could also ask your PCP or her pediatrician for referrals to someone she could shadow.

 

[mumto2]

Is there a Medical Explorer’s group sponsored by the local hospital.  It’s part of Boy Scouts but open equally to girls.  I used to be a member and just googled and it definitely still exists.  If that doesn’t work I would contact that department at the hospital.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Type in your hospital name and job shadow.  Our biggest hospital system here does not allow job shadowing for anyone under 18.  But for ages over that, job shadowing goes through their clinical education department.  YMMV of course. 

[fourisenough]

Hi, Kevin. We have two family friends who are CRNAs. My daughters have nannied for one of their children for three summers running. Both of my daughters are current nursing students. Not until last summer after having completed 2 years of nursing school including a full year of clinicals was my oldest allowed to shadow her boss/CRNA at the hospital. If your student is still in high school, she will unfortunately not be able to scrub in and shadow. She might be able to arrange an informational interview with a CRNA.

You may have better luck arranging a shadow of a nurse. You probably already know this, but a student must have two years of critical care nursing experience (Surgical, Medical, or Cardiac ICU) before beginning anesthesia school. Make sure your daughter takes two full semesters of chemistry (gen chem and organic chem) even if it isn’t required of her BSN program as it is a prerequisite for most grad programs. Is she a good standardized test taker? We’re finding that about half of the grad programs require the GRE.  My oldest plans to go the CRNA route, so she is spending her senior year of college taking the extra chemistry classes, prepping for the GRE, and working as a tech in an ICU. This last bit is critical: to be hired into an ICU immediately upon graduation, a new nurse needs experience working in an ICU and needs to be at the tippy top of her nursing class as those are the plum positions.

During high school my girls participated in a great program through a large hospital in our city. They spent 5 Saturdays in career exploration workshops that spanned most of the health care fields: nursing, medicine, surgery (which was run by a CRNA and was really all about anesthesia), pharmacy, and laboratory/x-ray. One of my girls then participated in this hospital’s student volunteer program for one summer. It really helped to clarify their interest in nursing. 

Hope that is helpful. Please follow up with more specific questions if you have any. Obviously this isn’t my field, but I’ve learned a lot as I’ve helped my girls research everything.

Edited July 22, 2019 by fourisenough
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