why this came to mind tonight in the midst of drinking, i don't know.

medical student rule #8: if a fellow med student is getting pimped, DO NOT INTERVENE until the attending or resident decides to turn their attention to you or to the crowd in general.

additional points: if the attending or resident has moved up the hierarchy, it is probably not a good idea to chime in. for example, if the attending has decided to ask the intern for information, unless the intern really doesn't know and you actually do (and you know it in excruciating detail), chances are it is probably unwise to speak.

to the chronically clueless, you should definitely NEVER interrupt until the person being pimped has had all opportunity to answer, AND the attending or resident has decided to shift their attention elsewhere.

as an attending surgeon once said, chances are you won't know the answer to any question an attending asks. because either it is a ridiculous pimp question that no one knows the answer to, or the attending is thinking aloud, asking a question that can't be answered without further examination and lab work. after all, when you present a case, you tell the attending everything you know, so anything he or she subsequently asks will be about something you haven't talked about yet, probably because you didn't even think of it in the first place.

as an attending cardiologist noted, if you did know the answer, then the attending would be superfluous, and that means he or she has nothing to teach you anyway.