MMI Questions: 12 interview practice questions for 2022

Your close friend from your first-year PA class tells you that his mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. He feels overwhelmed by this news and his studies and is considering dropping out of PA school to spend more time with his mother. How do you counsel your friend?

One suggested solution for our current health care woes is that care for the elderly be decreased/eliminated. For example, people over the age of 80 will no longer be placed on life support, which costs approximately $10,000 per day to operate. What is your opinion on this solution?

Clostridium Difficile (C. difficile) is a type of bacteria that increases its activity with most antibiotic use, and is therefore very difficult to treat. Research shows that the most effective way to prevent the spread of infection is frequent handwashing. However, many people have flat-out refused to wash their hands in hospitals. The government is contemplating passing a policy to make it mandatory for people entering hospitals to wash their hands or else risk not being seen by doctors and being escorted out of the building against their will. Do you think the government should go ahead with this plan?

In medicine, mistakes occur all the time. Talk about a time when you made a mistake, what you learned from it, and how you ensured it doesn't happen again.

What experiences have you had (and what insights have you gained from these experiences) that lead you to believe that you would be a good Physician Assistant?

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." - Desmond Tutu. Discuss the role that humanity plays in the practice of medicine.

Many healthcare settings utilize Electronic Medical Record systems. As we become more reliant on these systems, what are some of the benefits and risks of the increased use of technology in healthcare?

The cost of groceries per month in a small town in Northern Canada is approximately 1.8x more expensive than in the rest of Canada due to the high price of shipping and the inability to grow their own food due to the climate. Previous greenhouse attempts to grow their own food have failed. As an ambassador for Northern Canada, how might you try to lower the grocery prices?

A patient has her genome sequenced to find if she had a mutation that caused cystic fibrosis. The scientists sequencing her gene do not find the mutation for cystic fibrosis but incidentally, they find a mutation that will cause breast cancer before the end of her life. Should the scientists tell the patient about their breast cancer findings?

How do you think the role of a physician assistant differs between rural and urban settings?

A woman was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease 5 years ago. This condition destroys motor nerves, making control of movement impossible, while the mind is virtually unaffected. People with this disease normally die within 4 years of diagnosis from suffocation due to muscle weakness. The woman's condition has steadily declined and she is not expected to live through the month. She is worried about the pain that she will face in her final hours. She asks you, the palliative care PA, to give her a strong pain medicine if she begins to suffocate or choke. This will lessen her pain, but hasten her death. A few days later, she falls very ill and is having trouble breathing. What should you do?

You are a family PA with hospital privileges working in a large urban clinic. Following hospitalization for pneumonia, one of your long-term patients gives you a gift as a thank you for the care you provided. The gift is a $250.00 certificate to a well-known local store. What would you do in this situation?