Preparing for an interview. Part III

Below, we have included a short list of possible questions so you can start thinking about how you would answer them. You can sit down and try to come up with an answer for each and then practise speaking with a friend or colleague so you sound natural when you answer something similar.

General questions

������ Tell us about yourself

������ Talk/Walk us through your CV/Application form

������ Speak to us about your background

������ What is exceptional about you?

������ What part of your CV are you most proud of?

Personal Qualities

������ Why did you go into Medicine?

������ What is your career ambition?

������ What would you change if you could start your career again?

������ Where exactly do you see yourself in 6-7 years?

������ Why do you want to do this speciality in particular?

������ What do you like about this speciality?

Research and Audit

������ Tell us about your research experience.

������ How much of your research is your own design and how much was designed by your supervisor?

������ How do you organise your research projects?

������ Why is research important?

������ When doing research, what is the one most important thing to get right?

Teaching others and keeping yourself up to date

������ Tell us about your teaching experience.

������ What methods of teaching do you prefer? Why?

������ How would you convince a junior colleague of the importance of teaching?

������ Give me an example of a situation where you recognised that a member of your team needed more training.

������ What is Problem Based Learning? What are the pros and cons?

Ethical Problem

������ How would you deal with a situation where you suspected that your consultant had a drink problem?

������ How would you react if one of your junior colleagues came to

work drunk on the ward fi rst thing in the morning? What about if it was your consultant?

������ A patient mentions to you that on various occasions they have

smelt alcohol on another doctor’s breath during clinic in the past few weeks. What do you do? with it? How would you approach the consultant?

������ How would you react if your consultant did not provide adequate

training and adopted a condescending attitude towards

you due to your apparent lack of knowledge?

Clinical Governance and other Issues

������ What impact does Clinical Governance have on your daily

work?

������ Do you think Clinical Governance is useful or is it just more

bureaucracy?

������ Do you think there are any problems with the way Clinical

Governance is implemented?

������ Who is responsible for Clinical Governance at your hospital?

Preparing for an interview. Part II

Possible Question  & Model Answer

1. Why do you want this post?

This institution is one of the leading hospitals in the country in this field

and I would like to be given this post because it offers an opportunity to get the best possible training in the field and because there is also a high degree of practical exposure with this post.

2. What are the qualities of a good doctor?

Good doctors are people who can think on their feet. They are good team leaders as well as being good team players. Good doctors are always up to date on all medical literature and show good medical knowledge. They know how to listen to patients and

other members of staff. They know how to plan ahead and are great time managers, never wasting time on useless procedures. A good doctor will know when the time has come to ask for help and will not let pride get in the way of helping a patient.

3. What do you expect from this post?

I expect this post to help me advance toward my goal to becoming an

excellent doctor. I expect this post to offer me the possibility to not only learn but to put into practice what I have been taught in my time here.

4. Tell us your good and bad points.

There is no real answer to this one as it depends largely on what you consider to be your good points and bad points. Make sure your “bad points” are not too bad and can be construed as good points. eg. Taking work home with me, etc.

5. What are your short/ medium/long term career goals?

My professional goals are to gain new skills and experience so that I

can be promoted to the next level in my career as a doctor.

There will always be one question which comes from the information that you supplied on your C.V. so make sure that what you say on your C.V. is the truth or that you can at least speak confidently about things which you are supposed to know about. Nothing would be worse than writing that you spent your summer holidays bird-watching in the

Himalayas and for one of the interviewers to be a avid bird watcher himself,

leaving you to admit you don’t have any idea about birds at all......... You may also be given one or two clinical scenarios and asked to explain what you would do in each case.

Scenario 1:

A colleague comes into the operating theatre prepared to operate

smelling of alcohol after a very heavy night out and possibly

having taken drugs. How do you face up to this situation?

Because the patient’s safety is paramount, the fi rst thing I would do would be

to speak to the doctor in question. Then, I would warn the Clinical Director of the

situation so a solution could be found. I would look into the possibility of rehabilitation

for the doctor as it is a very serious situation which cannot happen in a hospital.

Patients’ well-being and even their lives are at stake.

Scenario 2:

You are an I.C.U. medical resident and you are awoken while

on duty to be told that one of the patients was unwell. How will

you deal with this situation?

Firstly, I would ensure that there is a safe environment for myself and my colleagues

to work in. Then, I would start by assessing the situation using the A (Airway), B

(Breathing), C(Circulation), D(Disability) and E(Exposure) procedure so I would not

miss anything. I would seek help from a senior doctor if required. Above all, I would

remain calm, lead the team in a professional way and apply the qualities of a good doctor.