i choked today

[iphetamine]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

This is really embarrassing, the prof randomly called on my name to answer a couple of questions on a case we were discussing, and for some reason I choked, I felt so overwhelmed and nervous, eventhough I knew the answer. The prof himself said, "you know the answer but couldn't get it out....", so I felt so stupid and embarrassed infront of the prof and classmates. I feel that I won't succeed in life or in this profession, and I'm about to graduate in a few months...😕

at least I got it off my chest...how dumb.🙁

 

[nnguyenc]

bro...we all do it

if anything...just bull**** with confidence when you don't know the answer
got me through pharmacy school and life

 

[iphetamine]

wow, you ppl got nothing to say to me?? 😛
any advice, suggestions, how to improve, how to get over my fear, blah blah blah??

what's really bothering me is that i feel i'm ready to stand up in class and speak, but then i hyperventilate, sweat, get screwed.

 

[skeksis]

Similar things happen when we do our patient encounters, which generally involve a drug consultation and/or taking BP and other things, while there's a video camera pointed at you. A lot of people choke on it by forgetting information, how to properly operate an Opticlik pen or a meter, etc. I once put a BP cuff on inside out because I only ever did it on right handed people, and when I got into the encounter the "patient" was left handed.... simple switch, but screwed me all up for some reason. I figured it out and fixed it quickly, but the rest of the encounter was downhill from there because i just wanted to get the hell out of it. 😳

 

[UNMorBUST]

Public speaking, the best class in the world.

 

[confettiflyer]

Public speaking, the best class in the world.

public speaking doesn't teach you ****. it's all about experience.

And OP...it's tough giving advice on not choking upon questioning over the internet. Even the most astute speakers get a little nervous before it's showtime.

I think one thing you can do is not so much focus on the answer, but backtrack and state the question in a non-awkward way. Example:

Professor: "So, iphetamine, based on this pt's labs... what type of anemia are we looking at?"

WRONG way = "Uhh uhh....(desperately tries to think of "hemolytic anemia").

RIGHT way = "Well...this pt looks like they have an increased reticulocyte count, so it's probably hemolytic anemia."

In other words, think out loud. By saying those first few lines, it gives your head a moment to think, and that's all you really need.

Ultimately (ie for rotations when other HC professionals throw questions at you on the fly), you just need to be confident to the point where you trust whatever is going to come out of your mouth the first time around.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

In the real world you aren't put on the spot like that by a professor trying to teach by asking questions. People only ask you questions they don't know the answer to. So if you don't know either, it's not a deal at all...they just assume they asked you an obscure question that is worthy of investigation. You are more than welcome to say "hold on a sec, I'll look that one up." If you get them good info, they don't particularly care if you knew it off the top of your head or if you had to look it up on Up-To-Date. In fact, they rather prefer it because they know it's 100% correct when you do that...not just the conjecture of some smart-ass 25 year old...

 

[KUMoose]

TOASTMASTERS

http://www.toastmasters.org/

Experience helps, but it sounds less like experience and more like performance aniety. So you're looking at chronic benzos or something like toastmasters that's designed to help break the whole performance anxiety thing. (yes they do the experience thing, but what help me were ppointers I got from people just like me)

PS to be fair I'm too lazy to rainbow color it, that needs to be a font color choice here.

 

[psurocks]

key is to learn to BS to buy more time as u continue to think bout what you really want to say

and yes you will be put on the spot on retail when pt comes up and asks questions bout some herb or something, so u do need to have quick thinking skillz

 

[Megas]

You couldn't come up with an answer in five seconds to a question a person spent hours fabricating and rehersing in their head and probably asked in the same lecture they've been giving for years? I think you'll make it in life....