Interview advice please

[lainey234]

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After 2+ yrs of gpa repair post bacc work, against all odds I have receieved an interview to my state school for next week. This is my 4th interview so I am fairly comfortable, but looking through the interview feedback section I have seen one recurring question that I am stumped on:

"Tell me about a medical ethics question, excluding (examples given of most common 4-5 medical ethics questions)."

Ummm, ok. I can certainly discuss numerous medical ethics questions and articulate myself well. The problem I have is the part where they exclude the most common!

So, in my mind I have come up with (all fairly common imo):

- Abortion
- Euthanasia
- Transplant
- End of life issues
- Stem cells

Can anyone help think of any others? I am NOT looking for opinions, I am more than capable of researching and formulating my own thoughts. I am just looking for suggestions. Thanks a bunch.

 

[Loralee]

Use of drug samples

Wrote a paper about this for ethics class. Doesn't rate up there with stem cell research, etc. but it would likely be a unique thought. And several COM are banning drug reps and samples or at least they were 3 years ago when I researched it.

 

[lainey234]

Thanks Loralee, that was the kind of suggestion I was hoping for. Something a little out of the ordinary.

Anyone else?

 

[pianola]

Here's a question I got at an interview:

"Do you think it's ever appropriate not to tell the whole truth to a patient?"

I said yes, depending on the situation. Like if the patient has blatantly lied to you (about taking their meds/insulin/whatever), it's perhaps best not to let him/her know that "I'm sorry, sir, you haven't told the truth." Just deal with the situation bearing in mind that non-compliance is a concern.

 

[NTF]

Public Health vs. Privacy Concerns (For example, if a patient is HIV positive, admits to risky behavior and has a spouse who is unaware of this.)

Overriding Guardian Decisions (The classic "blood transfusion" scenario with Jehovah's witnesses or one I got asked about in an interview about overriding parental decisions in the treatment of pediatric cancer patients - At what point do get a court order?)

Placebos. Was also asked about the ethics of giving patients placebos and sham procedures in clinical trials.