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What are good questions to impress your attending?
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deleted87051
“How much money do you make?”
Did you know I’ll give you a million dollars?
That would impress me.
That would impress me.
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"Who did you vote for last election?"
Lol, there are no "ready-made" good questions to ask.
The best way to impress your attending is to stay engaged in your patients. Ask more nuanced questions about how they manage certain entities or how often do they see a certain complication or anything that isn't necessarily something that you can easily find on up-to-date. (this also requires that you've read a bit about whatever you're discussing)
The more ownership you take of your patients, the more you'll start to see areas in the hospital/treatment course that maybe don't make sense or that you realized you have no idea what to do.
For example, if you're on the wards: Up-to-date won't give you an algorithm on discharge planning so that could be something you'd ask an attending (ie. what does this patient have to look like and what needs to be done for you to be comfortable sending them home).
Start pretending that you're the primary provider and you'll quickly have many questions to ask lol.
The best way to impress your attending is to stay engaged in your patients. Ask more nuanced questions about how they manage certain entities or how often do they see a certain complication or anything that isn't necessarily something that you can easily find on up-to-date. (this also requires that you've read a bit about whatever you're discussing)
The more ownership you take of your patients, the more you'll start to see areas in the hospital/treatment course that maybe don't make sense or that you realized you have no idea what to do.
For example, if you're on the wards: Up-to-date won't give you an algorithm on discharge planning so that could be something you'd ask an attending (ie. what does this patient have to look like and what needs to be done for you to be comfortable sending them home).
Start pretending that you're the primary provider and you'll quickly have many questions to ask lol.
It's not the questions you ask that are important, it's the questions you answer on rounds
Genuine ones.
People have already hit on not asking obvious things or things you could easily look up. I’m nearing the home stretch of my training and my questions for my staff have evolved quite a bit over the years. Today most questions are generated from my own technical struggles with a given operation and trying to learn how I might do it better. In clinic I’m frequently trying to pick their brains about their personal approach to managing certain nuanced conditions or tips for management of surgical complications. I ask lots of “so when would you offer this patient an operation” questions. Anything that they manage differently than another staff member I often ask about so I can gauge their thinking and see how it fits into my own thoughts. I ask about certain diseases and cases and how I should manage them depending on what sort of practice I have.
They tend to be organic, not done because I want to impress anyone. For me I’m painfully aware of just how soon I will be the attending seeing these same conditions and I want to be prepared. That same things applies to students as well, though obviously you have a lot more time to learn than I do.
Pay attention to the questions your senior residents ask too. Your online resources have more raw information than all your attendings combined. What all your other resources lack are context and experience, so take advantage of those when you have the chance.
What underscores all of this is that you must do enough study and reading to even have an idea of what to ask. If you do read though, you’ll inevitably find authors that do things differently and that too can be good fodder for discussion.
People have already hit on not asking obvious things or things you could easily look up. I’m nearing the home stretch of my training and my questions for my staff have evolved quite a bit over the years. Today most questions are generated from my own technical struggles with a given operation and trying to learn how I might do it better. In clinic I’m frequently trying to pick their brains about their personal approach to managing certain nuanced conditions or tips for management of surgical complications. I ask lots of “so when would you offer this patient an operation” questions. Anything that they manage differently than another staff member I often ask about so I can gauge their thinking and see how it fits into my own thoughts. I ask about certain diseases and cases and how I should manage them depending on what sort of practice I have.
They tend to be organic, not done because I want to impress anyone. For me I’m painfully aware of just how soon I will be the attending seeing these same conditions and I want to be prepared. That same things applies to students as well, though obviously you have a lot more time to learn than I do.
Pay attention to the questions your senior residents ask too. Your online resources have more raw information than all your attendings combined. What all your other resources lack are context and experience, so take advantage of those when you have the chance.
What underscores all of this is that you must do enough study and reading to even have an idea of what to ask. If you do read though, you’ll inevitably find authors that do things differently and that too can be good fodder for discussion.
It's fine to ask the more complex questions (you're there to learn, and physicians should always be ready to learn, regardless of seniority), but asking an IM attending about the finer details of Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome may not go over well.
Can God make a rock so big that even He couldn't lift it?
There are almost no questions that a medical student can ask me that I would be impressed by. It hasn't happened yet.
YourOldFriend
New Member
This was very helpful actually. thanks
Things that help you learn how to manage patients in a well-timed manner.
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Questions/phrases to impress your attending as a Med student:
Psych:
Do you still know how to treat infections?
General Surgery:
What do you like to do in your free time?
Neurosurgery:
What are your children’s names?
Vascular surgery:
So it really is just like plumbing!
Ortho:
Should we order an A1c?
ENT:
Wow this is just like dentistry!
FM:
How do you feel about independent practice of mid-levels?
IM:
Which subspecialty did you want to do but couldn’t?
ID:
You must really love your job considering the average ID makes less than the average IM!
Ob/gyn:
Are you considered surgeons?
Anesthesia:
So are CRNAs practically anesthesiologists?
Radiology:
I really don’t like talking to patients either!
Pathology:
How’s the job market for pathology?
PM&R:
This is kinda like PT right?
EM:
So like it’s really all about calling the right consults?
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Ah yes, the classic issue of omnipotence. Philosophers of religion have it all wrong though... what they neglect to consider is that God’s ability to lift the rock is irrelevant. Why you ask?
Because Ortho can always lift it
The best questions to ask are the ones that you are genuinely curious about and that the answers to which you can hopefully turn around and incorporate back into your clinical skills.
Don’t ask disingenuous questions or try asking questions to look good because 1) that wastes everyone’s time 2) no one gives an f 3) you look like a suck up and people can see through that in a second because you’re definitely not being as sly and crafty as you think you are.
Be curious, be prudent, be genuine.
Don’t ask disingenuous questions or try asking questions to look good because 1) that wastes everyone’s time 2) no one gives an f 3) you look like a suck up and people can see through that in a second because you’re definitely not being as sly and crafty as you think you are.
Be curious, be prudent, be genuine.
This should be stickied
A
AnatomyGrey12
Is a hotdog a sandwich?
lol that vascular comment reminds me of the Smell Good Plumbers. Unclogs almost any drain for $ 99. It'll save the patient couple thousand bucks.
this is going to keep me up at night. thx
What are we talking, a 12 inch log or what
A
AnatomyGrey12
Depends on if the bun can fit it all in there
12 is all you got? You know, size matters.
When it comes to poop hot dogs I'm not sure that bigger is better
If I'm gonna eat poop hotdogs, I don't want to eat them in buns
Didn’t know people asked questions to impress thought they answered them
Never ask a surgeon (or really anyone) anything you can look up because you will pay it back in time spent on a stupid presentation to teach you a lesson every single time. In fact, never ask a question that has a general consensus answer. Ask them about physician preferences for things so you can learn and so it doesn't backfire.
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This. It only took me one time to learn this lesson haha. The last thing I feel like doing is making a presentation; granted you do learn the material after that lol
Can you make a Manhattan with bourbon or is rye the only true way to be correct?
It's cause you're not an attending yet! Once you're an attending that's when medical students want to impress.
This was legit the very first question I was asked in medical school. The guy asking it looked like a frat boy but turned out to be brilliant.
That’s kinda sad lol
I’m also in a field that is generally poorly taught compared to, say, internal medicine topics. Students’ knowledge base in psychiatry just generally isn’t sufficient to talk about interesting topics or the nuances of the field. It’s all about the basics because those things are barely covered if at all in most pre-clinical curricula.
Why does it say thank you for smoking next to your name
Movie.
What's your favorite Scotch?
