Healthcare related questions during MD-PhD interview

[emiko]

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Hi everyone,

I am a current applicant to MD/PhD programs and I was wondering how can I better prepare myself for the interview. I feel pretty confident about explaining my research and my reasons and experiences that lead me to apply for MD/PhD programs; however, I honestly have very little exposure to healthcare (I only shadowed a few MD/PhDs for about 50 hours in total and I was mostly talking to them about research rather than healthcare issues). Because of this limited exposure, I don't think I know that much about healthcare in general. I was wondering how can I better prepare myself for that... for example, is there any book or article that I can read to make myself sound more educated in the healthcare system and such? Thanks!

 

[Neuronix]

Do physicians understand the healthcare system? No. Try asking one what the medicare donut hole is or what "medigap insurance" does. You'll get the same blank stare as if you ask an attending how many ATP come from a glucose molecule. I wouldn't be too worried about this.

 

[inverness]

I don't think any of your MD/PhD interviewers will ask you about healthcare (you're dealing primarily with research), though your MD-only interviewer may. However, that interview is weighted differently (or not at all) at many schools, so don't be hung up on that.

 

[Kinocilium]

I'm preparing for an interview too, so I can't speak from experience but the comments above are probably correct in that they don't ask you about health care. I tend to over-prepare for everything, though, so I've been reading up a little bit on health care just in case. Here are a few of the things I've looked at (may not be the best selection but it will get you started):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1883149,00.html
http://www.quickoverview.com/issues/universal-healthcare-system.html
http://www.amsa.org/AMSA/Homepage/About/Priorities/HCFA.aspx (there's a link on this page called "Overview of U.S. Healthcare System" that will open a pdf)

I plan on mostly skimming these, and it's sort of a last priority that comes after preparing in all the other ways that I can. I figure it can't hurt, and I wish I knew more about health care anyway so this is a good excuse to learn about it. Good luck!

 

[mcp15]

I did have more than one interview where the conversation included quite a bit of discussion about the US health care system. You don't need to be an expert, but you should be able to speak in broad terms about what's wrong and what's right about the way the US does heath care.

 

[MSTPlease]

I don't remember being asked a single healthcare system question in any of my 6 interviews. I did get asked ethical questions in my MD interviewer at UMiami.

The one thing you didn't mention but I did get asked about all the time was the direction I wanted to take my career