Gosh - I'd have to really think about this one!
I've had lots of questions I could answer without much thought...but, over 30 years, I've had some really tough questions. So, yes - there have been questions I couldn't answer right away - but, that's never been an expectation of mine nor anyone I've ever had professional encounters with.
Right off the top of my head - one of the most difficult questions I've ever had to answer was "can you make me some IV nitroglycerin?". This was before the product was commercially available & very few published studies had been done. This was before the internet as well (aka - Al Gore
) so research was hard to do. There was the whole stability, lability, sterility, potency, etc...issues which were separate & apart from the liability & ethics (see why Plan B is so easy???).
Many questions now require a bit of research, which is so easy now that all my references are online. With experience, you get to know what you can answer with a good degree of confidence & what you have to say you need to get back to them on. After all - we don't expect physicians to have every answer immediately - hence - consultants, 2nd or 3rd opinions, etc...
I have to say, I can pretty much answer any RN's questions quickly with one exception - that is when I was asked for specifics when an RN was writing a book chapter. Since I was being referenced, I had to be absolutely accurate & time was no issue. Altho....over 30 years....I might have forgotten a few questions I couldn't actually answer along the way.
