If you’re pre-med, pre-vet, pre-law, or pre-professional
anything really, a shadow internship may be in your future. These internships
focus on observing a trained professional throughout their work day in order to
get a feel for the daily ins and outs of their career. In my last post, I mentioned
that I completed an internship at an animal hospital this summer, and for my
post this week, I figured I’d follow in my co-bloggers’ footsteps and give my
faithful readers (aka my mom) and even my not-so-faithful readers a glance at
my very own shadow internship.
From May to early July, I spent three mornings a week interning at VCA
Lancaster Animal Hospital, a small animal private practice. Having been pursuing a pre-vet track, I learned about the importance of internships through my involvement with the Pre-Vet Society (I currently serve as the group's webmaster- technology is kind of taking over my life). My role, as a
shadow intern, was multifaceted: I followed the veterinarians around on
appointments, observed and assisted them during surgeries, and performed odd jobs such as babysitting patients while they recovered from surgery (which
involved holding/watching a lot of sleepy puppies. 10/10, would recommend.).
Although my internship was specific to veterinary medicine, I learned a lot
about the role of a shadow intern in general, and hopefully I can pass some of this
knowledge onto you! So, here is my list of “do”s and “don’t”s for a shadow
internship:
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| My heart...can't handle..the cuteness. |
Don’t take the term “shadow” literally—be active!
In my first few days at the hospital, the combination of my
nerves and my habitual awkwardness led to me doing a lot of standing around,
waiting to be told what to do, and trying to stay out of the way. However, one
day as I was getting ready to leave, I saw another intern coming in for her
afternoon shift. I noticed that she immediately walked over to the centrifuge
in the small laboratory and began sorting out test tubes and running more samples.
That’s when I realized that I had been doing this “shadow” thing all wrong. If
I just kept waiting for all the busy people to stop what they were doing and
tell me what to do, I would turn into a statue that the dogs would “mark
their territory” on. I decided to begin actively engaging the veterinarians I
shadowed, following them in on appointments instead of waiting for their
permission. I even began observing them as
they performed simple procedures like drawing vaccines, and one of the doctors let me draw vaccines for her (this sounds really lame and insignificant,
but I was super excited about it). So, don’t be a wallflower—take the
initiative to be the best intern you can be, and the domain of your responsibilities
may grow beyond observation.
Do broadcast—and try to broaden—your skill set.
It may seem like you’re being pushy, but make sure that your
employers know all of your skills and your willingness to learn. One day as I
was observing a surgery, I offered to monitor the patient’s vitals for the
doctor, and as a result I learned how to read surgical machinery, something
I continued to do for the duration of my internship. In my experience, people
are always willing to delegate responsibilities, and the more you become the delegate,
the more you will get out of your internship.
Don’t think of this as “grunt work” or “beneath you”.
The professional world is hard to break into, and if you’re
planning on attending a graduate program, you’ll need all the experience you can get. So, if you have to start out answering phones or just observing in the background, don’t give up or resign yourself
to bitterness; plenty of people started out this way, and plenty more will
follow you. Lower-skill jobs also lead to more advanced
roles—prove that you have a good work ethic and good things could come down the
road!
Do ask questions if you have any.
Unless the person you’re shadowing is clearly annoyed by you
(which probably won’t happen, considering they’ve agreed to take on an intern),
you should feel free to ask questions about a specific topic of the profession.
Your employer is a professional, likely one who underwent years of specialized,
advanced training—they know their stuff, and they’re willing to share it with
interested and inquisitive students. As a quick example, one day I asked a doctor a follow-up question about a
specific disease that she had just diagnosed a patient with, and she not only
gave me an amazingly informative answer but even printed out information from a
website for me to read. The willingness of individuals to share their expertise
is definitely something you must take advantage of!
Don’t ask questions at inappropriate times.
Remember, you’re technically an employee of the organization
now, however temporary your internship may be. The last thing you want to do is make the organization
look unprofessional. So, if you do have questions, save them for the right time.
In my case, I made sure not to ask questions during appointments or in front of
a client. Even though you probably don’t know much, you want to exude
professionalism however you can.
Overall, you want to maximize the quality of your internship. You’re giving
up your precious Friends-watching time to learn, and more importantly, someone is giving up some of their valuable time to teach you. Take
advantage of the opportunity you’ve been given. With any luck, these quick tips
will have a big impact on shaping your shadow internship into everything you
want it to be!
Until next time,
Sean Boyden
Class of 2017
