I was taken aback by this question because I don't know what the interviewer was trying to learn about me. Maybe he wanted to see if I was resilient and was able to deal with difficult situations with very sick patients? I actually have been punched by a patient and I said that risk of assault is part of the job and I know the patient did not have bad intent. He is just very sick. How would you answer this question?
Got asked "Have you ever been assaulted by a patient?" in a residency interview today
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How much felonious assault are you willing to tolerate/overlook to work here?
How bout **** you, pal!
Assault is NOT part of my job. And literally no where could this be placed in a legitimate HR interview. Are you kidding me??
If some delusional mental patient truly physically assaulted me...all bets are off, bro. Your ass is ****ing toast!
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I think one end is the demented and delirious who will absolutely smack you but societal risk is nearly none and they can't comprehend you anyway so the legal system doesn't make much sense. The other way is cognitively intact personality disorders who can be legitimately dangerous to all parties and the legal system is probably the most effective. Then the middle gray zone seems to be people with schizophrenia or ID who aren't all there but may in fact be so dangerous to society (and just there enough to stand trial and not be legally insane) that forensic psych and trials happen and they can end up on psych, in prison, or in a psych ward in a prison.
I'd assume by asking the question they wanted to gauge how you respond to that gray group since they probably want to know if you will involve the legal system or let anything go as they probably bias one way or another.
Edit: Not an unreasonable questions from a forensics staff.
I'd assume by asking the question they wanted to gauge how you respond to that gray group since they probably want to know if you will involve the legal system or let anything go as they probably bias one way or another.
Edit: Not an unreasonable questions from a forensics staff.
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I would probably have answered in a similar manner to you as someone several years into training (I have not been assaulted, but have had close calls for sure, and have had to help physically restrain in an emergency) and I share your sentiment regarding the question itself.
From an interviewer standpoint, it would have been much more appropriate to phrase it with something like "what are the unique challenges of psychiatry? Particularly in the inpatient or emergency setting?" They would've gotten the spirit of the question without coming off oddly.
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What was the context of the question? I could see this coming up in conversation and I’ve talked to multiple colleagues about this. I could see this being a question of do you put yourself in unsafe situations. We’ve had med students and 1 or 2 residents get assaulted (thankfully just minor or no injuries) because they didn’t listen to basic safety instructions. We had an attending who had food and drinks thrown at them and the med student because the med student didn’t follow instructions.
It could also be just to see if an applicant is even aware of the risks. We’ve had plenty of med students who were shocked that they could actually get hurt because med students often don't think of this stuff. I know of 2 attendings who were murdered by patients and more than a few who have been assaulted, some very seriously. I like working with people who are situationally aware, for everyone’s safety.
Idk why this was asked in an interview, but I don’t think it’s a completely pointless question.
It could also be just to see if an applicant is even aware of the risks. We’ve had plenty of med students who were shocked that they could actually get hurt because med students often don't think of this stuff. I know of 2 attendings who were murdered by patients and more than a few who have been assaulted, some very seriously. I like working with people who are situationally aware, for everyone’s safety.
Idk why this was asked in an interview, but I don’t think it’s a completely pointless question.
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This was while in the hospital or outside?
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One was in their outpatient clinic, the other was at their house (off campus, doc was killed by a patient’s spouse). I also had an attending who was stabbed multiple times (same event) when they were a resident at a VA by a patient they had recently discharged. I know several who have been assaulted at work and many who have had near misses (myself included). So yea, definitely a risk in our field (probably second only to ER), enough so that our orientation in residency included a full day of basic escapes if patients grab us or try and assault us.
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Sorry, but how are you going to guarantee this when it’s literally our job to directly interact with highly unstable individuals? We can be idealists and talk about all the things that should never happen, but the reality is that this can happen (and already has to the OP!) and being direct about the risks and how to handle them is essential for both staff AND patient safety.
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Wow, scary stuff. I'm very familiar with the nature of various assaults, but murder is something I have not heard of in my social and professional circles. But of course, even orthopedic surgeons getting murdered by patients has been in the news relatively recently, so unfortunately I can't say I'm surprised.
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Neither of these were really recent. One was 7-8 years ago. The one at home was 10+ years ago. I also know of a resident where I trained who was murdered decades earlier, but that was unrelated to psychiatry or medicine at all.
This question actually had no context. The interviewer just asked questions back to back with no commentary. He asked, "tell me about your recent publication" (which is in public health) followed by my answer, then immediately followed by "Have you ever been assaulted by a patient?". He did have some other odd questions too like "What does your wife think of your interest in psychiatry?". This was an old attending who is a professor emeritus status. Thankfully, the other interviewers were good and I'm probably going to rank this place in my top 3.
Possibly! This attending is in forensics, so it might be an interest of his.
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Spidey sense + careful attention to positioning + decent reflexes are definitely helpful. Hence why I can say I've been assaulted twice but battered never.
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Yep, I had someone throw a punch at me, but was able to step back and the police immediately tackled him. Our other attending that was attacked the the med student is very good at this too, but the med student got in the way. Med student was told to stay in the doorway and instead came in and stood right next to the attending and then didn’t pick up on her signs to move toward the door. Completely avoidable situation.
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Sounds like just a weird interview, wouldn’t put too much stock in it as some attendings (especially older ones) may try to get psychoanalytical with answers. Where I attended we all filled out a short set of questions on paper and one question was “if you were a car, what type would you be and why?” Apparently answering any kind of sports car was not a good answer.
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An older forensic psychiatrist is a narcissistic weirdo who enjoys throwing people off with unexpected questions, quelle surprise
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Gotta find some way to indirectly get at “have you murdered anyone?”
I don't think it's a grossly unreasonable question. I think it's a weird question, but one I think I could answer without too much anxiety or drama. I've been punched by a sixteen year old female patient in the shoulder, but that was as close to battery as I got. I've been chased by a lot of patients. I think if you were applying for a job with HR this probably would not be an appropriate question, but you're not. You're applying to interact daily with severely mentally ill people who are can be very frightened or horrible people or both. The chance of a patient at least attempting to assault you during residency is closer to likely than not. And no, you cannot assault them back. There's certainly no punching in any disruptive behavior training. You can press charges after the fact, to the extent any given state allows (which is often VERY limited for psych inpatients). You really just have to get out of the situation and you should be trained in how to do so. A good follow-up question for the interviewer would be what sort of training residents get for managing these situations.
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Better I suppose than 'baylafan, do you like movies about gladiators?'
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This could certainly be part of it. Patients say off the wall or shocking things at times, being able to professionally and gracefully deal with those situations is a skill that some people honestly just never get. Dealing with awkwardness is an interpersonal skill, and honestly one of the few things that can probably be semi-reasonably tested in a brief interview.
Wasn't going to feed a potential troll, but actually fighting a patient, even if they attack you first, is a never situation. If you have to be physical to escape, then minimal force is still the goal. Beating the crap out of a patient is grounds to potentially lose your license. It's falls into that whole "boundaries" category that should be common sense but our field has a shockingly difficult time adhering to...
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Yep. Nike-jutsu is a great martial art.
On the other hand: you don't have to worry about losing your medical license if you are not aboveground to practice medicine. If things are that bad, errors may have been made. Whether they were or weren't, you are in DEEP sewage.
On the other hand: you don't have to worry about losing your medical license if you are not aboveground to practice medicine. If things are that bad, errors may have been made. Whether they were or weren't, you are in DEEP sewage.
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One shouldn't be taken back by this question; perfectly acceptable and reasonable.
Assaults happen in psychiatry. I know of at least 2 psychiatrists who've been attacked on inpatient units. One left IP work, the other switched to telemed IP work.
I've been clawed harshly by demented pts.
Unnerved by an MRDD patient on unit where hackles on back of my own neck were sticking up.
Stopped counting how many death threats I've had.
2-3 restraining orders on patients over the years.
Thick skin people. Have it or find it.
These days I mostly get spiritually punched by bureaucracy and insurance companies, with a pinch of "I have ADHD" to round things off.
Assaults happen in psychiatry. I know of at least 2 psychiatrists who've been attacked on inpatient units. One left IP work, the other switched to telemed IP work.
I've been clawed harshly by demented pts.
Unnerved by an MRDD patient on unit where hackles on back of my own neck were sticking up.
Stopped counting how many death threats I've had.
2-3 restraining orders on patients over the years.
Thick skin people. Have it or find it.
These days I mostly get spiritually punched by bureaucracy and insurance companies, with a pinch of "I have ADHD" to round things off.
