Interviews - Top Tips
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Role Play
Active Listening - Pick op on cues from the patient, address their ideas, concerns and expectation (ICE)
Communication - Be clear, avoid jargon
Aids - Notice if there are any tools in the station that you may be allowed to use during the station
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Ethics
4 pillars - Beneficence, Non-maleficence, Justice and Autonomy
3 C's - Confidentiality, Consent, Capacity (Adult and Child). Know if and when these can be overridden
Balanced argument - give equal arguments for and against
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Current Affairs
Read the news - What's been in the news recently relating to healthcare and what's the public view on this
Read around the topic - think about the medical issues surrounding it
Give unique insights - if it's a topic with issues, can you propose any solutions?
Panel Interview - Example 1
If you weren’t to get into a medical school this year, what would you do?
Key Points:
A chance to show how passionate and determined you are to study Medicine
Show that you're able to take advantage of this situation. Also mention that you would gain feedback or reflect on what your weaknesses are and what went wrong and how you would use this constructively to improve next time
Suggest how you'll reapply next year and during the gap year, you’ll take up opportunities like working, volunteering and doing work experiences (don’t just list them, suggest places you’d go do these experiences) to gain more experience in your field of interest
Maybe even suggest you may go into another medical degree
Panel Interview - Example 2
Does every team need a leader? Would you say you are a leader?
Example answer
You could argue that every person in a team is a leader because of the individual responsibilities they possess. We all play a role in a team of contributing towards a common goal hence every member of the team leads their own path towards achieving the shared goal. In certain situations, a team might need someone to delegate tasks and ensure the group are all heading towards one direction. In addition, there may be difficulties in reaching a conclusion which is when an individual might have to diffuse the situation. I would say that in certain situations, I have been a leader whereby I have been responsible for ensuring my team works together effectively. I was able to demonstrate this through my role as Deputy Head Boy, leading a team of prefects and delegating tasks according to everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, and ensuring time slots for jobs were filled according to everyone’s availabilities.
MMI - Example 1
There are 3 patients waiting in an A&E waiting room.
A 25 year old pregnant woman
A 45 year old man with a head injury
A 65 year old man with a broken bone
Rank these patients from most urgent to least urgent and explain your reasoning
Would your decision change if you found out the 65 year old man with a broken bone used to serve in the army and if so how?
Some Points:
To answer this question, you must first go through each patient and state the advantages and disadvantages of prioritising each. Then decide on who you would treat as most urgent
25 year old pregnant woman:
Unsure what she has come in for as there is no diagnosis
Could be an emergency which may impact her foetus or her health
Saves 2 lives (brings another life into the world)
However, it may not be an emergency
A 45 year old man with a head injury
Could be fatal if not treated urgently
He is slightly older so may have other comorbidities which would be affected
Might have family who are financially dependent on him, if the injury is fatal
A 65 year old man with a broken bone
Harder to repair bone at an older age
Not sure which bone is broken – could be head, hip, leg
Bone may also rupture other vessels so this is quite urgent if it does
However, he is older but doctors do not discriminate
MMI - Example 2
Image Description
Describe this image without interpretation:
Mark scheme:
Start broad
Lighting
Foreground and background
Large objects to small objects
Left to right
Top to bottom
Specific details – colours of clothes/objects, age of the man …etc
Don’t make any assumptions, just say what you see