Medical school interview

What is the hardest thing you have ever had to do?

What is your biggest failure?

What makes you a good leader?

Give an example of when you have worked in a team?

Give and example of when teamwork had gone badly and how did you cope with it?

What kind of doctor do you want to be?

Tell us about yourself

Explain your understanding of a career in medicine

Why do you want to study at a university with rural health as the main focus?

What activities have you done to show your motivation to study med here?

What qualities should a good doctor have?

What are the most important of these qualities?

Give an example of when you worked in a team & what you enjoyed about it?

Give an example of a conflict in the team & how you worked it out? Did it work & if not,
what did you learn from it.

Have you ever been away from your family & what was hard about it?

How did you cope with staying away from family?

How do you think you will cope with the course?

How did you cope with staying away from family?

How do you think you will cope with the course?

This is an integrated course, how do you study & how do you plan to change it in uni?

How would you describe yourself?

Tell us a bit about yourself?

How would a stranger describe you?

How would your friends describe you?

What is your purpose in life?

What things do you value most?

What qualities do you value in others?

What have you learnt from extra-curricular activities?

What sort of sportsmanship do you have, competitive, giving up, gracious, backing away?

If you were head of health what would be your priorities & what problems might you
encounter?

What is your most valued achievement & why?

What kind of achievements do you take pride in?

Tell us one event in your life that shaped you?

What people have influenced you & how?

What are your strengths & weaknesses & when are they most apparent?

What would you like to improve about yourself & why?

What do you think you will get out of the medical course?

If you got into the course what would you change about yourself?

How do you handle criticism?

Describe a time that you had to make an important decision & how did you go about it?

Give a time when you had to make a quick decision based on incomplete information?

Toughest decision ever?

Can you tell when you are stressed?

Is there anything in medicine you think you will have trouble with?

Describe a difficult time in your life?

Have you had any disappointments & how did you cope?

Any failures & how did you cope?

What is the worst thing that ever happened to you & how did you deal?

What qualities do you need to be a good worker & to be a good leader?

Which role do you usually take in a group?

Do you like working in a team or alone?

What would you do if some one were not pulling their weight?
How do you bring the best out of people in a team situation?

Scenario Questions

You are the captain of a successful sporting team that has just won their finals. Everyone
in the team works together really really really well. After winning your finals, the whole
team goes out for celebratory drinks and at the end of the night, two people get into a car
and drive home. The driver crashes the car and suffers minimal injuries, but the passenger
and other teammate is severely injured. Following the incident, the team ceases to stop
working together well and begins to fight over seemingly unrelated or irrelevant issues.
The driver of the car is noticeably more distraught and possibly depressed.
As the captain of the team, what do you do? I spoke to people after the interview and
some of them simply got A team of 4 is not working well together, you are the leader,
what do you do?

You are on a 4 week rural placement as part of your medical degree. You have been on
placement for a week and dont know many people; the doctors in the hospital are not very
friendly. Some of the nurses are but you havent made any friends yet.

You live in a small flat behind the hospital on your own, you have no car and your mobile
phone does not work. After a week of placement you are beginning to feel that you cannot
stand the place any longer.
What do you do? Keep in mind that this is a very, very real situation. You may well be
faced with this exact situation at the end of second year on your 4-week rural placement.

Universities are commonly faced with the complicated task of balancing the educational
needs of their students and the cost required to provide learning resources to a large
number of individuals. As a result of this tension, there has been much debate regarding
the optimal size of classes. One side argues that smaller classes provide a more
educationally effective setting for students, while others argue that it makes no difference,
so larger classes should be used to minimise the number of instructors required.

Joe is a pizza delivery worker. The pizza shop he works for has a 30 minutes or less
delivery guarantee or else the customer does not have to pay. On Joes most recent delivery,
he spots a woman bleeding on the street. There is no one else around and the woman
seems to be unable to move by herself. However, Joe knows that if he returns empty handed
again, he will be fired from this job he most desperately needs. What do you think Joe
should do? Justify your solution in terms of practicality and ethical considerations.

A couple, who are good family friends of yours, come to you asking your advice as a doctor
about their infant son. They are considering circumcision but are unsure about whether or
not it will be beneficial, especially as they are concerned about the risks involved in this
procedure.
What communication skills do you think are important for this situation?
How would you structure your response to the couple?

You are a volunteer at a homeless shelter. One day you meet a 42-year-old woman who is
dying from alcohol-related liver disease. She tells you that she hasn't had a drink in days
and wants to "get hammered" before she dies but cannot get the last bottle of vodka from
her locker at the shelter. You know that alcohol is not permitted at the shelter. What do
you do?

It is late afternoon and you have four patients left to see. You have promised to be home in
time to attend an important family event that evening. Just before you see the remaining
four patients, you receive a call informing you that one of your long-term patients is failing
dramatically. The patient and her family had previously agreed to a Do-Not-Resuscitate
order; however the family is now having second thoughts and wants to discuss the
situation with you as soon as possible. How will you manage your time?

Dr Cheung recommends homeopathic medicines to his patients. There is no scientific

evidence or widely accepted theory to suggest that homeopathic medicines work, and Dr
Cheung doesnt believe them to. He recommends homeopathic medicine to people with
mild and non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, headaches and muscle aches, because he
believes that it will do no harm, but will give them reassurance. Consider the ethical
problems that Dr Cheungs behavior might pose. Discuss these issues with the interviewer.

A message that recently appeared on the Web warned readers of the dangers of
aspartame (artificial sweetener NutraSweet, Equal) as a cause of an epidemic of
multiple sclerosis (a progressive chronic disease of the nervous system) and systemic lupus
(a multisystem auto-immune disease). The biological explanation provided was that, at
body temperature, aspartame releases wood alcohol (methanol), which turns into formic
acid, which is in the same class of drugs as cyanide and arsenic. Formic acid, they argued,
causes metabolic acidosis. Clinically, aspartame poisoning was argued to be a cause of
joint pain, numbness, cramps, vertigo, headaches, depression, anxiety, slurred speech and
blurred vision. The authors claimed that aspartame remains on the market because the
food and drug industries have powerful lobbies in Congress. They quoted Dr Russell
Blaylock, who said, the ingredients stimulate the neurons of the brain to death, causing
brain damage of varying degrees. Critique this message, in terms of the strength of the
arguments presented and their logical consistency. Your critique might include an
indication of the issues that you would like to delve into further before assessing the
validity of these claims

Your company needs both you and a co-worker (Sara, a colleague from another branch of
the company) to attend a critical business meeting in San Diego. You have just arrived to
drive Sara to the airport. Sara is in the room. It isn't stated explicitly but in this station
there is an actor playing Sara. Sara has developed a fear of flying as a result of the
September 11 tragedy and you have to show off your communication skills.

Recently, the Prime Minister of Canada raised the issue of deterrent fees (a small charge,
say $10, which everyone who initiates a visit to a health professional would have to pay at
the first contact) as a way to control health care costs. The assumption is that this will
deter people from visiting their doctor for unnecessary reasons. Consider the broad
implications of this policy for health and health care costs. For example, do you think the
approach will save health care costs? At what expense? Discuss this issue with the
interviewer.

The Canadian Pediatric Association has recommended that circumcisions not be routinely
performed. They base this recommendation on their determination that the benefits have
not been shown to clearly outweigh the risks and costs. Doctors have no obligation to refer
for, or provide, a circumcision, but many do, even when they are clearly not medically
necessary. Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) no longer pays for unnecessary
circumcisions. Consider the ethical problems that exist in this case. Discuss these issues
with the interviewer.

You are a cardiologist at a local hospital, who just finished a shift and has a tight run to
your daughters high school graduation ceremony. As you headed off to the door, Mark, a
patient who knew you well, saw you from the waiting room and grabbed your attention.
Doctor! I have a bad chest pain. Please stay for a bit. Ill feel much better if you were
here.
You are a family physician. One of your patients, Mark, did not attend one of his classes
and missed an important exam. He told you that his teacher would like a doctors note
explaining his absence from class; otherwise, he will receive zero, and all hell will break
loose. He wants to you write a note for him, indicating that he was not feeling well enough
to write the exam. Not able to find any physical symptoms, explain how you would deal
with this.
Some follow up questions:
1. What if Mark told you that he wasnt really sick, but he really really needed your
note?
2. What if Mark was your son? What must you consider in this case?

Woman at bus stop with 2 boys and one girl, and a baby a stroller. She looks tired and
angry, the boys are running around and the baby is crying. Suddenly, she grabs one of the
boys and slaps and screams at him. The other children start crying and the other boy tries
to move away. What do you do?
Follow up questions:
If you intervene, how would you approach the woman?
What would your thoughts be when you see that happening?
What if the woman wasn't the mother, would your view change?

A man has been responsible for taking care of his wife who has been in a vegetative state
for 6 years after a car accident. She can breathe on her own but that is the extent of her
abilities. He requests that her feeding tube be removed. What should you, as her physician
do? Why?
What is your view on euthanasia?
You are working on a group project with 5 other students. One of the students doesnt
show up for meetings or if they do show up they are late and leave early. They have put
no effort into the group project but show up on the day of the presentation and try to take
credit for the project. What do you do in this situation?

You are a second year student shadowing a doctor in the O.R. Once the patient, an obese
female, has been given general anesthetic and the procedure is underway the doctors start
to make comments about her weight and call her names that you find inappropriate but
most of all unprofessional. Do you talk to the doctor about his comments or do you keep
your comments to yourself? Why?

Your friend asks you to mark them present at a compulsory tute, which they are not
present at. They will fail the course if you don't. What do you do?

A student is working in a clinic where the office double books aboriginal patients. The
student asks their reasoning and the receptionist replies that Those people never show up
for their appointments. How would you deal with this situation?

As been proposed that there should be a ban on lung transplants for heavy smokers or
liver transplants for alcoholics. Discuss the implications of this.

You recently told a long-time patient of yours, Sheryl, that she has multiple sclerosis. After
hearing that the appearance of initial symptoms takes two to five years, Sheryl says that
she will not be telling her family. You are also the familys general practitioner and you
know that they would want to be told. How do you deal with this conflict?

A neurosurgeon on his day off has been having a few drinks with his extended family,
when his neurosurgeon colleague to help with an urgent case calls him in. The colleague
tells the neurosurgeon that the person who's meant to be working with him has gone
home due to the flu, and there is a patient that urgently needs to be operated on. The
colleague tells the neurosurgeon that he is the best and the closest one to the hospital. The
neurosurgeon hops in his car and drives off to the hospital to help.
What are the issues here?
Do the neurosurgeon's actions indicate that he is an alcoholic?
Why do you think the neurosurgeon did what he did?

You are driving along a highway and you see an accident happen there are two
casualties. You assess both and Casualty One is bleeding an enormous amount whilst
Casualty Two is steadily bleeding, but not as much. However, if Casualty Two is not
treated, his prognosis will worsen and may risk death. You have 10% saving the life of
Casualty one. You only have time to treat one, who will you choose? If you treat Casualty
Two: The family of Casualty One comes to visit you at the hospital because you were the
doctor in charge of the scene. What do you say and how would you feel?"

Due to the shortage of physicians in rural communities such as those in the Northern
Territory, it has been suggested that medical programs preferentially admit students who
are willing to commit to a 2 or 3-year tenure in an under-serviced area upon graduation.
Consider the broad implications of this policy for health and health care costs. Do you
think the approach will be effective? At what expense? Discuss this.

A pregnant, fifteen year old girl is expelled from her Catholic school. She seems to be highly
in favour of abortion. What are your views on the situation? Discuss.

Mrs. Jones has signed a donor card indicating that she is willing to donate her body to
science without notifying her husband and son. She gets into an accident and it is
determined she is brain dead. The family doctor, who is on call that afternoon, reviews the
chart and determines that she would be perfect for medical students to practice the
removal of organs for transplantation purposes. The doctor then talks to the family to
discuss the procedure and to confirm their consent. They both oppose the procedure and
refuse to allow their doctor to move forward. The doctor points out that Mrs. Jones could
be helping hundreds of people by educating the medical students and that technically
consent has already been provided. The husband understands how beneficial the
educational experience is but is too emotional to allow them to continue. The son, a
medical student, refuses because he knows the bodies are not treated with dignity. If you
were the doctor, how would you proceed? Why?

You are spending your evening as a JURSI in the hospital. It is late and you see a member of
the staff duck into the supply closet with an empty bag and reappear in a few minutes with
it appearing full. You have heard other staff members discussing that supplies are missing
on a regular basis that cannot be accounted for. After observing the actions of the other
staff member, what do you do?

Imagine you are the principal of a large, respected school. There has been an allegation
that a humiliating lm of a young disabled person has been circulating on the Internet.
Two nal year students are up before you to explain their actions in the creation of the
video. The video appears to show a young person with intellectual impairment being
verbally abused by one of the students whilst a group of senior students look on laughing.
What are the issues that you, as the principal, are likely to consider both before and at a
disciplinary hearing?

You have been accepted into medical school and one of your early clinical placements is
with a surgical team. Your supervisor, a senior surgeon, like to make jokes about the race,
religion, sexual orientation, of the more junior members of the team. Occasionally he
makes more serious but also discriminatory statements about the intelligence of
Aboriginal people and how he believes the influx of Muslim immigrants is eroding
Australian values. You know in your cohort there are Aboriginal students accepted
through a separate entry scheme and international students from Malaysia who were the
hijab. What, if anything, would you do in this situation?

One of your old patients comes in to see you. You have received the results from his recent
tests, which state that his heart is failing and he only has 6 to 12 months to live. Before you
have a chance to disclose the information, your patient says that he is aware it is
something serious, but he does not want to know what it is. He wants to live his life to the
fullest, without any knowledge about the predicted life-span."
You are obtaining consent from an old man before a major surgery, which is required to
give him the best chance of survival. The old man says, "Do what you need to do Doc, I
don't want to know the details, they are only going to make me worried. Do you get his
signature without proper explanation of the risks/chances of complications/etc.? Or do
you force this information upon him, even though he insists to stay uninformed?"

You are on the scholarship committee at a university. Your university has one $5,000 P/A
Equity and Access scholarship to award to a commencing medical student. This
scholarship is intended to provide financial assistance to students who have experienced
significant socio-economic or other disadvantage affecting their education. The
scholarship is intended to be awarded on the basis of need, to a student who might
otherwise have trouble accessing university, and will benefit from financial support.
However, the Dean has made it clear that he does not want the scholarship to go to a
student who is likely to drop out. Of the students who applied, you have a shortlist of 4
remaining candidates. Who do you recommend for the scholarship? Argue the case for
them:
Manjarie is a 25-year-old woman who came to Australia as a political refugee. She
has 2 children, aged 4 and 6, and is a single parent. She had started a medical
degree in her country of origin, but discontinued when fled the country. She
recently completed year 12 at tafe as a full time student. She says that she would
like to work with women and children, and especially with refugees, with whom she
does a lot of volunteer work. She has a CSP place in your med school.
Jayden is a 19-year-old man from an Aboriginal background. He left home, and
dropped out of high school, when he was 13, working intermittently as a laborer,
before returning to school at the age of 17. His ATAR was just below the cut-off, but
was adjusted to account for attending a disadvantaged high school. He did very
well at the interview, and was offered a CSP place at your school. Jayden says that
returning to school and being able to catch up enough to do well-enough in the
exams made him realise that he was truly talented at science, and his dream is to
do medical research.
Peta is an 18-year-old woman. She comes from an extremely rural background, and
had a disrupted education, largely completed by School of the Air, she has little
experience of classroom learning. Chris's father is the only doctor in her region, and
she has often "helped out" with his work. Her dream is to join the Royal Flying
Doctors. She was offered a BMP place at your university, and she has applied for a
bonded rural scholarship as well. If she accepts the rural bonded scholarship, she
cannot accept your scholarship, it will be returned, and go to the next candidate on
the list.
Tony is an 18-year-old man who attended a selective high school, and achieved a
perfect ATAR. His parents live abroad, and provide sporadic financial and
emotional support, but he has been living independently for most of the last 3
years. He is the only applicant who is not wholly dependent on a Cent relink
allowance. He has a CSP place in your course. He has an older sister who has a
moderate intellectual disability; she lives in supported accommodation, but her
brother visits 2 or 3 times a week and has not insignificant career responsibilities.
Tony says he wants to specialise in paediatric, and work with disabled children.

X is dismissing a student and tells him to find another teacher, as he has not kept up to
date with his work. You feel that X is being unreasonable. What would you do?
You are a member of the university disciplinary committee and have been asked to review
a case of a full fee paying medical student who forged a doctor's signature to confirm he
completed his attendance requirements during placement. The student is in his 4th year of
5; both his parents are educated professionals to have met with the committee to vouch for
their son's otherwise exceptional standing in the community. The student argues that the
doctor had been busy and that he couldn't find him to sign his attendance form.

The other two members of the committee are advocating the student repeat the year and
pay the full fees for the extra year's tuition. What argument would you make as a
committee member?

Vaccination has been lauded as an important public health measure but it requires at
least 80% of people, ideally more than 90% of people, be vaccinated before a whole
population is protected. Some groups in Australia are opposed to vaccination, often
referred to as conscientious objectors.

Overseas, in the UK, there have been calls to make vaccination compulsory for children in
public schools. What is your opinion on this issue and what are your reasons?

You are a GP. A mother brings in her child for her daily checkup; on looking at her record
she has had none of the expected vaccinations. On further probing you find out that 3
years ago her other child died 12 hours after receiving a flu injection. Do you still maintain
your stance?

Dangers of Cigarettes, Cigars and Smokeless Tobacco:

Smokers have a 50% chance of dying earlier than non-smokers. Smoking cuts down
around seven years on an average from a smokers life. The risk of developing
diseases is eliminated in smokers who quit smoking before an age of 35. Quitting
smoking before the age of 50 reduces the risk of dying due to diseases by half.
Quitting smoking is beneficial at all stages, but the earlier the better. People who
quit at the age of 65 to 69 also can increase their life expectancy.

Cigars and pipe tobacco are sometimes used as Natural ways to quit smoking. They
are not as addictive as cigarettes. But research has found that they too are not
completely safe. Cigars increase the chances of developing lung cancer by 1 to 4
times than people who do not smoke. The probability of developing cancer of the
mouth, tongue, gums, lips, voice box and esophagus are almost the same as that of
people who smoke cigarettes. People who smoke cigars are also at a higher risk of
developing lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis and heart
diseases.

Spit or smokeless tobaccos are other natural ways to quit smoking. These include
chewing tobacco and snuff. Tobacco in the form of smoke is the most harmful.
Hence some people believe that spit tobacco is less harmful but it is known to be as
addictive as cigarettes. Spit tobacco leads to the development of white leathery
patches on the inside of the cheek or the gum, which is called leukoplakia. This can
further lead to cancer of the mouth, lips, tongue or cheeks. People who use spit
 tobacco are at twice the risk of developing gum disease. This can cause tooth loss
or other dental problems. Smokeless tobacco also contains high levels of nicotine
similar to that in cigarettes. They also cause addiction and become hard to quit.

Summarise the information in your own words:

Critique this message, in terms of the strength of the arguments presented and
their logical consistency. Your critique might include an indication of the issues
that you would like to delve into further before assessing the validity of these
claims

Things to consider

THE DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

Passive and active euthanasia
Order of death
SPIKES is taught for breaking bad news.
o Setting: Appropriate time and place with adequate privacy.
o Perception: Ascertain what they think they have and what they think they
know. Answer any questions and correct misconceptions.
o Invitation: Do they want to know or not?
o Knowledge: Tell them what they want to know and what they need to know
in a caring and sensitive manner.
o Empathy: Validate their feelings and provide support.
o Summary: Debrief essentially. Summarise what has happened in the session
and make sure everything is understood.