Couple of interview questions, whats your answer?

[anbuitachi]

Hi I have a couple of interview questions that I'm not sure how to answer correctly...

1) Is it harder to practice as a specialist or a general practitioner? why?

2) As a doctor you need to amputate a child's arm. How would you explain it to the child?
Any comment is appreciated, thanks!

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[tremulousNeedle]

Any interviewers that ask these questions looking for any sort of detailed answer are probably not very good interviewers. It is ridiculous to ask applicants with no advanced medical training, complex questions that can only be answered with experience in medicine.

If the interviewer is good, they won’t be looking for specific answers. They will be looking to see how well you can articulate an opinion and convey the depth at which you understand general concepts. Obviously, they are also looking for “red flag” responses that may signify psychological problems in the applicant.

1) Read about the similarities and differences and then decided which you think would be harder to practice, general medicine or a specialty. There is no right answer to this; you'll have to decide for yourself and hope you chose correctly if the interviewer actually cares what your specific response is.

2) Seems like this question is revolving around whether or not you would be able to break bad news with compassion and common sense. Specific conversations always depend on the patient’s age (there are different considerations between a 6 y/o and a 13 y/o).
-involve the parents.
-seek advice from colleagues / multidisciplinary team.
-put child in safe environment/setting.
-be firm, use concrete terms like "remove", "cut off" may be too gruesome.
-explain that you will always be there for the patient.
-explain to the child that they will be asleep for the process.
-answer any questions.

Hopefully, if you are asked these questions, they done so to assess your ability to show compassion and demonstrate the depth at which you have thought about the medical profession, and not in an effort to elicit specific responses.
-admissions committee interviewer / senior medical student

 

[NPHisyourLord]

Hi I have a couple of interview questions that I'm not sure how to answer correctly...

1) Is it harder to practice as a specialist or a general practitioner? why?

2) As a doctor you need to amputate a child's arm. How would you explain it to the child?
Any comment is appreciated, thanks!

Think about them yourself, no one here is going to feed you answers in interviews.

I look forward to competing against you for admissions.

NPH

 

[padoo]

I contemplated on your post last night and couldn't come up with a good answer. The above poster, however, responded very well... especially to the second question! agree 100%

 

[justdoit31]

1. I think it depends on your personality- for me I wouldn't want to do general medicine cuz it would be boring to me. But for some it is better- I think it is only hard to do something you aren't passionate about.

2. You need to explain that you are removing the arm, what to expect with the procedure/OR/when you wake up in recovery etc.

I would recommend using the Child Life services they are great with tough situations. Other things to do is to tell the child that just because this is happening doesn't mean they did anything wrong and that they will be able to keep living life. Especially if you have a young girl tell her that she will still be beautiful.

Another thing to consider is working through a local support group so the child could talk to someone who is "like" them and be able to ask questions from someone with the experience

 

[lstone13]

Hi I have a couple of interview questions that I'm not sure how to answer correctly...

1) Is it harder to practice as a specialist or a general practitioner? why?

2) As a doctor you need to amputate a child's arm. How would you explain it to the child?
Any comment is appreciated, thanks!

I think I can help on the first one.

I would make the answer here personal. I would say that of course, it depends on the person, and that for you, depending on your particular strengths/weaknesses, _______ would be harder to practice.

After that answer though, you must be prepared to answer and discuss what you believe are your personal strengths and weaknesses (which you should be prepared to answer anyway).

 

[Xcited392]

Question 2: I'm not going to give you an answer, because it's suppose to be YOUR response. However, I would point out that it'd be wise to know that children are more intelligent and mature than we often think they are. I learned this in my education class in college. We think that since we're adults, we're supposed to "baby" them and not always tell the truth, when in fact, most children are capable of handling truths. So, it's okay to just be honest.