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- Feb 1, 2006
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So Im interviewing med students for the match this year. This is my first time doing this and we have a pretty fixed list of questions but I will be able to ask a couple of my own.
During one of my interviews years back I got If you were a character in Harry Potter, who would you be and why?
Im not looking for those types of questions. Here in Canada you pretty much need a 90% average to get into med school with Masters degrees and PhDs becoming more and more common. My med school class had ex-olympic swimmers, people who bicycled across the country, ect. What I am saying is that pretty much everyone we interview has already been filtered by medschool to be overachievers, smart, and generally competent. What I want to do is weed out the personality disorders that dont necessarily come across on paper and would be toxic to the program. I am sure you know the type, that one lazy/arrogant/dangerous person who gets accepted every couple years, makes life miserable for everyone, and that you have no idea how they got past the screening process. I would also prefer to find those who want to do anesthesia as their 1st choice and not simply as a backup option for ER or ICU.
So I want to know, from all of you who have gone through the process recently, what were the questions that you felt made you think, were fair, and allowed you to truly represent yourself to the program. For those who have done these things before what questions do you find are useful.
I myself tend to lean toward ethical/situational questions as medical knowledge can be learned (I don't expect a Med4 to know how to induce an anterior mediastinal mass) but judgment and your character is generally pretty fixed.
For example, a case I had relatively recently: You are covering the ICU as a senior resident. You are consulted by the ER for a 35 yo woman, ETOH and drug abuser, with multiple prior admissions for asthma. During a domestic dispute she went into an asthma attack, passed out and was witnessed to stop breathing and turn blue. EHS was called but due to dispute/possible firearms were not allowed into house for another 45 min. When finally seen pt was apnic and pulse less, no CPR was in progress. After 20 min of heroic/crazy measures the pt was delivered to the ER intubated, on maximum pressors, with a GCS of 3 and all the usual bad neurologic signs (ie no signs of life). You determine that the person is dead (anoxic brain injury) but the body does not know it yet. ICU staff agrees after discussing case with you on the phone. You have no ICU beds available to withdraw care in a nicer setting than the ER resuss bay. ER staff (after midnight, is on alone) has 80 other patients to deal with, is adamant that the patient is not dead (see, she has a pulse) and that you take the patient to the ICU for neurological re-assessment in 24hrs. Family is filling the family room and you can hear the crying from where you are. The ICU is relatively quite so you some time to deal with this. What do you do?
During one of my interviews years back I got If you were a character in Harry Potter, who would you be and why?
Im not looking for those types of questions. Here in Canada you pretty much need a 90% average to get into med school with Masters degrees and PhDs becoming more and more common. My med school class had ex-olympic swimmers, people who bicycled across the country, ect. What I am saying is that pretty much everyone we interview has already been filtered by medschool to be overachievers, smart, and generally competent. What I want to do is weed out the personality disorders that dont necessarily come across on paper and would be toxic to the program. I am sure you know the type, that one lazy/arrogant/dangerous person who gets accepted every couple years, makes life miserable for everyone, and that you have no idea how they got past the screening process. I would also prefer to find those who want to do anesthesia as their 1st choice and not simply as a backup option for ER or ICU.
So I want to know, from all of you who have gone through the process recently, what were the questions that you felt made you think, were fair, and allowed you to truly represent yourself to the program. For those who have done these things before what questions do you find are useful.
I myself tend to lean toward ethical/situational questions as medical knowledge can be learned (I don't expect a Med4 to know how to induce an anterior mediastinal mass) but judgment and your character is generally pretty fixed.
For example, a case I had relatively recently: You are covering the ICU as a senior resident. You are consulted by the ER for a 35 yo woman, ETOH and drug abuser, with multiple prior admissions for asthma. During a domestic dispute she went into an asthma attack, passed out and was witnessed to stop breathing and turn blue. EHS was called but due to dispute/possible firearms were not allowed into house for another 45 min. When finally seen pt was apnic and pulse less, no CPR was in progress. After 20 min of heroic/crazy measures the pt was delivered to the ER intubated, on maximum pressors, with a GCS of 3 and all the usual bad neurologic signs (ie no signs of life). You determine that the person is dead (anoxic brain injury) but the body does not know it yet. ICU staff agrees after discussing case with you on the phone. You have no ICU beds available to withdraw care in a nicer setting than the ER resuss bay. ER staff (after midnight, is on alone) has 80 other patients to deal with, is adamant that the patient is not dead (see, she has a pulse) and that you take the patient to the ICU for neurological re-assessment in 24hrs. Family is filling the family room and you can hear the crying from where you are. The ICU is relatively quite so you some time to deal with this. What do you do?
