Due to my fascination with learning more about the medical field, I thoroughly enjoy job shadowing, which allows me to not only observe the work of physicians, but also ask questions of them. The three situations in which I have shadowed have all been quite different, but I feel that each has taught me valuable information both about the medical field as a whole and about my preferences regarding this field. 

My first shadowing experience was during my freshman year of college, when I observed Dr. Len Glover at Highland Priority Care in Highland, Illinois. Though I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and learning from Dr. Glover, my time in the UrgiCare, where the physicians were seeing patients they did not know and would likely never come into contact with again, led me to the realization that, in practicing medicine, it is important to me that I have meaningful relationships with my patients beyond solely treating their medical problems. 

My second shadowing experience, with Dr. William Popovic at Illinois Oncology, Ltd., gave me a number of examples of the close relationships between doctor and patient that were a bit lacking at the UrgiCare clinic. Dr. Popovic knew each of his patients quite well and, during their appointments, socialized and joked with them as one would with a close personal friend; I certainly hope to follow his example and develop these trusting, friendly relationships with those in my care.

My third, and most exhaustive, job-shadowing experience was with Dr. Robert Fleming in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri, during the summer before my sophomore year of college. Dr. Fleming is a wonderful doctor and teacher who allowed myself and the other young lady with whom I was shadowing to complete entire overnight on-call shifts with him to provide us with the most accurate idea of the realities of practicing neonatology. Additionally, Dr. Fleming often encouraged us to work towards learning things on our own; for instance, on a particularly slow night, he sat us down in front of a computer station, gave us the name of a patient, and instructed us to pull up that patient’s X-rays and diagnose the infant. Though it took us a fair amount of time, we eventually managed to navigate the computer system, find the images, and conclude that the patient had a pneumothorax, a diagnosis that Dr. Fleming confirmed. During this shadowing experience, I also learned, from one of Dr. Fleming's neonatology colleagues, what he claimed was the absolute most important lesson he could teach us: "If you are going to walk into a meeting late, for the love of God, do not bring food."