Right to be wrong
with the practical skills training labs and hospital rounds this semester, our studious medical student brains have been whisked away from the comfort of our uncritical narrow desks and non-judgmental scantrons. we’re now being confronted with on-the-spot questions from professors and real world doctors and expected to come up with equally on-the-spot answers. this is naturally more than a bit intimidating and most of our brains seem to plod along uncomfortably as if we were 80 years old and trying yoga for the first time. we just don’t bend that way yet. but even if the answers come slowly, there is one thing i notice above all else:
we are afraid to be wrong.
whether it’s a group question with students answering quietly under their breath (our physical diagnosis lab teacher is a bit older and hard of hearing) or saying “i don’t know” or just not saying anything, it seems we would rather err on the side of looking like we haven’t studied (yet) rather than saying the wrong thing.
is this really a good way to approach the situation? and is it a good way to learn in the long run?
or is it better to put yourself out there to criticism and potentially expose your blatant ignorance to all of your colleagues and mentors? saying the right answer quietly under your breath is never quite as satisfying. knowing you know the answer is one thing, but having your attending and residents know you know the answer is much more gratifying. no guts, no glory.
i like to think i would prefer to give the answer i come up with in my head (loudly and clearly) even if it is wrong. the more i become aware of the situation, the harder i am working at volunteering an answer instead of going along with the mute group. next year on the wards i’m bound to make a zillion mistakes and be wrong a zillion and one times, but isn’t it important for those mistakes to be brought to light and corrected? i mean, it’s not like i’m working in video games anymore. there will be, um, real lives on the line. scary.
then again, that person that sits in the front of the class and just doesn’t seem to have a filter between their head and their mouth? yeah. probably not the best approach either. there has to be some sort of ideal balance between the shy girl that makes straight As but keeps it all to herself, the loud guy that makes himself look like an idiot every time he opens his mouth, and the show-off that knows the answer and isn’t afraid to make everyone else look like an idiot.
that must come with practice, right? our personalities will define to some extent what sort of doctors we will become. and i have a sneaking suspicion that experiences over these next few years will shape (or break) each and every one of us in different ways.
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October 14th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
When I conduct a choir, one of the first things I say to them is, “The best mistake is a loud mistake.” At least, then I can hear the mistake and work to fix it. If they sing quietly (but wrong) during the rehearsal period, and then sing loudly and wrong during the performance, it will have defeated the point of rehearsing.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
There is definitely a fine line between being a silent observer/showing your stuff/being a big loudmouth who gets eyerolls from fellow students. Good luck finding a good balance!
I voted today. I like to exercise my right, but really..you’re not missing much seeing as we’re most likely going to end up exactly where we started.
Whenever I write detailed emails requesting information or explaining something, I almost ALWAYS get a response that at best, doesn’t answer my question and at worst completely misinterprets everything I wrote. I always re-read my emails to make sure i’m not illiterate or that i didn’t accidentally write in pig latin, but it’s always in fairly decent English…so I have no idea. It’s annoying though, that’s for sure!!
Oh, I can’t believe Sask got that much snow!! It’s a warm 21 degrees here in Toronto today. Gotta love crazy Canada!
Enjoy your day of recharging, you deserve it! I’ve got one midterm tomorrow and then i have a bit of a break until monday…phew.
I’m sad about flickr, I always enjoy looking at your pictures on there. Is it gone for good or just for now?
Congrats to the mom and the janice for quitting smoking!!! That is an awesome achievement!!
I think that just about covers everything for now :)
October 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
It is hard to find a balance….just don’t be like the girl in my class who on the first day of Gen Surg recited the Child-Pugh classification when the rest of us were still trying to figure out where the ward was! It is one thing to give an answer if you are asked, it is another to give an answer after a classmate has already gotten in wrong or to give an answer that is way beyond what is expected of a medical student.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:15 am
I started out very much the speaking under my breath (or not speaking at all… I was a tad stupid) but as I reached my final year all the knowledge jumped into place and my placements were under inspiring seniors and I started to come out of my shell a little!!
Also the not wanting to look like a smartarse thing goes when you start REALLY wanting to outshine certain people… which in my experience don’t usually take much to outshine!!!
Right now I’m quite willing to shout out about what I think… but that probably comes from being an GIM resident (or UK equiv anyway) and working in Neurology (which I don’t shout out about… EVER!)
Hope blocks went ok…
October 15th, 2008 at 6:07 am
I think it is very tough. I really like the analogy that Beach Bum used. I agree. It is better to get things wrong now while we are practicing because once you are no longer out there with an attending it is all on you. Better now then never. There are a lot of times I think I know the answer, am unsure, and then off goes the answer and gosh I actually have learned something while here… I did know the answer. Anyway, just my two cents : )
October 16th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
At the hospital they tell us that we should always answer with confidence, even if we’re not sure. I suppose it makes sense, because if you’re wrong then saying it softly isn’t really going to make it less wrong. Even so, if everyone else is silent and you answer wrong then you start to feel like you’re just revealing your stupidity. And since I’m surrounded by the silent types I tend to shut up unless someone asks me a direct question, then I slap on some fake confidence and answer. I don’t know if that’s the best way to handle it but that’s my way.
BTW, I’m all about knowing your limitations. It’s one thing to make an educated guess. It’s different if you’re going to go on for hours about something you know you haven’t read. I have a classmate who does that and will go so far as to argue with the doctors about a topic he has never read. I can’t figure out the logic and it looks bad because a doctor who doesn’t know his own ignorance, won’t ask for help and patients will die. *steps down off soapbox*