How to not come off as the non-trad know-it-all

[Sthpawslugger]

For those of us non-trads with a wealth of clinical knowledge giving us a distinct advantage over many of our traditional medical student classmates during 3rd and 4th yr rotations, how do you find balance between answering questions and allowing teaching moments for others while also not coming off as, for lack of better terms, a know-it-all? Hope this makes sense. By no means, despite years of employed clinical experience, do I know all there is about medicine...just the art of understanding/listening to patients, becoming familiar with terminology, and only scratching the surface when it comes to orders, patterns in diagnosis and treatment, etc, especially in EM.

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[njtrimed]

For those of us non-trads with a wealth of clinical knowledge giving us a distinct advantage over many of our traditional medical student classmates during 3rd and 4th yr rotations, how do you find balance between answering questions and allowing teaching moments for others while also not coming off as, for lack of better terms, a know-it-all? Hope this makes sense. By no means, despite years of employed clinical experience, do I know all there is about medicine...just the art of understanding/listening to patients, becoming familiar with terminology, and only scratching the surface when it comes to orders, patterns in diagnosis and treatment, etc, especially in EM.

Ever start a new job and have someone training you like you're fresh out of school? I've been trained by someone with less than 10% of the experience I had. I just listened, didn't interject with "I know," and thanked them for taking the time to orient me. That's how I have approached my limited clinical time so far, and it's how I plan to approach rotations. No matter how much you do know, you can always learn something new, especially when you're appreciative of the people teaching you. Even if they figure out you know what you're doing in certain areas, I think it's better to be taught as if you know nothing, so that you don't miss out on something you haven't learned yet.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Ever start a new job and have someone training you like you're fresh out of school? I've been trained by someone with less than 10% of the experience I had. I just listened, didn't interject with "I know," and thanked them for taking the time to orient me. That's how I have approached my limited clinical time so far, and it's how I plan to approach rotations. No matter how much you do know, you can always learn something new, especially when you're appreciative of the people teaching you. Even if they figure out you know what you're doing in certain areas, I think it's better to be taught as if you know nothing, so that you don't miss out on something you haven't learned yet.

This. You will only come off as a know-it-all if you act like one. Don't brush off advice or knowledge from anyone. Even if you think you know what they're teaching you, listen anyway because you might learn something new. And then thank them afterwards.

I was an OR tech for years before joining the Navy. My first time irrigating and packing a wound, they were giving me all these little tips and **** that I had learned or figured out years ago and had taught other people. I just nodded and said, "cool."

I also asked them a few questions that I knew the answers to already. That kind of broke down the assumption that I thought I knew everything, and that little bit of tension went away.

 

[mafkhan1980]

It might be worthwhile to ask yourself what the potential gains/losses would be when projecting yourself (rightfully so or otherwise) as knowledgeable. In my experience, it has proven to be important to fine-tune the balance between being a good listener and a good communicator. There is much to be gained by being a good listener, even if you might consider yourself knowledgeable in the given topic; listening helps one re-evaluate what they already know and provides an opportunity for them to refine their knowledge-base by being open to the idea of learning something new. Having said that, if one finds themselves in a situation that warrants them to intellectually or factually contribute to the topic of discussion, then of course they ought to go ahead and make their contributions known. The only point of contention that I have would be a scenario in which knowledge is being assertively demonstrated just for the sake of intentionally coming across as being a 'know-it-all'; I personally don't see any benefits in that, and this isn't the way I choose to behave in any given situation, let alone a professional one.

 

[CajunMedic]

I just finished my 3rd year rotations. Since they were mostly preceptor-based and one-on-one, I didn't have a lot of opportunity to let someone else answer or hang back on procedures. It's hard to hide clinical experience, though. Most of mine figured out in the first couple of days that I had patient care experience. Couldn't hide it in the ED, I used to bring patients to them and everyone remembered me.

This says it better than I could

This. You will only come off as a know-it-all if you act like one. Don't brush off advice or knowledge from anyone. Even if you think you know what they're teaching you, listen anyway because you might learn something new. And then thank them afterwards.

I was an OR tech for years before joining the Navy. My first time irrigating and packing a wound, they were giving me all these little tips and **** that I had learned or figured out years ago and had taught other people. I just nodded and said, "cool."

I also asked them a few questions that I knew the answers to already. That kind of broke down the assumption that I thought I knew everything, and that little bit of tension went away.

 

[longhaul3]

I hate to throw a wet blanket on your question, and I'm really not trying to cut you down to size or anything, but you should be prepared for a world in which this is just not the case. I see from your post history that you are about to start school, which means that you haven't met your classmates yet, probably haven't experienced the amount of detail you will be cramming in over the next couple years, and haven't had the experience of a med student in the hospital. I don't think that it takes anything more than using common-sense social graces and acquiescing to the hierarchy of medical training to keep from coming off as a know-it-all. What you may be underestimating, though, is how hard it is to come off as a competent med student in training, no matter how much clinical experience you've had.

My point is, don't worry about how you're going to dial it back to fit in with the others...since everyone else is going to have the pedal down, worry about how you're going to sustain going full-gas to keep up. Med school is a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy the challenge.

 

[ChopinLiszt]

eh, I say own it. Just know it all. Know alll of it and enjoy it. But uh, be humble and willing to learn, too.