Tricky Interview Questions

[bcres]

Thought id make a thread so all questions people were having trouble with can be condensed here.
ill start.
why do you want to be a doctor and not another health care professional, like a nurse?

Id say I love communication with patients, and look forward to forming trusting doctor-patient relationships that is absent in any other profession. The challenges and rigours of being a doctor excite me, more variety in being a doctor, being a doctor combines intellectual challenges with emotional ones whereas nursing is more veered towards emotional.

[Zedd]

This has been done to death before, just do a search.

But while I'm typing, you say there is more variety in being a doctor but more variety than what?

Do you personally find it difficult to trust people other than doctors?

You suggest that nursing is focussed on emotional care of patients, do you not think there are areas of nursing which require a great deal of ability and clinical experience?

Do you not think that there are just as many nursing specialties as there are for doctors?

[giella]

The thing about that answer is, you're concentrating too much on saying why not another profession and not enough on why you want to be a doctor. It's very unlikely you would be asked these two questions at the same time.
So you want the challenge. What challenge would that be? You need to develop that answer more. You talk about intellectual challenge but you don't define it.
"Trusting doctor patient relationships that are absent in any other profession?" I can think of several right away. Phyiotherapist, Physician Assistant, Nurse, Psychologist/Therapist. It sounds like you're idealising the role of a doctor and merely turning up your nose at any other.
If you give a good enough answer to why medicine, they don't need to ask you why not something else. That answer doesn't impress me and I don't think it would impress many others. You need to work on that some more.

What was your motivation? What was your reasoning afterwards? Think about your goals. How will medicine help you to achieve them? Why do you think you would be good at it/enjoy it? Those are the things they want to know. You've only really given an answer to one of those: you like communicating with patients and forming trusting relationships with patients. You think you would enjoy that. That's not why you want to do medicine though, that's just something you would enjoy and as I've said, there are other professions you can do that in.
The second question is not about tripping you up. It's a chance for you to further clarify your answer. Like I said, they're less likely to ask you why not another healthcare professional if you give a good answer to the first.
This is not that hard a question to answer, but you sound like you're on the defensive. Try again.

[bcres]

Thanks for the tips, i was on low battery at the time so i realise i wasnt very concise or in depth. However they are legitimite replies when backed up.

you say there is more variety in being a doctor but more variety than what?

there is more variety in being a doctor rather than a nurse or another health care professional. you can specialise in a number of different things, go into research or teach. Nurses are a vital component of a hospital's work force-i dont think hospitals would work without nurses. but a doctor's job IS more science based-being a doctor is an applied science and that appeals to me-doctors are faced with evidence and have to logically determine, based on that evidence, a correct diagnosis.

Do you personally find it difficult to trust people other than doctors?

All im saying is that there is no relationship in any other profession in which your patient is placing his or her life completely in your hands. It is the doctor or surgeon the patient has to have total faith in, not the nurse or physiotherapist. Yes sometimes nurses prescribe simple treatment, and administer medicine, but these are tasks which do not present a serious risk to the patient's health or well-being and so that relationship is not necessary.

Giella, you are right. if i was asked this question i would go into why i principally want to be a doctor first. I was just more curious as to what other people have to say about the second part of the question-why not a nurse...?-and so focused on that part.
the truth is i want to be a doctor because science fascinates me, how the body defends itself against disease and disease is capable of defeating our immune system is incredible. I want to be able to make a difference and be able to make vital decisions under pressure based on the evidence presented to me. I love communicating with and caring for people and look forward to forming solid patient-doctor relationships. I thrive on responsibility and am always looking to be challenged-im bored when im not; i enjoy working in a team environment. I believe that with the right training i can develop and build on the qualities i have now to become a good doctor.

thanks for your advice
cheers

[giella]

You're using a lot of hyperbolic language to make your case. Tone it down a little. It sounds very idealistic and not very realistic. Also, the bit about nurses and variety just isn't the case. Variety has a very broad definition. Think how often a nurse might be transferred between different wards in the hospital. Think about the fact you can get a PhD. in nursing. You can go into research, teach, specialise in nursing too. That's variety. I would scrap that bit altogether.
You're placing doctors on a pedestal with "no other profession". This is the hyperbolic language I'm talking about. All you've done is use more words to describe the same thing you said in your original post.
Interviewers will always be able to pick holes in your answer. There is no perfect answer to this question. But you're doing the job for them here. Idealising the profession makes me a little nauseated. Being a doctor will enable you to achieve certain goals: having a challenging and science-based career, achieving a position of responsibility in the community, being part of an organisation/team where you are able to have a visisble impact on people's lives, work on a daily basis with people. That's what I've extracted from your answer. Becoming a doctor enables you to achieve those goals. Perhaps another profession could enable you to achieve some of them, but certainly not all of them. That would be a much stronger answer. You clarify what being a doctor means to you, you outline why being a doctor would enable you to thrive as a person. That bit about the doctor-patient relationship? That's the responsibility you want, and by all means keep that in the answer.
Right now though your answer is messy and forces the interviewer to draw too many conclusions for themselves. With that answer, they would feel quite free to draw some conclusions that I'm fairly sure you wouldn't want them to draw about you. Just tone it down a little.
Some of the components of a good answer are there, but it won't sound at all natural if that's what you come out with and it's off-putting. Tighten it up.

[Jhesam]

Here's a tricky one I was asked:

"What are the current treatments for Parkinsons?"

Me: "Err..."

I almost kicked myself after I'd come out having realised that the university in question had a reputation for stem-cell research.

[GreenSherbet]

Mono-Browed Interviewer: ''How long do you think Euthanasia patients should recieve counselling for?''

StupidOldMe: ''Err... if they're terminally ill, probably before they die''

Mono-Browed Interviewer: [Frowns] "Hmph, ok"

I still have no idea what the hell I was going on about...

[jonbonbon]

there is more variety in being a doctor rather than a nurse or another health care professional.

To be honest that is really wrong! Even the most senior nurse can be moved between wards, they see many different patients with many different diseases. A consultant who has sub-specialised, how much variety do they see!?! Other health care professions - physio's do so many things, terminal patients, out patients, inpatients in different wards and in ICU's. That's pretty varied if you ask me.

The way to address this question at the start is to talk about the advantages of these different health care professionals and how invaluable they are. acknowledge that nurses are being able to do more and more stuff that doctors used to have to do. Then say why you want more than that, why u want the added responsability and knowledge; and then show why you are suitable for being a doctor, examples of when you've shown responsability and leadership etc.

Also recognise that for the first 3 or 4 years of post grad training you will be part of a team most of the time and not the leader in most situations.

[Krissy T]

"Describe the volume and pressure changes in the left ventricle of the heart (in the form of a graph) starting at ventricular diastole"

Horrible horrible question...

[r_ashton]

I got such a weird Cambridge interview all about anaesthetic and how, if you cut the top of your thumb off, how could it be more/less painful under exactly the same circumstances?! I ended up saying that if you close your eyes you might perceive it to be less painful? I have not clue what I was going on about...