How bad does never asking questions look?

[KnuxNole]

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I've never been the type to ask questions. Never had the curious trait or something. Every time someone asks me if I have any questions during my clinical training, I have the same response "No, but if I think of any, I'll let you know."

Normally I would assume this isn't a problem. However, I hear or read from time to time that people who never ask questions either don't care or know everything about a topic. That isn't the case here...but I fear about giving off that impression. I do care about what is going on, but I don't even know what to ask...unless I spend an hour formulating a question which might come off as painfully obvious one.

Wondering what to do, I don't want to get dinged for failing to ask questions, but dunno how to even begin improving this. I don't even know if asking for advice can help, but I figure in a forum with motivated bright people, there might be some who are doing things right and can share some tips...

 

[link2swim06]

You're a resident or med student?

 

[ruralsurg4now]

I figure in a forum with motivated bright people, there might be some who are doing things right and can share some tips...

Here's the only tip you need: realize that there's no way to do it "right" and if you don't have a question, then don't ask one.

 

[WGB]

It's a little annoying, but our Path prof doesn't let us go until at least 5 (decent) qs have been asked at the end of lecture. So, 5 of us (we rotate) come up with a question that doesn't make us look like *****s and still can be answered in as few words as possible, so we can leave early. You get better over time.

tl;dr ask intelligent qs you already know the answer to.

 

[KnuxNole]

You're a resident or med student?

Resident, but I figured I might get more responses in Allo :X

If it gets moved for being inappropriate, that's understandable.

 

[Mr Avante]

..words...

;[ knux

field?

 

[baboxxyun]

I've never been the type to ask questions. Never had the curious trait or something. Every time someone asks me if I have any questions during my clinical training, I have the same response "No, but if I think of any, I'll let you know."

Normally I would assume this isn't a problem. However, I hear or read from time to time that people who never ask questions either don't care or know everything about a topic. That isn't the case here...but I fear about giving off that impression. I do care about what is going on, but I don't even know what to ask...unless I spend an hour formulating a question which might come off as painfully obvious one.

Wondering what to do, I don't want to get dinged for failing to ask questions, but dunno how to even begin improving this. I don't even know if asking for advice can help, but I figure in a forum with motivated bright people, there might be some who are doing things right and can share some tips...

I HATE when people say that. People learn in different ways.... and I guess the "quieter" folk are often the targets of this. Just because you don't have a question doesn't mean you're not engaged.
For me, questions don't generally arise until I'm actually doing something (ie. doing a lab procedure/ going over lecture notes). It's during this time I really get to focus on the details of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. It gives me better picture on what points need clarification.

Not asking questions isn't a problem. Not asking questions when you NEED to is the issue.
If it doesn't affect your training and overall work, I wouldn't think too much of it.

 

[sonofva]

i dunno. i feel like there's plenty of ways to demonstrate interest. even if you don't ask questions you can still interact well and be proactive.

 

[001100010010011]

It's a little annoying, but our Path prof doesn't let us go until at least 5 (decent) qs have been asked at the end of lecture. So, 5 of us (we rotate) come up with a question that doesn't make us look like *****s and still can be answered in as few words as possible, so we can leave early. You get better over time.

tl;dr ask intelligent qs you already know the answer to.

That sounds awful. Do you get used to that nonsense?

 

[WGB]

Pretty quickly. It's almost a game now, coming up with the shortest question or getting the shortest response (single word / term answers are disregarded)

 

[KnuxNole]

Pretty quickly. It's almost a game now, coming up with the shortest question or getting the shortest response (single word / term answers are disregarded)

Damn, that sounds like a lame professor. At least you guys are able to game through that **** 😀

 

[crimsonkid85]

See, I'm the same way -- I don't ask questions either. But the reason isn't because I don't HAVE questions -- in fact, usually I have a gazillion of them--but the reason I don't ask is that I feel like asking an obvious question that I can just look up on uptodate.com or read about in a textbook is just insulting to the resident/attending, because it implies I did not do due diligence first. Unfortunately, usually this means I only start asking questions towards the END of a rotation, when I feel like I have a better grasp of the topic. As you can imagine, this is not helpful for evals, sigh.

 

[Barcu]

I don't ask questions either. But the reason isn't because I don't HAVE questions -- in fact, usually I have a gazillion of them--but the reason I don't ask is that I feel like asking an obvious question that I can just look up on uptodate.com or read about in a textbook is just insulting to the resident/attending, because it implies I did not do due diligence first.

I am the say way as you. So, this is why it really frustrates when I hear that not asking questions can be perceived as a bad thing. The real icing on the cake is when you do ask a question, and they tell you to look it up.

The game is rigged.

 

[evilbooyaa]

I am the say way as you. So, this is why it really frustrates when I hear that not asking questions can be perceived as a bad thing. The real icing on the cake is when you do ask a question, and they tell you to look it up.

The game is rigged.

The point of asking a question is to get people to realize that you are thinking. If attendings/residents don't see you asking questions, they may believe that you're not thinking about the condition. Just because you know in your head "Oh yeah, I should go look this up on uptodate" doesn't give the person evaluating you information.

When you ask the question that you could easily have looked up later (not the same as a dumb question) the attending tells you to go do whatever you were going to do, but you've demonstrated that you're at least thinking about the topic.

A dumb question is asking something that you should already know (either due to prior knowledge or something you should have looked up in uptodate the previous night).

 

[Kaputt]

You're a resident...you're past the whole med student charade of sucking up and pretending to be interested by asking questions. The only questions I ever saw residents asking on my clerkships were questions that directly affected patient care, not esoteric crap. You don't need to ask questions for the sake of asking questions.

 

[KnuxNole]

You're a resident...you're past the whole med student charade of sucking up and pretending to be interested by asking questions. The only questions I ever saw residents asking on my clerkships were questions that directly affected patient care, not esoteric crap. You don't need to ask questions for the sake of asking questions.

That is a good point...however, at the time, it felt as if I was worried people would think I wasn't "thinking about the condition" like evilbooyaa mentioned because I never asked questions. I usually don't ask questions, and it hasn't been hurting me, which I guess is a good thing. And like others mentioned, it does seem fake to ask a questions just for the sake of it. I mean, honestly, I don't know WHAT to ask, at all! In med school, I didn't even know what to ask by a longshot, and had to spend at least an hour formulating one just to make them happy.

And like you mentioned, the esoteric crap I care nothing about(like I mentioned, I'm not scientifically curious or very academic minded) is minimal, mainly because I am focusing on the job and trying not to kill people 😛

 

[evilbooyaa]

That is a good point...however, at the time, it felt as if I was worried people would think I wasn't "thinking about the condition" like evilbooyaa mentioned because I never asked questions. I usually don't ask questions, and it hasn't been hurting me, which I guess is a good thing. And like others mentioned, it does seem fake to ask a questions just for the sake of it. I mean, honestly, I don't know WHAT to ask, at all! In med school, I didn't even know what to ask by a longshot, and had to spend at least an hour formulating one just to make them happy.

And like you mentioned, the esoteric crap I care nothing about(like I mentioned, I'm not scientifically curious or very academic minded) is minimal, mainly because I am focusing on the job and trying not to kill people 😛

Wait, I figured you were a student. I obviously cannot speak from personal experience as I am still a student, but I would imagine that attendings are capable of seeing your clinical skills/efficiency/etc. much better as a resident than as a medical student. Thus, I think that you not asking questions as a resident isn't going to hurt you. If you have med students, giving short lectures would be immensely helpful to proving you know your ****.