Does answering a clinical question incorrectly during an interview completely ruin your chances?

[bluebird1726]

(for residency)
even if the rest of the interview went well

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[Pharm2018OSU]

That seems unlikely. I don't think the clinical portion is meant to determine who has the most right answers (though that undoubtedly would help). I think it's more about your thought process, what you know versus what you think you know, etc. How big of an error are we talking about here? Like got the MOA of metformin wrong, or tried to give overdose of NSAIDS to someone with severe AKI very very confidently?

 

[Papichulooo_92]

Just curious, what clinical questions have everyone been getting?

I got:

-If the patient is allergic to Vancomycin, what can we do?
- If the patient is asymptomatic and has a UA for 100,000CFU, do you treat?

And a couple of others that is escaping me right now. But I didn't get that many tbh.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

All else being equal, it can push you to the end of our rank list- especially if it's something the majority of other applicants answered correctly.

 

[turtle3390]

It can. One program said I ranked above average on the Interview and presentation portion but did not perform as well clinically when compared to other applicants and because of that they did not rank me in their top choices.
I don’t think it’s alway a deal breaker - some programs will take into account the applicant as a whole along with if they would be a good “fit” - but similar to what was mentioned previously, if applicants are similar in all other aspects then that could be the determinant.

 

[cshick]

Just curious, what clinical questions have everyone been getting?

I got:

-If the patient is allergic to Vancomycin, what can we do?
- If the patient is asymptomatic and has a UA for 100,000CFU, do you treat?

And a couple of others that is escaping me right now. But I didn't get that many tbh.

It seems like if they do ask you clinical questions, they aren’t difficult.

- I was given a case presentation about a 67 YO male with well controlled diabetes and hypertension and recently diagnosed with AFib. Takes atorvastatin 40, lisinopril 5, and metformin 500. They asked me how to manage his AFib and what I would recommend to prevent a stroke.
- What antibiotics I would recommend for a patient in Sepsis.
- What medications would raise a patients INR while on warfarin.
- What medications would you be cautious in prescribing to an elderly person.