Medical How should I answer the "name a time you failed" question?

[Goro]

Regarding the “name a time you failed” question.

I have been having a difficult time coming up with a non-academic answer to this question. I do have a clinical experience where I failed to adequately help a patient find follow-up care upon discharge from the hospital, as their insurance did not have any in-network specialists within the area. The patient ended up getting readmitted and I believe it was because they were unable to find local follow-up care, therefore the readmission being my fault. Although I tried my best to arrange care and was ultimately unsuccessful because of the barriers the patient’s insurance posed, do you believe this is an appropriate topic? Am I the one who failed or was it the system? Will it appear as those I chose an example where I could divert the blame off of myself? Thank you for your input!!

That's fine.

 

[Goro]

Thank you for your feedback. Should I look for something more personal? Definitely aiming for better than "fine".

What are you comfortable with?

 

[Goro]

I’m totally comfortable with something more personal, but I am also one of those premeds who has lived a wonderfully jaded life and can’t seem to think of anything.

Introspection is a required trait for a doctor.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Or any responsible adult for that matter. 🙂

A lot of applicants fail to recognize when they failed others (again most humans do), and physicians will continue to fail others as well. Your definition of "fail" is probably strict to focus on grading results against a standard but most don't realize when they disappoint others by not meeting expectations, especially others' expectations when it comes to feedback or performance. "Fail" looks towards the disastrous result as opposed to a catastrophic failure of process. You have more than just one failure in your life if you think of it that way.