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Observers

Erlanger Health System offers a healthcare Job Shadowing Program that allows up to 20 hours of observation time within various healthcare career tracks. Job shadowing opportunities are approved on an individual case basis to students who meet the criteria:

Age Requirements

    • All candidates must be age 16 or older;
    • Candidates who wish to observe in Emergency Departments, ICUs, or Women's Services must be 18 or older;
    • Candidates who wish to observe in any part of Children's Hospital must be 18 or older and a high school graduate.

Documentation Requirements

    • Complete the job shadowing application;
    • Provide documentation of MMR and Varicella (chickenpox) immunization;
    • Provide documentation of negative TB skin test or negative chest x-ray within the last 12 months;
    • Provide documentation of flu vaccine if shadowing between October and March.

Erlanger Health System will make every effort to accommodate job shadowing requests provided space and staff are available. Please direct any questions about the program to the coordinator: jobshadowing@erlanger.org.

Note: Observing experiences cannot be approved for a medical student in the last two years of medical school. Physicians cannot be approved to observe physicians.

 

Programs

UTHSC College of Medicine-Chattanooga offers two paths for observing to students age 18 and older who are not yet in their clinical years of medical school:

  • Sponsored Clinical Observer Program

Observers must be non-medical students who want to observe or shadow a physician. These experiences are limited to one or two days with faculty physicians within Erlanger Health System, our major affiliated partner and primary clinical training site. UTHSC College of Medicine-Chattanooga oversees this program, whereby these students may observe faculty physicians who also hold medical sStaff appointments within Erlanger. This experience is for clinical observation only and cannot involve any hands-on clinical patient care (including physical exams, procedures, etc.) nor direct access to the hospital electronic health record. The University is not responsible for requests for students asking to observe Erlanger physicians who do not hold UTHSC faculty appointments.

  • UTC Pre-Med Program

In conjunction with the local University of Tennessee Chattanooga (UTC) Pre-Med Program, our campus also sponsors a longitudinal two-semester pre-med elective with a curriculum that provides one elective credit hour at in the UTC undergraduate program. Students are selected each year through a stringent application and review process by UTC Pre-Med Advisors and our Associate Dean/DIO. Students are interviewed in May of the academic year and, if accepted, must agree to register in the elective for two Semesters (Fall and Spring). The course and program are limited to six students in their junior year.

Future Docs

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society sponsors career exploration opportunities called Future Docs.

Future Docs student participants in white coats

The two-week Medical Explorations Program program in July is designed for future healthcare professionals. It gives undergraduate students up to 40 hours observing specialties in actual medical settings. This provides a closer look at specialties in which they are interested and other specialties they may not already know.

Medical Explorations is designed to:

    • Provide students the opportunity to learn more about life as a physician and inspire them to pursue a career in medicine;
    • Provide students and local physicians with a community-based mentoring/teaching experience;
    • Assist with efforts to increase the pipeline of health care providers in southeastern Tennessee.

The one-week Youth Leadership Forum in June for rising high school seniors and recent graduates interested in careers in medicine.

During the course of the week, students will:

    • Learn about careers in medicine;
    • Job shadow healthcare professionals in several areas of medicine; and
    • Enjoy hands-on learning simulations.

The forum seeks to increase student interest in the medical profession and acquaint them with resources to pursue medicine.

View the application for more details.

 

Additional Information

  • Erlanger offers job shadowing with non-physician Erlanger employees. Details are available here.
  • UTHSC College of Medicine-Chattanooga does not offer opportunities for physicians to observe our faculty, residents, and fellow physicians.  
  • UTHSC College of Medicine-Chattanooga cannot accommodate nurse practitioner students or PA students from other universities requesting clinical rotations beyond the UTHSC Memphis PA students assigned to our campus for their year-long clinical rotations (January through November each year).  
  • Nursing students, Nurse Practitioner students, or PA students who wish to request clinical rotations at Erlanger must submit requests through the Erlanger Job Shadowing Program. Erlanger requires a clinical agreement between each university, program and Erlanger. These are not coordinated by the UTHSC College of Medicine-Chattanooga.
  • The sponsored clinical observing experiences of students with faculty physicians described above do not involve hands-on clinical care. These are only for observing/job shadowing.  
Jun 17, 2025