Job interview questions

[EthylMethylMan]

I'm applying for moonlighting gigs, and since this will be the first time I've had a non-residency ER job, I was hoping to get some advice as to what questions to ask the interviewer(s). What would be important things to know for moonlighting and also for regular full-time positions?

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[HoosierdaddyO]

-PATIENTS PER HOUR and does that include the PA patients who who’ll have to see or single by yourself seen!!!!
-Is there cross coverage or only single coverage. How many hours of ER physicians in a day? Ie if one morning and one night 12 hour shift then = 24 hours of coverage. If there are 5, 9 hour er shifts staggered with cross coverage, then 5*9=45 hours of ER doc in house, which usually means extra help and support etc!!!

 

[Angry Birds]

Pay
PPH
shift length

 

[BoardingDoc]

Some of this reiterates what's already been said, some doesn't:

-Pay structure: Hourly? Hourly + RVU? Hourly + Some percent of collections? Straight collections? If hourly, it's easy to calculate your salary. If some of it is productivity based, you should ask what the average doc makes taking into account the productivity bonus. You can't hang your hat on this number, but it is worth asking.

-Benefits: 401k matching? Health insurance? Malpractice? Other retirement benefits like access to a 457 plan?

-Doc staffing: Single coverage? Double coverage? Flying solo isn't a big deal but can occasionally be disconcerting if doing it straight out of residency. Having another doc on shift to bounce ideas off of is frequently helpful.

-Midlevels: Are you supervising midlevels? If yes, how do they work? Do they staff everything? Staff only what they want? Generally work independently? Are you expected to be a liability sponge and sign charts for patients you never had any involvement with? How many midlevels are you supervising at a time?

-PPH: How many PPH are you seeing on average? How many are you seeing solo, and how many of the midlevel patients are you expected to see per hr?

-Consultants: What services does the hospital have and not have available for consults in the ED? Working at a place which has gen surg + cards + ortho is a lot different than working someplace that also has NSGY, OB/Gyn, GI, ENT, Ophtho etc.

There are obviously a ton more things that you could ask, but these are the general things I would want to know in order to assess a job.

 

[wook]

Some thoughts:
1) liability coverage (e.g. occurrence, tail, etc)
2) Pay if you get called into court to testify on a criminal case about a patient you saw (e.g. suspect, victim, etc). Most moonlighting/locums gigs won't pay you while you are in court. And if you are a sequestered witness, you could go several weeks to months without pay until the case is done or you've provided your testimony.
3) What resources are available (what BoardingDoc suggested)? what gets transferred out? Some small places may only have 1 unit of blood.
4) How far to the nearest tertiary care center for transfers?
5) What resources are available for transfers (nowadays there is not often an ALS or Critical Care transport rig readily available to transfer a patient so it may be hours waiting for a rig)
6) What airway equipment do they have available?
7) What ultrasound equipment do they have available?
8) What RSI drugs are available at the institution? Do they limit what you can use in the ED?
9) What procedural drugs are available in the ED? Do they limite what you can use?


Thanks.


Wook

 

[Dr. Rude]

How are going to F*ck Me?

 

[namethatsmell]

Some thoughts:
1) liability coverage (e.g. occurrence, tail, etc)
2) Pay if you get called into court to testify on a criminal case about a patient you saw (e.g. suspect, victim, etc). Most moonlighting/locums gigs won't pay you while you are in court. And if you are a sequestered witness, you could go several weeks to months without pay until the case is done or you've provided your testimony.

These are excellent, and highly underappreciated, points to suss out. While they may seem like somewhat inconsequential, they can give you a better idea of how much a place actually cares about docs.

1) Is important because more and more places are tying to suggest they provide a tail when, if you really look at the fine print...it's not really a tail...it's the company guaranteeing to keep the doc insured with an evergreen claim-made policy. But what happens if the company dissolves, gets bought out, etc? You're likely SOL. This basically happened to me one year before the statute in that state was up. Decided to go naked. Ended up being fine, but an angsty year.

The only way to know for sure it to ask for a COI once you're past the initial interview...accept no substitutes.

Extra bonus points for jobs at the places that self-insure as these are places that likely have a pro-active, robust risk program that heads off most suits from being filed and they protect their docs. These happen to usually be places where the physicians run c-suite so these are good places to work for many reasons.

2) Any place that will compensate you if you have to go to court, go to committee meetings, etc is a place that's recognizing your time has value...a very good sign.

 

[Groove]

Man, I should have consulted you guys before I started moonlighting back in residency. I was just happy to get paid more than my resident salary and didn't care about anything else. They were just happy I had an MD degree and a pulse.