You are on page 1of 5

Observerships Insider!!!!

US clinical experience (USCE) is one of the important parts of your resume when you are
going to apply for residency match process. Clinical electives have more impact than
observerships. Benefits of clinical electives in US are: they are less expensive or even free of
cost, easily available, more interaction with patients and you will be part of clinical team and
some hospitals provide you the accommodation in the hospital premises with nominal
charges or sometimes even free. But if you have missed the chance of getting clinical
electives then you should definitely go for observerships at least.

What is an observership?
As the name defines it, you have to observe how physician is managing the patient, and how
a clinical team is working. Observership means less interaction with patient, asking questions
or doing any examination on patients with the permission of the physician. Often times,
observer is attached with one physician and observer has to follow that physician. Physician
will guide observer about managing patients, maintaining electronic medical record system
(EMR), medical setup in USA and all other things. Duties of an observer are mostly to follow
the physician, taking patient notes and examination with physicians permission, seeing
patients in both clinics and hospitals and attending morning meetings if you are doing
observership in residency training program.

Where to do an observership?
As compared to clinical electives, observerships are not offered by every hospital even some
hospitals have webpage on observerships but they will ask you to find a host who can
accommodate you (host means physician) from same hospital. It is very obvious that
residency training program should be preferred for observership than doing observership in a
clinic but getting observerships in clinics is easier than in a hospital.
Some people say that Letter of recommendation (LOR) from a hospital is more important
than LOR from a clinic, but from my point of view that LOR is more important which is well
written and helps you in residency match process. And it is also important that you should
grab a good LOR rather than wasting time on searching residency training program
observerships. Working in residency program as observer will help you to make some
connections and at times it is helpful to get an interview call from there.

Residency training programs for observerships:


There are some hospitals in US which openly offer observerships and there are also some
hospitals which provide observerships if you approach them otherwise they dont openly
offer. In all these programs, observer has to work with one physician or with a team. Main
charm of this observership is that you will get a chance to see how residents are
working, how morning meetings are conducted. There are few programs that I come
across which provide observerships:

Albert Einstein Montefire Hospital NYC


Albert Einstein Internal Medicine Hospital, Philadelphia
Thomas Jefferson Hospital Philadelphia
Icahm school of medicine Mount Sinai, NYC
Vincent St mercy hospital, Toledo, Ohio
Cleveland clinic, Cleveland, Ohio
Yale hospital (too much expensive though)
University of Texas Health, Houston, TX
Houston Methodist Global Hospital, Houston, TX
Wayne State University (too much expensive and requires ECFMG certification)
University of North Carolina
University Hospitals, Cleveland Ohio
Griffin Hospital
Canton Medical Education
Carthage Area Hospital, NY---this is not a residency program hospital but it is a good
setup and one can earn valuable LOR from here. It is 4-5 hours away from NYC. This
observership setup provides accommodation as well at 10$ per night and rotation is
free of cost. Details can be found on website and trace Dr. Amjad Sheikh for this.

These are some programs which officially provide observership some of them are charging
fees and some may be free of cost. You can approach them through contact numbers or emails mentioned on their webpage.
When they approve your observership then you have to fulfil their paperwork which varies
with each program.

How to approach other residency programs for observership?


Here you have to work bit hard, if you are interested in other hospitals then approach the
faculty members, many hospitals have faculty members profile available on websites with
their contact information. You can send personalized e-mail requesting for observership and
attaching your resume with it. At times it can work and at other times it wont because few
physicians check these kinds of e-mails. But if a physician has checked your e-mail and he
has agreed to host you then it is really fruitful effort.

Clinic based observerships:


These are not fully clinic based observerships as many physicians will take you with
themselves to hospitals in which they work. These physicians will also mention in LOR that
you have also seen patients in XYZ hospital with them and their LOR is also worthy for
residency match process. In my point of view, its not waste of time if you are doing clinic
based observership and it gives more hands on patient experience and experience with
electronic medical record system because you will get physicians direct attention as you
will be only one student for him/her. Secondly its free of cost.

APPNA, PPS and HOPE:


These are organizations run by Pakistani physicians practising in USA. Good thing about
them is that they offer observerships and accommodation as well at affordable price. HOPE is
organization which provided accommodation before but now they are offering only clinical
rotation. You can approach any of them through facebook or webpages.

Early preparations for getting observership:


It takes time to get observership and go through any paper work or sometimes there are not
any vacant spots for rotations so it is recommended that you should start working 3-4 months
before your desired month of observership. Contacting hospitals, tracing physicians, fulfilling
their requirements and confirming all things will take time so its good to start preparation
early.
Secondly plan your Step 2 CS along with your trip to US for observership and in my point of
view try to do at least one observership before taking Step 2 CS as it will boost your
confidence, improves your communication skills and your English accent and you wont feel
uncomfortable in exam!!!

Accommodation:
Accommodation is a big problem and to find it for short span of time isnt easy. You can get help
from those people who did their observerships there before and you can post on facebook for
accommodation or you can take help from your seniors. Safe, less expensive and accommodation near
to hospital is preference of all but its hard to get, for this you have to trace those people who have
been there and they can help you.

Paperwork for observership:


Hospitals providing well structured rotation require proper documentation. They will provide you the
set of forms which you have to download and fill out and scan and send them back.
Mostly hospitals require vaccination status which is vaccination record which you received early in
the life (this is separate from vaccine titres). We all have been vaccinated but we dont have any
proper record so you can request your physician here in Pakistan to make it for you like as it is
mentioned in EPI.
PPD test and CXR report: It can be done from any lab in Pakistan and its less expensive, so get it
done from here if it is required
Vaccine Titres: This is not required by most of the hospitals and it is not like that you have to go
through vaccination process again but it is testing your vaccination antibody titre levels and it can be
done through any lab in Pakistan.
Medical Insurance: Best way to buy insurance is to buy from insubuy.com and buy anyone that is
least expensive. I bought for myself for like 18$. They will e-mail you the document which you have
to provide to hospital if they require and it is acceptable. Liability insurance is different which is
provided by hospital; you dont have to worry about it.

HIPA and drug screen: HIPA is kind of consent that you wont breach the confidentiality of the
patient and its done by signing simple form provided by hospital. Drug Screen is also carried out
by hospitals. Background check may be asked by some hospitals which is a simple online survey.

My Experience of observerships:
For me facebook was kind of great help, I started to search things on google and on facebook
randomly 3-4 months before I was planning to go to US and came across HOPE organization that
was also providing accommodation at that time. I contacted them and asked for both observership
and accommodation. I also traced other Pakistani physicians working in US for attachment and
searched the e-mails and got a positive response from a well structured observership setup.
I started first observership with HOPE Joliet program and then I requested that physician to arrange
another rotation for me and thats how I got my second observership there in Joliet, IL. Both
physicians were really kind to me; I had an opportunity to go with them in their clinics and big
community hospitals. Both doctors were so kind that they picked and dropped me from apartment
where I was living in their cars.and I had opportunity to have lunch in physicians lounge.
I had third observership which was tougher than those two rotations and I learned a lot from it. I did
my all paperwork when I was in Pakistan and that physician was also very kind. I had opportunity to
attend morning meetings, grand rounds and different presentations. A senior helped me to get less
expensive and safe accommodation near to hospital there for my third rotation.

Key Notes:

Try to find at-least one observership here in Pakistan and try to make some connections when
you are rotating there, you will get more observerships from there.
APPNA arranges conventions each year where different doctors come and you can go there
and make some connections though it is not free of cost but it is really helpful. One person
whom I met in US; he pulled out 2 observerships like this. That person asked few physicians
that he wanted to meet them in their office and he requested for attachment afterwards
When you are once there you will find many easy tactics to get observerships, you will come
across different chances and opportunities so dont hesitate to share with others as
wellthats how you are going to make connections for others.
Connections are made when you are in the hospital and you are meeting with other physicians
and if you find suitable ask them for their contact information and if you want to rotate with
them, you can e-mail them later on.

I believe in this simple saying The Miracle is this-the more we share, the more we have, so I always
try to share what I have learned from my small handful experiences and I hope that other people can
get some help. I hope we can make some easiness for others in this journey of life.
I would request you to give your suggestions and views to make this stuff more helpful for others.
Remember me in your prayers for my future endeavours
Raja Shakeel Mushtaque, M.D
DMC-Class of 2011

You might also like