Mentioned in both readings, the Principles of Questioning are important in the clinical setting. It is important to keep the question simple, but also provoke thought. Questions should be easy to understand but also try to assess what the student knows. As the article said, questions should test student’s preparation, provoke interest, and strengthen learning. The on-line lecture discussed waiting for students to take in the question and develop and answer. I also thought it was important when this was mentioned in the article to wait for multiple students to form an answer to the question before calling on someone. In huddle, our instructors seem to take the answer from the first person who knows it. I’m always sitting there thinking, “DARN! I could have gotten that!” As I was reading through the book and the article, I was thinking of the questions my instructors ask. Most of them follow these guidelines, but sometimes they are so busy that they ask yes or no questions. As the readings mention, they should add explain or why to the end of those.
As far as the lesion on the buccal mucosa, I would ask questions that are purposeful, clear, brief, natural, and at the ability level of the student. I would also try to pull from different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy:
1. Did you notice anything of concern on the head and neck exam? (A question many of our instructors begin with)
2. How did you describe the buccal mucosa? (thought provoking)
3. What information about the lesion should be recorded? (student should be at the ability level to answer this and analyze the lesion)
4. What are some possible causes of the lesion? (evaluation of findings)
5. (assuming the patient remembers biting his cheek 2 days ago) How long should we wait for this to heal before it becomes of concern? (simple, has a direct answer)
6. If you were the patient, what are some things you could do to help it heal or alleviate the pain? (thought provoking and personal)
I thought it was a helpful reminder in the article to ask questions at the students’ ability levels. I am a practicum student in the first year dental student pre-clinic course. I was helping students the other day by checking in medical histories and vitals, and helping them take impressions. When checking in medical histories, I noticed that many of them had their patients classified as ASA I when they were taking birth control pills. I pointed out that this would make them an ASA II, and asked if they knew why. Something that seems so simple to me as what would be a red flag for birth control, isn’t as obvious to new students. Eventually I told them, and they seemed to remember that.
Lauren, I’m curious if your first question was asked just because your instructors ask it first, or do you think it’s a good question to ask?
Although it is a very general question, I think it is a good starting point and gives the student a chance to point out anything they noticed.
Questions that are simple and provoke thought are great for clinic and perfect for when time is limited. I too believe it’s important to let a few students come up with answers before giving the answer as an instructor. Our clinical instructors are guilty of letting the first person to shout out an answer (whether right or wrong) be the only answer offered, and this is frustrating because I always wonder if I would have come to the right conclusion on my own too. Great questions regarding the the lesion!