What Questions to Ask When Shadowing a Doctor
Questions for a day spent observing a physician, written for a student or applicant who will mostly be standing quietly at the side of the room. They cover the ground rules, what you have just watched, and how the specialty and the training actually worked out, with notes on when to ask and when to wait.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Where should I stand, and when should I step out of the room?
Why ask it
Ask this before the first patient. It settles the two things most likely to go wrong, and it signals that you understand the visit belongs to the patient rather than to you.
How did you decide on this specialty?
Why ask it
Most physicians will give you the version with the accidents left in: a rotation they were assigned, a person who took an interest, a schedule that suited a partner. That is more useful than the tidy answer given at admissions events.
What did you think you would end up doing when you started medical school?
Why ask it
Almost nobody finishes where they started, and hearing that from someone established takes some pressure off your own uncertainty. It also reveals what changed their mind, which is usually contact with the actual work.
How much of your day goes to something other than seeing patients?
Why ask it
This is the part applicants consistently underestimate. Expect documentation, prior authorizations, messages, and meetings, and note whether they describe it as tolerable or as the reason colleagues are leaving.
Can you walk me through what you were thinking in that last visit?
Why ask it
Ask in the corridor afterwards, about a visit you both just saw. You get the reasoning that was invisible from where you stood, which is the whole point of being there rather than reading about it.
What were you ruling out with those last few questions?
Why ask it
Shows you were watching the structure of the interview and not just listening to the conversation. The answer teaches you that history-taking is a series of decisions rather than a form being filled in.
How do you decide whether to order a test or wait?
Why ask it
Gets at judgment under uncertainty, cost, and the harm of a false positive, none of which appear in a textbook algorithm. Listen for whether the patient's own preferences enter the reasoning.
Who else is involved in that patient's care that I haven't seen today?
Why ask it
Makes visible the nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and schedulers doing work you never observe. Physicians who can list them by name tend to work in better-functioning practices.
What does a note need to contain, and who actually reads it?
Why ask it
The honest answer usually involves several audiences at once: the next clinician, the billing system, and possibly a lawyer. It explains why documentation takes the shape it does.
What do you do when a patient doesn't want what you recommend?
Why ask it
You learn how the person handles being disagreed with, which matters more day to day than diagnostic skill. Watch for whether they talk about persuading or about understanding the reason for the refusal.
What have you learned about giving someone news they don't want?
Why ask it
Ask this quietly and not immediately after such a conversation. Answers tend to be practical: sit down, say it plainly in the first sentence, stop talking, and stay in the room longer than feels comfortable.
How often are you genuinely uncertain, and what do you do with that?
Why ask it
Uncertainty is a routine part of clinical work and is rarely described honestly to students. Someone who says it happens most days, and then explains how they proceed anyway, is telling you something accurate.
What did residency in this specialty look like day to day?
Why ask it
Hours, call schedule, and how long the hard stretch lasted. Bear in mind that training conditions change, so ask when they trained and whether it differs now.
How did the finances of training work out for you?
Why ask it
A fair question if asked plainly, without asking what they earn. Debt size, years of low pay, and whether a spouse carried the household are all part of the real picture of choosing this path.
What do you wish you had known before you committed to this specialty?
Why ask it
Usually produces one concrete thing: the volume of paperwork, the emotional weight of a particular patient population, the difficulty of finding a job in a given city. Ask it late in the day, once they are comfortable with you.
What kind of case still stays with you afterwards?
Why ask it
Answers here are often quiet and specific. Take the cue: if they give a short answer and change the subject, let it go rather than pressing for detail.
What do premed students most often misunderstand about this job?
Why ask it
You are asking to be corrected, which is the useful thing to do while you still have time to change course. Common answers involve how little of the work is dramatic and how much of it is coordination.
If you couldn't practice in this specialty, what would you do instead?
Why ask it
Reveals what they actually value in the work, whether that is procedures, continuity with patients, teaching, or problem solving. It also gives you a way to think about your own preferences.
What should I be doing over the next two years that would actually matter?
Why ask it
Ask near the end, and expect a short list rather than reassurance. Answers that name a specific kind of clinical exposure or a person to contact are worth more than general encouragement about grades.
Was there anything I did today that I should do differently next time?
Why ask it
Rarely asked, and it is how you find out that you were standing in the way, taking notes at the wrong moment, or asking questions within earshot of a patient. Better to hear it than to repeat it elsewhere.
How to conduct yourself on a shadowing day
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you arrive
Complete the paperwork early
Many sites require a confidentiality agreement, immunization records, and sometimes a background check before you can be on the floor. Ask the office manager, not the physician, what is needed and by when.
Ask what to wear and what to bring
Practices differ on whether an observer wears a short white coat, business clothes, or scrubs. Closed shoes and a name badge are usually expected. Leave bags, food, and anything you would be upset to lose in your car.
Confirm the hours honestly
Clinic days can start before seven and run past scheduled hours. Say clearly if you have a class or a shift you cannot miss, rather than leaving in the middle of the afternoon.
Privacy is not negotiable
- The patient can decline to have you present, and some will. Step out without expression or argument when asked.
- Take no notes that could identify anyone: no names, dates of birth, room numbers, or unusual diagnoses recorded alongside a date.
- Do not look at charts, screens, or images unless you have been asked to look at something specific.
- Nothing from the day goes into a message, a post, or a personal statement in identifiable form. Describing a memorable case to friends is the most common way students cross this line.
When to ask your questions
- 1Not in front of a patient, and not in a corridor where patients or families can hear you.
- 2Save clinical questions for the gaps: walking between rooms, waiting for imaging, the ten minutes before lunch.
- 3Keep a running list on paper rather than interrupting. Two or three good questions at the end of a session are welcome; a steady stream all morning is not.
- 4Read the room after a difficult encounter. Sometimes the right response is silence, and asking about it an hour later.
How to be useful rather than in the way
- Stand where you can see and hear without blocking the door, the sink, or the computer. If someone reaches around you, move.
- Touch nothing: no instruments, no supplies, no keyboard. If something falls, ask before you pick it up.
- Learn the names of the nurses and front desk staff on the first morning. They decide how welcome you are on a second visit.
- If you feel faint, sit down or leave the room before you become the emergency. It happens often enough that nobody will think much of it.
Afterwards
Write it down the same evening
Record what you observed and what you thought about it, without identifying details. These notes are what make a later application or interview specific rather than generic.
Send a short thank-you note
Name one thing you learned. Include the office staff if they arranged the day for you, since they usually did more of the work than the physician did.
Be careful about asking for a letter
One day of observation is thin ground for a recommendation. If you want one, ask about coming back several times first, and only raise the letter once someone has watched you over a period.