I work in a hospital and there is a formal process for high school shadows. Among other requirements, they have to do HIPAA training and they get a badge that clearly says observer. I do newborn care, and most folks are fine with them coming in to watch exams, but, yes, we ask every time before they enter a room.

Mine shadowed at a medical office for two weeks at the end of senior year. They did go into the OR. They also shadowed in another medical setting the summer of junior year for a week. They once had to sit out when a patient was not comfortable with a shadowing student, but all the others were fine with it.

My oldest is figuring out what she wants to do for grad school and shadowed in a hospital a few weeks ago. She’s in the nutrition field a college grad and 22. I’m sure she had to sign a ton of HIIPA documents to do it. I can imagine them letting anyone under 18 do that because they can’t sign for themselves

As a lawyer, having a student shadow on meetings, zooms and calls could compromise any attorney-client privilege as it would constitute consent to a nonprivledged person being present and thus arguably it’s constructively waived.

No way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I manage a surgical practice and we occasionally have high schoolers shadow ( not a formal program but just friends or family members of staff members).
They are usually there for a day or 2 max. They’ll shadow some of the doctors and nurses when seeing patients in consults and pre/ post operative visits but they cannot go into the operating room to observe surgery if they are under 18.

Do patients have to give their written consent before HSer can come in? Can they say no?

We usually just ask the patient but don’t request written consent. The doctor / PA will say “ I have Larla here shadowing me today and she’s interested in becoming a doctor one day, are you ok if she sits in on this consultation “. I’d say about 8 times out of 10, the patients are ok with it. Many patients also appreciate that their doctor is nice enough to give that opportunity to a kid.

OP here- thanks so much all for sharing your insights. This is very helpful.

DD isn’t interested in engineering or architecture so is curious about what the path of study and the kind of impact that job has. She is practical kid so while she has researched different kinds of jobs, she wants to “see” what people do day-to-day.

Thanks again all for your recommendations.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer. If a HS student shadowed me, they'd see me sitting in front of a computer. I couldn't let them sit in on client meetings. It would be boring for them and a huge burden on me. I'd be happy to go to coffee with a student and talk about what I do -- but I HS student doesn't need to make this decision now. I didn't even start thinking about law school untill I was 25.

This is true for certain areas of law. But law is a wide field and some of us don’t sit in front of a computer all day. At my office a kid would be able to go to court, could spend time with paralegals and do court filings, possibly sit in on a deposition and other things that don’t involve confidentiality.

DH works in finance and he sometimes has HS students come in for “internships”. They all know people in the firm though.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer. If a HS student shadowed me, they'd see me sitting in front of a computer. I couldn't let them sit in on client meetings. It would be boring for them and a huge burden on me. I'd be happy to go to coffee with a student and talk about what I do -- but I HS student doesn't need to make this decision now. I didn't even start thinking about law school untill I was 25.

At 25 I’d been practicing law for over a year.

Anonymous wrote:I manage a surgical practice and we occasionally have high schoolers shadow ( not a formal program but just friends or family members of staff members).
They are usually there for a day or 2 max. They’ll shadow some of the doctors and nurses when seeing patients in consults and pre/ post operative visits but they cannot go into the operating room to observe surgery if they are under 18.

Do patients have to give their written consent before HSer can come in? Can they say no?

I manage a surgical practice and we occasionally have high schoolers shadow ( not a formal program but just friends or family members of staff members).
They are usually there for a day or 2 max. They’ll shadow some of the doctors and nurses when seeing patients in consults and pre/ post operative visits but they cannot go into the operating room to observe surgery if they are under 18.

I'm a lawyer. If a HS student shadowed me, they'd see me sitting in front of a computer. I couldn't let them sit in on client meetings. It would be boring for them and a huge burden on me. I'd be happy to go to coffee with a student and talk about what I do -- but I HS student doesn't need to make this decision now. I didn't even start thinking about law school untill I was 25.

I would think that law and medicine shadows might compromise client/patient privacy?

Does this actually happen?

I work in law and we never have HS students shadow. Maybe a sole practitioner would allow that, but not a legitimate medium or large law firm. And working as a sole practitioner is wildly different than working in a big firm with tons of support departments.

My DD is a sophomore who is interested in shadowing in different workplaces to see what might be a good fit for her for an internship in her junior year. She is interested in shadowing in healthcare, finance and law workplaces. Is a full day of shadowing too much or is a half day more appropriate? Should she ask to shadow more than 1 day? I work in architecture so having high school students shadow is pretty common. I wasn't sure if it was the same in other industries. Thanks for insights.