Welcome to the McGill Osler Society Shadowing program! Applications are now open. Please read below.

The McGill Osler Society Shadowing Program, now in its 4th year, aims to provide junior medical students (Med-1 and -2s) with a glimpse of clinical life in different specialties. In the past years, over 100 Med-1 students have been matched with Med-3 and Med-4 students. The program generated considerable positive feedback and participation has been very active. This year, in addition to many senior medical students, a number of physicians and residents have joined our team of mentors, giving our participants a different perspective on clinical work and providing them with more shadowing opportunities.

If you are a senior medical student, a resident or an attending physician and you are interested in becoming a mentor, please don’t hesitate to have a look at the Mentor Invitation Letter, which introduces the program in detail. The Mentor Registration Form (senior medical students OR physicians & residents) is easy to fill out and can be sent by 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 help will greatly help the participants with their career-planning and is much appreciated.

The Shadowing Program is open to all currently enrolled junior medical students (Med-1s and Med-2s) at McGill. Our shadowing schedule of September 2009 is now available and will be updated regularly. Students may apply to available shadowing spots by emailing us with required information (see below) at oslersociety.shadowing@gmail.com at least 1 week before the shadowing date. Please note that as these spots are limited, we will distribute them on a first-come first-served basis. Here are a few things that we would like to ask you to do:

1)    Please send your shadowing request using your official McGill email with the title “Shadowing request-Your name (year of study. E.g. Class 2012)-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 and paste 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 shadowing spot (see below) that you want to apply for [with the number between the parentheses following the name of specialty. E.g. Pediatric Surgery (21)] and the date that you choose (if available - else we will tell you the available dates). Please do 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 increases your chances by emailing us with several (say, three or four) slots of choice, ranking them in the order of preference. We will try to match you to your first chioce, of course.

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).

5)    Finally, we would like to hear back from you after the shadowing will have taken place as your feedbacks will help us to improve the program.

Example email:

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From: john.doe@mail.mcgill.ca

Subject: John Doe Class 2014 - 999999999

Content: ... Introductory Pleasantries here ...

My first choice is to shadow someone in Gastroenterology (5), on Thursday, September 17th.
My second choice is cardiac surgery (114)
My third choice is  diagnostic radiology (3) on September 22nd

I, John Doe, 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.

... Ending Pleasantries here...

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We will reply with an exact time, place, and name of the person you will shadow, and we will send the doctor / senior medical student a head's up. The doctor / senior medical student may or may not contact you, but if we replied to you, consider the occasion confirmed.

Pleasantries are unnecessary, but realize that by entertaining us you increase the total amount of happiness in the world and directly contribute to the success of our shadowing program.

Schedule of September 2011
(Updated September 8, 2011)