Key questions to ask during interviews/on interview day

[indiamacbean]

Hi,
I think that I have a pretty good sense of the questions that I feel are important to ask during the interview day both in interviews and to residents, but was wondering what you guys think are the key questions to get answered. Just to be clear, not a thread about "what you should ask to look good as an applicant" but rather "what you should ask to make sure the next three years of my life are as good as possible." Seeing as I've never applied before I would be interested to hear from both people interviewing this year and residents and up on questions they think are important or wish they had asked. I'll start with a couple that I am interested in knowing about:
-who precepts clinics? do you have the same preceptors every time/how often does it switch.
-what are international opportunities? how are they funded?
-are you alone on call during your intern year? when do you start taking call alone?
-what is the official moonlighting policy/how much do most residents moonlight?

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[Igor]

Almost everywhere you interview will give you a chance to meet with the current residents. Ask them what they would change about the program.

Most residents will say the elevators, the computer system or parking but you would be suprised how much you can learn with this one question.

Just my opinion.

 

[dr.op]

Here's a few (!) questions I got from a friend that compiled them:

Residency Interview Questions
I. How to evaluate an Educational Program - Most important to get information from house staff, both positive and negative.

1. Do your homework beforehand.
2. Educational objectives?
3. Learning opportunities offered to achieve stated objectives?
4. How is the program and those being taught evaluated to ascertain whether objectives are achieved?
5. Write down impressions immediately!

Learning opportunities should be in a setting in which the house officer is an active participant, enabling him to learn skills in data gathering, clinical judgment, knowledge and render good patient care.


Good educational programs require teaching personnel devoting time and interest, conferences, bedside rounds. Availability of full-time teaching personnel is of inestimable value.

Get an idea of the institution's commitment to teaching: do attendings actually make rounds, attend conferences and go on rounds?
To how many and what types of hospitals will I rotate?
To how many and what types of HMO's will I rotate?
What part is elective?
Who staffs hospitals?
Is Emergency Room for emergencies?
Is there an overnight holding ward?
Average number of patients I will carry? Are total admissions up, down, same as 5 years ago?
Is length of stay (LOS) up, down or same as 5 years ago?
Do house officers think this is too many/few patients? What is the length of stay (LOS)?
Has number of residents changed in past 5 years?
How many house officers present on each service?
How many months do I spend in Ambulatory Care?
How many senior house officers? in house?
Are they helpful, available?
How often is the house officer on duty/admitting?
Average number of patients admitted each day?
Do the patients worked up by a house officer become his patients?
Is the senior on call same days as junior?
Are evening chart rounds routinely conducted?
Ambulatory Care rotations per week, per month, per year?
Is there a full-time ER attending staff?
Is there a "Firm" system over the length of your residency?
Will/can I do a major part of residency in the ambulatory setting?

II. Distribution of patients:
How many ward/private patients?
How much time spent on ward service/private?
How many patients are elective versus emergency admission?
Is there a strong "private" teaching service, which admits patients?
Who writes orders?
What was average hospital census 5 years ago, 3 years ago and one year ago?
How many beds have closed in past 5 years?
Who is in charge of ambulatory patients?

III. Type of patient:
Socioeconomic/racial/sexual distribution?
Acute/chronic?
Elective/emergency?
Ambulatory?
Is there a predominance of pathologic process, e.g., alcoholism, hypertension, diabetes?
Is the house officer exposed to a variety of presentations, limited to acute care, diagnostic work-ups,
chronic care or ambulatory care?
Do patients understand the role of house officer?

IV. Degree of responsibility for patient care: Integration of ambulatory, primary, tertiary versus separate.
Are medical students present? Who supervises them?
Are medical students required to do basic procedures on own patients?
Does the house staff teach procedures?
Is the house officer allowed the opportunity to instruct the medical students?
Is the medical student on call at night? All night? Sleep in? On call available? On call food free?
Function of the second-year and third-year house officers? - How do the three years differ?
House staff esprit de corps?

V. Attending physicians
Do they appear daily? If not, what is the frequency?
Extent of responsibility?
Do they do much teaching?
Available for consultation at unusual hours?
Are attending physicians available in all subspecialties? - Which are strongest and weakest?
Is formal training in reading and interpretation of specialized procedures available?
Successful training physicians for role of a practitioner of clinical medicine?

VI. Clinical Environment
Emphasis placed upon the unusual presentation of common problems or the common presentation of
unusual problems?
Does the house officer have clinic responsibilities - his/her own?
Opportunity to follow patient three years to five years?
How much time is spent in the ambulatory service - days/hours?
Are there subspecialty ambulatory services? Do you rotate through these?
Is the problem-oriented medical record employed? If so, is it well maintained, and is there regular
non-punitive audit?
Are prior medical records readily available? Is it on computer?
Is microfilm employed in maintaining old records? Is it available?
How good is the record filing system?
How good is the nursing staff?
Is there a registered nurse on each ward during each shift?
Are there nursing students?
Are there OT/PT/SWS students?
How good is the paramedical staff?
Are CT and MRI available 24 hours a day?
Is there any formal training reading x-rays?
Is an attending radiologist available 24 hours a day?
Availability of special procedures at off hours?
How good is the laboratory (rapidity of reporting on computer - reliability of results)?
How much of the laboratory work will have to be done by the house officer and how is this perceived +/-)?
How adequate is the service?
Percentage of autopsies obtained?
Is there a death conference?
How much "scut work" is performed by house staff?
Are there blood drawing/I.V. teams?
Are sufficient explicit transporters available?
Are conferences directed toward patient care, or academic exercises or mixed?
Would I fit in here???
Are uniforms provided? Laundered?
Are meals available at the hospital on call? Who pays?
How late can food be obtained?
Licensure - temporary or permanent?
Are on-call rooms available?
Is there a page system? Beeper?
Is there a library? Is it readily available? Hours?
Does it have an adequate selection of books and journals?
Interlibrary loan? Are computer searches available? Medline? Internet?
Does internet access cost you?

VII. Housestaff Benefits
Is housing provided for the house staff? Well protected? How far from the hospital?
Does the hospital pay for: parking, meals, when working?
Are children and pets permitted?
Shopping facilities, socioeconomic class of nonmedical neighbors, and safety?
What is the salary? How often is it paid?
What health related benefits are there (medical care, medical and disability insurance,
malpractice insurance, life insurance, etc.)? Is family or domiciliary partner included?
Who pays premiums?
What is the attitude of the training program and individuals within it toward female physicians?
Is moonlighting permitted?
Is there sufficient time for moonlighting?
Are moonlighting jobs provided or regulated by the department?
Is there a house staff organization? Does it function effectively to ensure house officers' rights and improve?
patient care?
What kind of written contract is provided by the institution?
Is there due process for house staff?
Is there an organization for domiciliary partners?
Are there employment opportunities for a spouse/partner?
Are baby-sitting/day-care facilities available? Who pays? How much?
Do you like the geographic area?
Who are your support systems?
What are specifics on pregnancy - leaves of absence, other leaves?


VIII. Program Organization/Continuity of training
Who are the house officers here currently? - Male/female/minority?
Where were they educated - U.S.A. - abroad?
What was their standing in the classes?
Are the house officers having a good time? Do you get a good feeling about the place?
What are their complaints? (This question is extremely important; most house officers are eager to point
out the deficiencies in the program, and the applicant may already have a great deal of negative
information by this time; however, this question will further prompt the person being questioned to air
any grievances concerning the program, which is exactly what the house officer candidate is
attempting to learn).
What are the opportunities for continuing as a senior house officer after completion of the first year of
house staff training?
Where do they go: after here - success-failure?
How many current house officers are staying on?
Is there a pyramid?
How many are leaving? - Why? Where are they going? To do what?
Has the program increased the time residents spend training in ambulatory settings?
Does the program utilize other training sites?
For which specialties?
Who supervises and teaches residents in these sites?
Has the program engaged in any initiative to reduce/increase the number of positions in any
specialty?
If so, which specialty positions are reduced? Which increased?
Who owns/funds the institution? - Controls appointments?
Is an HMO an important part?
Types of hospitals: Government - Municipal - State - Federal - Veterans Administration - Military -
University?
For profit?
Administered by a university dean? University affiliated, teaching hospitals, non-university?
Private hospitals - university/non-university affiliated? Proprietary or not-for-profit?
Religious affiliated? Abortions permitted?
Is the hospital financially stable? - Is it merging?
Is the residency approved? On probation? New? Downsizing, merging?

 

[dr.op]

Oh, and these are from a certain residency prep book:

Questions I should ask
For faculty:
How will the program look like in three years, when I finish?
Show me an example
Where are your graduates?
What do you think is the strength of your program? Is it especially well known in any special areas?
Are there any changes anticipated in the program's curriculum?
How have your graduates done on the boards? Are there any preparatory courses?
ABIM/research pathways?
Has there been any new faculty added as replacements?
Non-clinical responsibilities – research, projects, writing, administration (chief resident)
Research opportunities? – what research projects are the department's faculty and residents working on now? Grant for presenting / time off? Statisticians etc?
Elective opportunities?
Training in administration (insurance etc)? Bioethics? Legal training?
Mentors/advisors?
What type of resident evaluations are used? In-service examinations?
Has any resident left the program? Why?
What sort of sites will the training take place at?

For residents:
What contact will I have with the faculty?
Do residents get to formally evaluate faculty/program – any changes made as a result?
How much didactic time? Does it have priority (over clinical work?)
How are the on-call rooms, cafeteria, library, computers, parking?
Will I have time to read?
What support staff are available?
What is the call schedule? Who makes it?
What is the patient population I will see?
Do the residents socialise as a group?

 

[gagolden]

Why should I not choose this program/why should I go someplace else? I asked this at the dinner before at one of my programs and got great insight.

 

[mcindoe]

my favorite question that i ask the residents is what their "second" choice was (i always presume that the program they're at was their #1--no point in putting them in the uncomfortable position of having to admit it wasn't their top choice if it really wasn't), and when they tell me i follow it with "why did you choose this one instead?" and that gets great answers. i tend to ask what other places they considered and why the one they're at was most appealing. on a few occasions i've been told that it's because their spouse works nearby, or something akin to it being a location thing and not because of the program, and that is important to know.

like the previous poster, i tend to ask "why should i come here instead of ___" or "if you were in my shoes and had to do this all over again, would you still have wanted to come here knowing what you know now?" and i get very candid answers. i always ask faculty if they anticipate any changes over the next few years, and they're always honest, even if it's a negative. if they say they don't anticipate any changes, sometimes i'll ask what direction they're interested in going and what their priorities are, and when they tell me, i will ask what they're doing or planning on doing to make those goals materialize. with questions like those, you can really see who gets excited about their program and i love seeing a PD have enthusiasm about his/her program.

when some interviewers flip it around and say "do you have any questions about the program that i can help answer" very early in the interview, i'll often flip it right back around and say "well, i've learned a lot from the other residents and reading about the program beforehand....do YOU have any questions about me or my background that would help you get a better understanding of me and how well i would fit in here as a resident? is there anything i should know about this program that you would want to know if you were in my shoes?" etc....i don't like when an interviewer takes the focus off of me and switches it to the program....that's what the rest of the day is for, and it troubles me to leave an interview with the feeling that the program knows me no more than they did before i got to the interview...especially when i don't know for sure if they've read my application, personal statement, letters, etc...anyone have that same experience/feeling?