Shadowing Experience

This semester I was given the opportunity to shadow Dr. Gary Frishman (who also came to speak to our class during the week of Paternalism), an OB-GYN who specializes in reproductive endocrinology. Not only did Dr. Frishman work at the IVF Clinic at Women and Infants Hospital a few times a week, but he is also the director of the Residency Program for OB-GYN at Women and Infants and former Professor at the Medical School. This was my experience with him.

8:30am I got lost looking for the IVF Clinic at Women and Infants Hospital. Luckily, Dr. Frishman gave me his number in case this happened and I called him. Somehow with my bad sense of direction, he was able to direct me and I saw him standing in his blue scrubs outside the hospital.

8:45am I quickly changed into scrubs. Although he was running around making sure patients were ready for the procedure, Dr. Frishman took the time to sit with me in his office to explain what was going on. From the EMR (electronic medical record) system that Women and Infants already uses to his basic background information, Dr. Frishman made sure to explain everything to me, but not in a condescending manner. As he spoke, different nurses would pop their head in, say hello, and give a quick update. Dr. Frishman made sure to introduce me to each person and explain what each nurse did at the clinic.

9:00am After a brisk walk to the procedure room, Dr. Frishman had me wait outside while he spoke to the patient about me observing and making sure that they were comfortable with what was going to be done. I couldn't help, but notice the trust these patients had in Dr. Frishman. I can just tell by looking at their faces that they knew Dr. Frishman would get them through this.

9:15am While waiting for the patient to be dressed for the surgery, I sat and thought about how uncomfortable it could be to talk with women about IVF. I guess IVF itself could raise some ethical concerns and so I entered the procedure room and asked Dr. Frishman. While he aspirated the 15-20 or so follicles (the patient had been given drugs to stimulate more follicles being produced), he told me that he was comfortable with his patients because he worked with many women and men who had infertility issues and was happy to offer them an alternative way to having a family. Some of his patients had been going to him for years about these issues while others were referred to him from the OB-GYN. If the eventual implant was successful, most of these patients went back to their lives and didn't come back to the clinic again. Dr. Frishman said the doctors did make a point of keeping up with the patient to follow up after they gave birth. There was also the issue of the stored embryos that could be frozen in case the patient wanted to implant them in the future.

9:25am The procedure is done in 10 minutes! The nurse whispered to me that the other doctors in the clinic usually only get 8-12 follicles, but somehow Dr. Frishman seemed to outdo everyone else (not in a competitive way). She said he could also be eccentric at times, but in a good way that made the atmosphere fun and lively to work in.

9:45am We are back in Dr. Frishman's office. He talks to me about the many hats he wears and how he loves working on a salaried position while being able to teach at the same time. He also talks about how he is still able to have time for his family because of the flexibility of his position. I was quite amazed since it sounded he had a lot of responsibilities with his work, but he must balance everything really well.

10:15am I go back into the procedure room with Dr. Frishman. This time he is going to implant 2 embryos that were kept frozen for the patient after she had her first child. He speaks to the patient about how I would be observing and I get introduced to her. The patient is awake the entire time during the procedure. The entire time Dr. Frishman explains each action he performs before doing it and shows her on the ultrasound what he is doing. Even if this is her second time doing IVF (she already had one child), she talked about how thankful and happy she was to be able to have another one through IVF.

I really enjoyed my glimpse into Dr. Frishman's life. He is in a unique profession and the way he handled himself with how he talked to patients about IVF reassured me (even if I wasn't the patient) that I could trust him if he were my doctor. I don't know if OB-GYN is a field I am looking into. However, I appreciated this experience because it showed me that a good doctor not only has technical skill and expertise, but is someone who is able to connect with his or her patients especially when the patients are talking about such personal issues such infertility and explaining the different options for them.