How To Ask High Yield Questions?

[Andrew0568]

I'm 2 weeks away from graduating PA school and I still haven't really mastered the technique of asking other providers quality, high-yield types of questions. 

 

How do you focus/shape your questions to other providers so you can get high-yield information to advance your knowledge and clinical skills without a) annoying them or b) seeming like a dunce?

 

[SedRate]

Do your research. Hopefully that'll allow you to figure out such information. Consider reading a book focused on the specialty you're trying to obtain high-yield info in. If you still haven't found your answer and once you've gathered some basic knowledge of the basis for your question, then ask it in a way that the provider knows you already tried looking it up. For example, "Hey John Doe, I was looking up a high-yield-topic and it mentioned Xa for X scenario, why would one do Xa instead of Y, which seems like a reasonable alternative?" Or something like that. Other tips: don't ask questions in high stress situations, don't ask questions that you can look up the answer for yourself (I hate when students do this; see advice above), don't ask a hundred questions in a row or a hundred throughout the day, etc. Ask the provider if you can have a few moments of their time to ask a question you've been trying to figure out and/or pick their brain. That way you get their undivided attention and you've asked their permission to interrupt whatever they're doing.