One way to ingratiate yourself with your preceptors, your residents, your docs is to ask questions.
But NOT annoying lazy questions.
Let’s dispel that myth first. There are tons of stupid questions. I know. I’m an expert. My oldest son asks them constantly. My students when I used to teach asked stupid questions all the time.
Stupid may not be the best adjective. I prefer lazy. Lazy questions drive me and everyone else nuts.
By lazy I mean questions you have put no thought into or that are completely irrelevant. Questions you want me to answer because you are too lazy to take one second to think of the answer or asking something that has absolutely nothing to do with what’s going on in front of you.
Something I told my son one morning: “Hey buddy, today you get off the bus at 3:50. We have to eat dinner, do homework, and get out the door for soccer practice no later than 5.” His response, “Do you think I can go ride my bike to my friend’s house after school?”
Now that is a lazy question.
During a cholecystectomy, asking, “What’s the number one cause of cholecystitis?” is lazy. You can look that up, and you should already know it.
So then, what are good questions?
Good questions are things you aren’t going to find in a book and things that will help you to understand the big picture better.
A few examples during the same cholecystectomy.
– I know postprandial upper right quadrant pain is the typical presentation. Is that how this guy presented? Was there anything that made the diagnosis more difficult?
– Do these patients normally stay overnight?
– How soon do you let them start eating after surgery?
– How soon do you bring them into the office? And what are you looking for at that first post op visit?
– If I see this pt in the morning, is there anything in particular I should be looking for?
Do you see what I mean?
Asking a doc how long before the first post op visit won’t get you a right test question, but it will help you paint a picture of the case that will stick in your head. Better yet, if you can get them talking and telling stories, you are thousands of times more likely to remember.
On top of that, people love talking about themselves and what they do. The more you can ask relevant questions that help you, the more the people in the room will like you, and thereby teach you and let you do more.
Your other option is not to speak and keep to yourself. Then you’ll seem like you’re not interested and don’t want to be there. You won’t necessarily notice it, but you won’t get to do as much, and they won’t teach you as much.
A few weeks ago, our student was in a spine case with me. She quickly built a rapport with the surgeon by asking good questions and participating in the general conversation in the room. As the case went on, he asked her one or two questions about muscles we were dividing during our dissection and different vessels we needed to be wary of. She was able to answer them with only a little struggle. By the end of the case, she was drilling holes in someone’s spine.
Had she stood back quietly and not participated in the conversation, there was no way that opportunity would have come up and she would never even have known the difference.
Participate. Ask GOOD questions. Be someone people want on their team, and they will let you do more and teach you more.
The Final Step won’t make you a better conversationalist, but it will help you answer those quick questions on rounds.
Brian Wallace