General Job Interview Flashcards
Do you understand the role? What can you offer/add to it?
- Specimen reception and office duties including triaging and logging in specimens for transfusion testing, issuing/dispensing, packing and despatching blood and blood products within and external to the hospital
- Automated and manual processing specimens and identification of routine and complex atypical antibodies by BioVue, BioRad, TTH technique
- Referral testing of regional and private pathology work, including testing such as DTT treated screens on patients receiving monoclonal antibody therapy, alloabsorption on patients with autoantibodies and identification of complex antibodies
- I bring to the role a systematic and proactive approach to work and
transfusion experience from a regional laboratory and the two largest metro hospitals in South Australia
Outline your laboratory experience
4 years regional multidisciplinary experience; NSW
Pre-analytical tasks including specimen reception and data entry
Testing and reporting of haematology, biochemistry, coagulation and transfusion results
Blood management including stock challenges due to distance from distribution centre
Manual and automated identification of atypical antibodies by gel BioRad
Manual phenotyping, antenatal titration of antibodies and autoabsorption
Neonatal cord testing, antibody ID by elution
On Call scientist (as in, return to the lab in the middle of the night for ICU bloods)
18 months of specialised transfusion experience; RAH and FMC
Receipt, triaging and processing transfusion specimens by automated BioVue method, and manual BioVue, BioRad and TTH techniques including identification of atypical and complex red cell antibodies
Management of blood stock including intra and interhospital dispensing of blood and blood products under routine, urgent and critical bleed scenarios
Titration of typical red cell antibodies in renal and antenatal patients by automated techniques
Provision of blood and blood products to neonatal patients under routine, critical bleed and clinical trial scenarios
Exposure to stem cell infusions and clinical support during liver transplants
You’re having analyser trouble and a doctor calls, furious that he hasn’t got the result yet - what do you do?
Apologise
Briefly explain the situation, and the ETA
Ask whether theres a specific result they’re interested in, and ask whether they would like a result phone call once it’s processed
Offer alternatives if possible - e.g. a blood gas or sending samples offsite
We have to ensure patient management is achieved, don’t want the doctor to lose faith in our service
Tell us about a time when you anticipated the future and amended current responsibilities/operations to meet future needs?
Multidisciplinary work was both good and bad for this; for example, if your post op patient was taking a lot of products, and platelet count was falling I would be able to arrange stock before the doctor required it; this was important at Wollongong Private because we didn’t keep platelets on site and it took 2 hours to receive a life-threatening blood delivery
Phone Wollongong public to ask to borrow some stock, call the couriers department to arrange collection
You would be able to arrange stock before it was required, however you had to put other work on hold in order to do that. You might need to call the hospital coordinator and notify them of delays to ward testing in order to do that, and you would have to pause outpatient work entirely though
Can you think of a difficult clinical situation you had to face and how you tackled it?
There was a patient with multiple clinically significant antibodies, that lifeblood was unable to provide enough blood for the patient to have their urgent scheduled surgery
While I was on shift one day, the patient deteriorated and the patient was taken for emergency surgery
All the blood was in one tray, crossmatched but in varying stages of compatibility; there were clear notes in the patient file from senior scientists regarding the order of dispense
That clinical situation was difficult for me as it was beyond anything I’d ever experienced before; multiple antibodies wasn’t something I had to deal with in NSW often at all, let alone the idea of dispensing potentially incompatible units was scary to me
One thing I did that I think helped me prepare mentally, was something I had seen recently at another site - arranging the units in the fridge as “first choice”, “second choice”, etc.
Can you give me an example of a time when you were faced with a decision with no clear solution? What did you do? What did you consider in your decisions? What was the outcome?
There was a patient recently who presented to the emergency department with a critically low hb and had a number of historically significant antibodies as well as one currently reactive antibody
Lifeblood was unable to provide enough blood to meet patient requirements, however there was another patient who was scheduled for transfusion who met their requirements, who was booked for the next day
The patient who was booked in, had a history of not presenting to their treatment schedule
I considered both patients haemoglobins, the unreliable patients date of most recent presentation and whether or not other sites might be able to assist and whether lifeblood might be able to get us blood within the week to replace what I ended up taking
The patient in the emergency department is still with us in the hospital, the unreliable patient was rescheduled for treatment. It felt like a lose/lose situation, definitely an unclear clinical case
Tell me about a situation in which you have had to adjust to changes over which you had no control. How did you handle it?
Working during unplanned LIS communication outages recently; essentially one step away from downtime
Do what you can, leave what you can’t - outpatients processed last, wards notified of delays, work smart and efficiently and try not to let it get to you
Please provide examples of how you deal with pressure?
Assess the situation
Ask for help where needed
Be realistic with yourself and others
How do you deal with stressful situations?
Stress management on shift and outside of work helps to deal with stress and prevent it from carrying over into other shifts/come home with you
Fitbit has a 2 minute breathing exercise/meditation function
I’ve taken up running
On breaks, I try to completely remove myself from the chaos waiting for me when I return; podcasts, duolingo, etc. Get out of the headspace you left the lab in so you can return refreshed
Would you consider yourself to be a good communicator?
I try to understand my audience and adapt my communication to convey the message as clearly as possible - e.g.
When a clinician calls in an urgent situation, they are looking for confident and concise responses
When you giving a large handover to overnight shift, they are likely to be tired and a sticky note explaining where the investigation is up to and the urgency will be more clear than minutes of talking
I think these techniques make me a good communicator
Tell us about a work error you felt guilty about at your current or most recent workplace?
Several months ago, on a busy shift I issued blood to a patient receiving monoclonal antibody therapy, which did not 100% meet their requirements
I realised a few hours after transfusion that I had made a mistake
On the next shift, the patient became febrile and a transfusion investigation was performed showing no evidence of incompatibility
When I saw the patient on the manual pending list the next day for a transfusion investigation I had such overwhelming guilt and anxiety about my mistake
At the next opportunity I spoke with a senior scientist about it and discussed the risk for the patient, the proper procedure and how I can prevent the mistake occuring again in the future
Have there been times when you’ve gone above and beyond what is required?
That’s a hard question
This week I took a phone call from a nurse from Mount Barker, who sounded exasperated, she’d called SA Pathology 4 times to see if we could add on a group and hold to a CBE collected overnight, and each time she was forwarded to a different department.
The sample wasn’t in storage, so I headed to haem to see if it had been processed manually - they sent me to biochem because it had a red cell folate on it too. I ended up finding the sample in a rack in a cupboard in biochemistry, because red cell folates have to be kept from light. Sadly, the tube wasn’t signed, so I phoned Mount Barker back and they collected an urgent group and hold on the patient.
While I don’t think it’s above and beyond what was required of me, checking to see if a specimen was suitable for add on testing, I think it would be easy to put the responsibility onto another department (e.g. haem or biochem, who had the sample), rather than seeing it through then and there
If you noticed a recurring problem, what would you do about it?
It depends on the scale of the issue
If it was small, I would either see if I could come up with a solution to the problem myself
If it was a larger or more systemic issue, I would bring it up with management or at a staff meeting so a resolution can be made as a team
How would you handle multiple people giving you tasks at the same time?
Be honest with them; let them know that you have a lot on their plate. Help set their expectations to avoid future disappointment. If I really didn’t think I could handle it on top of everything else, I would let them know so that they consider other arrangements.
Give an example of how you have successfully managed conflict in a professional context. How did you work through issues, what was the outcome? Would you take the same approach now?
We had a demanding and abrasive haematologist at my previous hospital
He would constantly expect work to be completed on short notice and prioritisation/special treatment of his patients
Over time, I was able to build a rapport with him by meeting his expectations and providing him with clear communication when his expectations weren’t able to be met
At the end of my time at Wollongong, I knew someone whos family member was under his care. I found out that amongst patients, he’s known for his bedside manner - moving heaven and earth so that the patient can enjoy milestone events during palliative treatment.
It didn’t excuse his behaviour, but it gave me insight into why he asked what he did of us
