Putting my foot in my mouth during interviews

[Seces]

I'm applying to psych, and the topic of ER work came up. I made the off-hand comment that went something like, "I don't think I could be an ER doc. It's sort of like primary care on steroids". The interviewer looked a little perplexed at the statement.

I know there's a lot more breadth to the field than this and regret saying it. It was sort of an misfired attempt at humor. I worry they'll not want a resident who will be doing a rotation in the ER with this attitude. Maybe I'm just being neurotic, but if everything else went well for the day, does a comment like this negatively impact you? I really like the program. Is it worth including a brief "I didn't actually mean that statement" in my thank you email to them?

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[mistafab]

Absolutely not

Is it worth including a brief "I didn't actually mean that statement" in my thank you email to them?

 

[sloop]

I wouldn't draw more attention to this incident. Also, in the future, I would avoid discussions about what you "can't do."

It sounds like the comment did not go over well. I'm in psych and would also hate to work in emergency medicine but still might have found the tone of this comment odd in an interview. It sounds like this might hurt you, at least with that interviewer. It's impossible for us to tell you how much it hurt you. I would just avoid comments with a categorical and negative valence like this in the future. Talking about weaknesses or preferences is fine but saying you couldn't do other things might make interviewers feel like you wound up in psych because you couldn't tolerate other types of work rather than because you really wanted to do this type of work.

 

[Lawpy]

Is it worth including a brief "I didn't actually mean that statement" in my thank you email to them?

😕 why would you want to draw attention to a negative? All you are doing is reminding them about the incident and possibly making excuses.

 

[Seces]

😕 why would you want to draw attention to a negative? All you are doing is reminding them about the incident and possibly making excuses.

To let them know it was a poor attempt at humor rather than a genuine misconception of ER work. It shows reflection.

 

[Lawpy]

To let them know it was a poor attempt at humor rather than a genuine misconception of ER work. It shows reflection.

Uh you are still emphasizing a negative and the interviewer already made an impression on you. Any further clarification will probably read as excuses than reflection. What’s done is done.

 

[Goro]

To let them know it was a poor attempt at humor rather than a genuine misconception of ER work. It shows reflection.

No, it shows desperation and poor judgement.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

All you are doing by putting your foot in your mouth is showing them you're flexible. Not sure how that's gonna help you get accepted.

 

[HomeSkool]

To let them know it was a poor attempt at humor rather than a genuine misconception of ER work. It shows reflection obsession.

FTFY.

No good can possibly come of revisiting this. Let sleeping dogs lie.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

Own your mistake, don’t bring it up again, and learn for next time. As a student, you shouldn’t be passing judgments on any specialty whatsoever.


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[Seces]

Thanks everybody for the advice. Lesson learned.

 

[965978]

Own your mistake, don’t bring it up again, and learn for next time. As a student, you shouldn’t be passing judgments on any specialty whatsoever.

But what if someone who was interviewing said that they don’t want to work as an ER physician because they want to build long term relationships and ER physicians have a priority to push forward workflow and get patients stabilized rather than connect with them. Is that technically “passing judgment”?

 

[sella.turcica]

Tell them what you want to do. Not what you don't want to do. Be positive.

 

[DO2015CA]

Own your mistake, don’t bring it up again, and learn for next time. As a student, you shouldn’t be passing judgments on any specialty whatsoever.


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We have to pass some kind of judgement in deciding if we want to do it. Vocalizing an overgeneralized stereotype during a residency interview is not the way to go.

 

[atomi]

Happens to everybody. When I applied it was very competitive and at one interview There was a lull in conversation and I was nervous so blurted something and it came out as “taking what I can get” for interviews.

Move on.

This kind of thing by itself isn’t enough to get you DNR’ed but likely moved you down the list a little.

 

[DO2015CA]

Happens to everybody. When I applied it was very competitive and at one interview There was a lull in conversation and I was nervous so blurted something and it came out as “taking what I can get” for interviews.

Move on.

This kind of thing by itself isn’t enough to get you DNR’ed but likely moved you down the list a little.

Lol yaaa this is way worse. Makes it sound like you don’t even want to be at that interview. That’d be a no for me if an applicant said that.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

But what if someone who was interviewing said that they don’t want to work as an ER physician because they want to build long term relationships and ER physicians have a priority to push forward workflow and get patients stabilized rather than connect with them. Is that technically “passing judgment”?

There are better ways to say this without bashing ER docs. You could just say that you are interested in developing long-term relationships with your patients without saying the second part of your statement.

And I say this as someone whose bane is ER physicians 😉

 

[965978]

There are better ways to say this without bashing ER docs. You could just say that you are interested in developing long-term relationships with your patients without saying the second part of your statement.

And I say this as someone whose bane is ER physicians 😉

Thanks! It’s weird though it’s true! I’ve scribe in an ER for months under different doctors and even they all admit that this is what happens.

 

[getdown]

Always put a positive spin on things for interviews. Don't focus on the negatives of a different specialty but the positives for your specialty.

 

[Treebeard]

Always put a positive spin on things for interviews. Don't focus on the negatives of a different specialty but the positives for your specialty.

You can find a reason to dump on any specialty. Doesn't mean you should do it at an interview.

 

[radsisrad]

Not the very best of comments to make, but we in medicine love to complain, and making jokes about other specialties is the norm. A good interviewer would at least have the grace to chuckle off that kind of gaffe.