Interview question bank

Question 1

Why have you applied to be an intern at St Vincent’s? What attracted you to this hospital?

Answer 1

• Personal
  
  • Living in area, partner lives in area, bought into the area, likes community, walking/riding to work
• Professional
  
  • Cardiology team, collegiality, teamwork
• Career path
  
  • Vertical transitions, now and in the future

Question 2

Tell us about your MDRP. What reasons did you have for choosing that project, and what have you learned?

Answer 2

• Why choosing the project?
  
  • Relationship with supervisor
  • Interest in cardiology
  • Lots of advances in the field
• What have I learned?
  
  • Practical skills - pushed to do a systematic review, pushed beyond my comfort zones and limits
  • Self sufficient, Andrew had hands off appproach (planted the seed), had to learn how to research
  • Asking for help

Question 3

You are the intern on the medical ward and your registrar asks you to perform an LP on a young man with possible meningitis. He is alert and cooperative. Describe how you would proceed from here?

Answer 3

• Not knowing how to do a lumbar puncture
• Reach out for help, and instruction
  
  • Prepare patient
  • Open consent - ensure that the patient is aware of your status, and capabilities. Reassure them that your supervisor is there, and that they are there to take over if I start to have any trouble.
    
    • Talk through the procedure outside the room first, even do a dummy run
    • Decide on a clear pull out point with supervisor so they know when to intervene
• Personnel
  
  • Yourself, supervisor, nurse
• Procedure
  
  • Sterile field, 2 attempts, patient comfort
• Debrief
  
  • Check patient is ok and comfortable
  • Consult supervisor for feedback

Question 4

A patient who you looked after on the ward for four weeks has asked you to become their friend on Facebook. What is your approach to this request?

Answer 4

• Acknowledge that it is a reflection that the patient appreciates our service, thank them
• Try not to make them feel embarrassed or uncomfortable, they would have debated asking
• Let them know politely that I personally maintain a professional relationship with my patients, and that it is against hospital policy
• Again reiterate the kindness of the gesture, and that you appreciate them
• Consult the hospital

Question 5

Being an intern can be stressful. Tell us how you deal with stress?

Answer 5

• Talk about how it is something I have thought about. How I had stressful times during medschool, where I felt overwhelmed by the pressure.
• Home
  
  • Friends
  • Family
  • Partner
  • Hobbies
  • Exercise, guitar etc
• Work
  
  • Create own deadlines, peer support, supervisor, head of intern training, counselors

Question 6

You have noticed a co-intern tends to say well past home time, and is at work early and looks stressed. They approach you one day that you are not pulling your weight and they are going to complain about you to the consultant in charge. What is your approach?

Answer 6

• Patient safety is a priority
• Meet with the intern for a coffee, somewhere away from the stress of work
• Let them know you are concerned. Ask what is wrong, what they believe the problem is. Ask if they think things aren’t getting done
• Reassure them that we are a team, and that I am here for them if they are stressed
• Ask if anything is going on outside of work that has been getting them worked up
• Bring up with the consultant separately asking for feedback. Primarily if the consultant is happy with how we are tracking as interns, inform them that the other intern is quite stressed and if there is anything that can be done. Ask if we have been doing enough work.

Question 7

Do you have any plans about what sort of medical career you want to have? What motivations do you have for these plans?

Answer 7

• be broad
• Throughout my medical degree I have worked at various sites and have been exposed to many career paths, both public and private
• I have found that I have been drawn to the physicians training programs for three reasons
  
  • 1. From working within the cardiology teams, at various hospitals, I have found that I share their mindset and culture. I love continuity of care, in particular, with respect to building a relationship with a patient and developing trust.
  • 2. I find that the lifestyle suits me. I like to enjoy time away from medicine, and with my family from time to time. From physicians I have spoken to, it seems that the physician training program offers this.
  • 3. I’ve found myself enjoying my time with the interventional cardiology team at St. Vincent’s, and have a full understanding of the career path involved and believe this to be an achievable goal for me.
• I wish to undertake my training at St. Vincent’s because BPT, pass rate
• I want opportunities for research and teaching
• Surprisingly I have enjoyed my research, and I love teaching students’

Question 8

A patient of yours on the gastro unit has just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He is non-English speaking and his son and daughter ask you not to tell him what is wrong with him bnecause “the news will kill him”. How do you deal with this situation?

Answer 8

• Have to identify key issues
• Patient rights, honesty

Question 9

1. elderly gentleman who doesn’t want to be discharged – what do you do?

Answer 9

??

Question 10

What criteria did you use in choosing hospitals for Intern applications in 2018?

Answer 10

??

Question 11

Tell us about a time where professional boundaries were blurred?

Answer 11

? Midwife setup?

Question 12

Give an example of a time you’ve had to work under great stress and how you handled it

Answer 12

ED example with endopthalmitis

Literature review deadline

Question 13

A time you’ve turned a problem around

A time when you noticed a problem/issue and fixed it

Answer 13

Drug mix up at Freemason’s

Issues with team members - coffee meeting, discussion to identify and address problems and disagreements, collaborate to make a clear plan moving forward

Question 14

Tell us about a time you have had difficulties communicating with a co-worker

Someone you didn’t get along with

Example of when your communication skills let you down

Answer 14

Issues in MD3

Handover at RCH, I identified a prolonged history of otalgia but had created it with bias. I had asked ‘are you sure there has been no history of otalgia’, mother said ‘maybe he has had earache’ and in my notes I documented ‘history of otalgia’, forgot the context when presenting to consultant, and resulted in an awkward situation when he clarified with the patients mother. No harm was done, but I learned a clear lesson in making sure I don’t lead with my questioning, and to clearly document interactions.

Question 15

A time you got negative feedback

Answer 15

MD2 Resp history

Pretend I’m Daniel

Question 16

When you haven’t met a deadline

Answer 16

MDRP lit review - missed my own deadlines

Question 17

Tell us about a difficult decision and how you went about making it?

Answer 17

Buying apartment

Con vs. Martin

Question 18

Imagine you’ve had a serious illness - and had to take time off as an intern (LI) – how would you cope?

Answer 18

• Real possibility
• Have to have a plan in effect
  
  • Notify head of internships, notify unit

Question 19

Tell us about one of your core values and how that will help you in internship?

Answer 19

Loyalty

Promptness

Honesty

Could be a fun tid bit to talk about all 3 very briefly, but then focus on a challenging one to talk about that perhaps isn’t so obvious, such as loyalty.

Question 20

Biggest challenge of internship

Answer 20

Time management

Be clear to identify the challenge, an example where this has been an issue in the past, and the system you have in place to tackle this challenge in the future

Question 21

Tell us about a time you’ve had to conform to policy that you didn’t agree with?

Answer 21

Hmmm

Question 22

A time you’ve experienced great change

A time when you’ve created great change

Answer 22

Not sure how to tackle this one

Question 23

You notice yourself becoming depressed/or your friend – what do you do?

Question 24

Describe a time you’ve been in a work type environment and observed someone lying

Question 25

A time when honesty is not the best policy

Answer 25

Honesty can sometimes be a form of self indulgence Sometimes during points of frustration, or perhaps during a point of disagreeance with the patient If I disagree with a patients outlook, sometimes being honest about this isn't the best solution Example: Anti-Vax mother with 4 children at RCH, one child 12m was particularly sick. Sometimes you have to pick your battles. Sometimes whilst it is good to know when to say something, knowing when to say silent can be even more difficult.

Question 26

Tell us about a time you’ve said something to upset a patient

Answer 26

Telling a patient at GP clinic I would see them in 15 minutes, had a big delay and took 45 minutes to get to them. They were really angry that a medical student wasted their time.

Question 27

A time when someone has been unhappy with something you’ve said or you offended someone

Answer 27

Cock and balls story Trewarne

Question 28

Tell me a time when you didn’t have enough resources available to you – what did you do at the time?

Question 29

1. Tell me why you wanted to go into medicine? 2. Why do you want to complete your internship at this hospital? 3. How do you think it is going to help your career? 4. What do you see as the role of the Intern? 5. What are you looking for in a program? 6. What rotations would you like to do?

Question 30

1. What are your career goals/aspirations? 2. What do you aim to achieve in your HMO year? 3. Is there an area you’d like to specialize in? 4. Why do you want to be a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_? 5. Where do you see your career going over the next 5 years? 6. How do you think this hospital can help you achieve that? 7. Are you more interested in academic medicine or private practice, and why

Question 31

1. What are some of the challenges you see facing health care / medical field at present? 2. What do you see as some of the strengths of our hospital? 3. What do you believe your greatest challenge will be if you are accepted into this Internship? 4. What is the role of a multi-disciplinary team, and have you ever worked with such a team before? 5. What is your idea of professionalism? 6. What makes a good doctor/Intern? What areas will you need assistance in? 7. What support do you expect to get during your internship year? 8. How would you use the a value from this hospital to guide you as an intern?

Question 32

1. Why do you think you’d be effective in this role? 2. What are your strengths, which are relevant to this role? 3. Have you had a good or bad experience in medical school? 4. How would your friends describe you?

Question 33

1. What weakness do you have which may be relevant to the position? 2. Tell me about a placement where something went wrong? 3. What would your supervisor say is your biggest weakness? 4. Have you made any mistakes in medical school or during a rotation? 5. What makes you angry?

Question 34

1. What do you do in your spare time? 2. What community activities or voluntary work have you enjoyed the most? Why? 3. What are your hobbies? 4. Tell me about the research you have done? 5. Tell me more about your community involvement?

Question 35

1. Can you tell me about a time when you participated in a team which worked successfully? 2. What do you think contributed to the team’s success and what role did you play? 3. Give me an example of where the team didn’t work so successfully, why? 4. How would you deal with a fellow intern who was struggling? 5. Tell us about a time you’ve demonstrated leadership?

Question 36

1. Tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with an upset patient, customer or colleague? 2. Can you tell me a situation where the patient’s family was not happy with the patient’s care, how did you handle this situation? 3. Have you had to deal with any conflict whilst in medical school or in work? 4. How did you deal with a situation where you were uncomfortable with how a doctor treated a patient? 5. How would you deal with a co-worker who was lazy or bad? 6. Can you describe an experience where some one betrayed you?

Question 37

1. Tell me about a time when you had too many things to do and had to find a way of managing. What strategies did you use? 2. What have you learnt about managing work pressure? 3. Can you describe an experience in your life when you were challenged? What did you learn personally and professionally? 4. Tell me a time where things didn’t go with your plan, how did you deal with it?

Question 38

1. If you were asked to do a procedure, and you hadn’t done it before, what would you do? 2. What would you do if you check the pulse of a patient and find it above normal? 3. A fellow intern who is a good friend of yours is making long private mobile phone calls when s/he should be on the wards, what would you do and why? 4. You overhear a senior consultant explain his/her mistake as something that you did wrong, what would you do and why? 5. You believe that the duties you were expected to perform on your shift are far more than those of fellow interns at a similar level, what would you do and why? 6. You walk into a room, and see a patient deteriorating in front of you. Their RR is 36 and they appear pale. What would you do? 7. The family of a patient is very grateful for your management. They would like to get your number and address so they can cook you some delicious meals. What would you do in this situation? 8. It’s 3 am and you’re covering the gen med unit. You prescribe a patient a medication you think they need urgently, but the nurse on duty completely disagrees with you. She threatens to call your consultant if you prescribe the medication, what do you do?

Question 39

1. Please tell us 3 things about yourself. 1 minute only 2. Why RMH? 3. Tell us about yourself outside of medicine. 4. What are your career aspirations? 5. Tell us something about you that is not on your CV

Question 40

1. As a group, discuss approaches to dealing with adverse incidents as a junior doctor, for example unexpected deaths, and what the hospital can do about it. 2. Leading on from before, as a group, brainstorm guidelines hospitals could use in setting up de-briefing for adverse events for staff. 3. As a group discuss how you would feel about RMH only employing Australian-born, Victorian-trained doctors as interns, and come up with a unanimous decision. 4. Group question: Discuss what will be the greatest challenge as an intern working at RMH, and how will you solve them? 5. Group question: What do you use to help organize your activities? 6. How do you know when communication has failed? 7. HR is suggesting less pay and hiring extra staff to help with busy schedule, thoughts? 8. Sometimes team members struggle, what quality would you use to help each other out?

Question 41

1. Recount a time when you miscommunicated information and what happened? 2. Recount a time when you noticed a problem or issue and fixed it? 3. 2 ways in the past year that you’ve improved your self personally. 4. Recount a time when you had to make a difficult decision. 5. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of working in a group? 6. What do you plan to achieve in your HMO year? 7. What would you do if you didn’t get a job at this hospital? 8. A time when a team has failed/didn’t work, what would you do differently? 9. Two ways you’ve professionally or personally developed yourself recently. 10. A time when you have changed a system? 11. What are the qualities of leadership? 12. What would you do if a bad decision has been made? 13. Transition to internship, and how to stay on top of a busy schedule? 14. Tell us a time you made someone upset? 15. Tell us a time you spoke up to someone? 16. Tell us a time when someone questioned your trust? 17. Tell us a time when your group failed and how did you fix it? 18. Tell me a time when you had to change policy or procedure? 19. Tell me a time when you had a lot of tasks to complete and what did you do? 20. Name one strength (being organized) 21. Name one weakness 22. How do you give feedback? 23. Intern is not performing as required, you find out that he is doing drugs on FB, what do you do? 24. How to handle aggressive patients? 25. How to increase morale? 26. Importance of rural health