Your friend tells you that a piece of expensive electronic equipment he had bought for $3000 just two weeks ago had stopped working. The store where he bought it had a 7-day return policy. Your friend goes to the store, buys a new piece of equipment and then returns the old damaged equipment in its place for a full refund. The store is owned by your uncle who is struggling to keep the business going. How would you deal with the situation?

A physician went to vacation for 2 weeks. He did not find another physician to cover him. One of his patients with hypertension developed severe headache. The patient has an appointment with the doctor as soon as he comes back from vacation. The patient did not look for another physician and decided to wait. The patient suddenly collapses and was diagnosed to have intracranial hemorrhage. Is the physician responsible for this patient?

Many fire-related tragedies in Canada have been the result of children playing with fire. Discuss the roles and responsibilities of parents, lighter companies and society with respect to this issue.

Data has shown that doctors who smoke are less likely to make good role models for patients. Should doctors be allowed to smoke? Do doctors need to be role models?

You are a 3rd year medical student doing hospital rotations. A fellow medical student who is doing rounds with you often show up to these sessions tired, messy, hung over, or even drunk. One day you found him in the lunch room unaccompanied, so you decided to talk to him. Please enter the lunch room.

The man who lives next door to you often rides his bicycle in the company of his two young children but without a helmet. In fact, on several occasions you have seen him riding with his helmet hanging by its straps from the handlebars. His young children sometimes wear a helmet, sometimes not. If the man fell off his bicycle and hurt his head in a way that would have been prevented if he had worn a helmet, would it be reasonable to ask him to contribute towards the treatment cost for his injury?

If you have the choice of giving a transplant to a successful elderly member of the community and a 20 year old drug addict – how do you choose?

Should the government directly fund the education of medical students as opposed to funding other professions such as law and engineering? Discuss this question with the interviewer.

A patient requests needles and syringes at his/her local pharmacy. They do not present with a prescription, and based on the records you can access, they are not receiving treatment for diabetes. Do you sell the syringes or not?

You are working on a group project with 5 other students. One of the students doesn‟t show up for meetings or if they do show up - they are late and leave early. They have put no effort into the group project but show up on the day of the presentation and try to take credit for the project. What do you do in this situation?

Imagine you are the principal of a full fee paying school. There has been an allegation by members of the public of an incident in a park in which at least two senior school students were seen verbally abusing a young person with intellectual impairment for the amusement of a group of other students. Two final year students are to attend a hearing with the principal to explain their actions in the incident. What are the issues the principal is likely to consider at the hearing?

You are presented with a list of 15 individuals, including details of their age, sex and occupation. You are being told that a nuclear attack is imminent and you are only allowed to save 5 of them from destruction. Which ones and why?

There is an outbreak of an incredibly contagious life-threatening disease. The disease is spreading across the country at a rapid rate and the survival rate is less than 50%. You are a senior health care administrator, and when the vaccine is developed, you have priority to receive the drug. Do you take the vaccine yourself or give it to another person? Why or why not?

You are a first year medical student who is doing above average in some subjects, and below average on others. What would you do in this situation? What resources would you access?

A Vancouver bio-tech company was hired by the US Military to develop a cure for Ebola. They successfully developed a vaccine to treat the symptoms of the virus and lowered the mortality rate for infected patients. Discuss the implications of this on a global scale.

A man has been responsible for taking care of his wife who is in a vegetative state for 6 years after a car accident. She can breathe on her own but that is the extent of her abilities. He requests that her feeding tube be removed. What should you, as her physician do?

A Kootenay town runs a health-collective that provides various alternative and traditional forms of medicine. The physicians there encourage parents of small children not to vaccinate their children. Discuss the positive and negative impacts of this opinion.

Tasers are under greater public scrutiny. What are the medical, public health, public policy, legal and practical issues involved? What is your position as regards the use of tasers by public officials and in the private sector?

A member of your family decides to depend solely on alternative medicine for treatment of his or her significant illness. What would you do?

You are part of a committee to decide where the money for health care in our province is spent. It is your turn to inform the committee of your opinion on what you think is the single most important area requiring funding.

Imagine your friend‟s father is 70 years old and has lived in Edmonton his whole life. He is taken to the emergency department at the University of Alberta Hospital. He has had good health until now and this is the first time he has been to hospital of any kind since he was 20 years old. What changes in the healthcare system and environment in the hospital do you think he would notice?

In recent years, there has been an increase in popularity of full contact sports, such as Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and boxing. Should doctors have a role in regulating such sports?

You are a 1st year med student and you are in the room with a small group of students, a doctor and a young female patient. The doctor tells the patient to remove her shirt to do a breast exam. The patient is visibly uncomfortable but does what she is told. The physician then performs the exam and tells you to do it as well. Discuss your reaction to this situation.

Due to a shortage of physicians in rural and Northern communities in BC, some policy-makers have suggested that medical programs preferentially admit students who are willing to commit to a 2 or 3 year tenure in rural areas after graduation. Consider the broad implications of this policy for health care and the costs associated. Will this policy be effective?

It has been argued that wait times for organ transplants can be significantly sped up through surgeries and donations from other countries. You are a physician working with a patient who you noticed had recently gone to the Mexico to receive a liver transplant. What are the ethical issues involved?

John X is a convicted pedophile and repeat offender. He is about to be released from prison after serving 7 years of his 10-year sentence. He will be in close contact with his parole officer and he will be monitored on a daily basis. Should the community be aware of John X's history? You are in charge of deciding whether or not to warn the community about John X. What issues/factors would you consider in making your decision?

A physician became sexually involved with a current patient who initiated or consented to the contact. Is it ethical for a physician to become sexually involved?

You are a physician who has finished his or her day and decide it's appropriate to leave on time for the first time in months. You have promised to meet your family for dinner. You suddenly receive a phone call from Mrs. Black, a 87 year old patient in a nursing home long time, who wishes that you attend to her long-standing condition. She has been patient of yours for 15 years and refuses to see another doctor. What issues are involved? How would you approach this situation?

You have a meeting set up with Frankie. He is the son of a family friend who moved to Thunder Bay about 20 years ago and so you have never met him. He has come down from Thunder Bay to look over "southern universities". He urgently needs some information on schools as he will have to make some serious decisions soon. He is happy to get this meeting as he realizes how tight your schedule is. In fact your next meeting is in 8 minutes. Frankie is in the room.

Is it ethical for doctors to strike? If so, under what conditions?

You are a health researcher at an academic institution. You have been asked to work on a top-secret vaccine that would treat biomedical weapons or other communicable diseases. Before your break through, you are instructed by the government to stop all research and turn over all materials and copies of your work to be destroyed. You know you are very close to finding a cure. What do you do?

Your best friend tells you he is a compulsive gambler. He has lost all his money and he asks you for a loan in order to buy food, to pay back his loan sharks and then use the rest to try to win it all back. Discuss the broad implications of gambling on society.

A couple has decided to have a child through artificial insemination. They asked the physician for sex selection of the child. What should a physician advise in this situation?

A patient with Down's Syndrome became pregnant. The patient does not want an abortion. Her mother and husband want the patient to have an abortion. What should a physician do in this situation?

Your company needs both you and a co-worker (Sara, a colleague from another branch of the company) to attend a critical business meeting in San Diego. You have just arrived to drive Sara to the airport. Sara is in the room.

The Canadian Pediatric Association has recommended that circumcisions "not be routinely performed". They base this recommendation on their determination that "the benefits have not been shown to clearly outweigh the risks and costs". Doctors have no obligation to refer for, or provide, a circumcision, but many do, even when they are not clearly not medically necessary. Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) no longer pays for unnecessary circumcisions. Consider the ethical problems that exist in this case. Discuss these issues with the Interviewer.

A 14 year old patient requests birth control pills from you and asks that you not tell her parents. What would you do?

You are a cardiologist at a local hospital, who just finished a shift and has a tight run to your daughter's high school graduation ceremony. As you headed off to the door, Jennifer, a patient who knew you well, saw you from the waiting room and grabbed your attention. "Doctor! I have a bad chest pain. Please stay for a bit. I'll feel much better if you were here." Enter the waiting room and talk to Jennifer.

What do you see as being the biggest issues/problems in health care now and in the future. What do you think are possible solutions to these issues?

A 17-year old boy lives independently. He is married and has one child. He wants to participate in a medical research study. Does he need his parents‟ permission?

A 18-year old man is diagnosed to have suspected bacterial meningitis. He refuses therapy and returns to the college dormitory. What should a physician do in this situation?

Your friend is of Chinese descent and fluent in Mandarin. You both want to get into medicine. She registers for Mandarin 101, a course in Chinese language for beginners. The course coordinator asks that students who can already speak just a little bit of Mandarin should leave because this is a course for beginners. Your friend remains but makes a sufficient number of deliberate mistakes in the classroom discussions, in the required homework and in the examinations that she will not be detected and yet still receive an excellent grade. What would you do in this situation?

The government wants to track citizens across the country in order to maintain public safety in the face of growing terrorism. How would you advise the government to do this?

You are a GP working in a community where the majority of patients have very little education and many are refugees from other nations. What challenges do you foresee?

Your 5 year old nephew asks you, "Why is the sky blue?” How would you answer him using a series of simple scientific experiments?

You are a young, single doctor working in a small town of 1500. You meet an attractive male/female at the bar that you are interested in. What problems do you foresee?

You and 3 friends are watching a 70 yr old man prepare a hot-air balloon. The balloon is ready and the man is holding one of the 5 released anchors ropes that are all 6m long. His 10 yr old grandson is already in the basket. A gust of wind raises the balloon 2m off the ground. The man shouts for help and you and your friends each grab close to the end of one of the other anchor ropes. The balloon raises so high that even though you are holding onto the ropes, you are lifted off the ground to a height of 7m. What would you do in this situation.

Your older sister tells you that she values her career and is reluctant to take time away to have a baby. Her husband agrees with her. They have arranged to conceive an embryo through in vitro fertilization. A company in India will implant the embryo in a surrogate mother from a nearby village who will be paid $5,000. Two weeks after the baby is born, the company will deliver the baby to your sister and her husband. Your mother is opposed to this arrangement whereas your father supports her decision. Your sister asks for your support. How would you respond to your sister?

If the Prime Minister of Canada were to ask your advice on one change that could be applied to the healthcare system in Canada that would improve it enormously and have the greatest positive effect, what would it be?

Your best friend and partner are undergoing in vitro fertilization to have a baby. The technique allows for the selection of certain characteristics for the child by identifying them in the embryo before implantation. Your friend asks for advice on the characteristics they should select. How would you respond to your friend?

A high school student has to choose between two colleges. The student had several friends who were similar to himself in values and abilities at each school. All of his friends at school A liked it on both educational and social grounds; all of them at school B had deep reservations on both grounds. The student visited both schools for a day and his impressions were the reverse; he enjoyed school B, but had reservations about school A. Dr. James Wanstedt provided a testimonial that school B provides a superior education. Furthermore, the registrar at school B has just released a report claiming that the employment rate for graduates of school B is 93%, 10 percent higher than it was 10 years ago. Finally, an unbiased consumer advocate reports that 98% of the alumni association have indicated that they were happy or very happy with the education they received at school B. Which school should the student choose? Discuss the student's decision with the examiner.

You are on duty in the ER when an unconscious three–year-old girl is brought in. It‟s clear that she needs an immediate blood transfusion to survive, but her Jehovah‟s Witness parents are adamantly against it. What would you do and why?

Discuss health care issues that have been in the news in the last month.

At the beginning of your last year of undergraduate studies, the Dean of your Faculty has offered to all of you the opportunity to swallow a „red‟ pill. If swallowed, this pill would increase enormously your ability to „absorb‟ all the educational material being presented to you in all your courses. In fact, this pill would basically guarantee that you would receive an A+ in all your future courses with a significantly reduced workload. Would you take the red pill?

If the Prime Minister of Canada were to ask your advice on one change that could be applied to the healthcare system in Canada that would improve it enormously and have the greatest positive effect, how would you answer?

You tell a mother her two year old child has leukemia, but she refuses chemo but insists upon seeing her family physician who is a naturopath. What do you tell her, how do you handle this so that you may continue to have some influence as regards the treatment of her child? (The child‟s life is in the balance as the naturopath will be unable to save the child‟s life and you have an obligation to your patient, the child, who cannot make an informed decision. In paediatrics, its beneficence and “the rule of rescue” that takes precedence.)

Recently, the Prime Minister of Canada suggested the idea of deterrent fees (a small charge, say $10, which everyone who initiates a visit to a health professional would have to pay at the first contact) as a way to control health care costs. The assumption is that this will deter people from visiting their doctor for unnecessary reasons. Consider the broad implications of this policy for health and health care costs.

You are a second year student shadowing a doctor in the O.R. Once the patient, an obese female has been given general anesthetic and the procedure is under way the doctors start to make comments about her weight and call her names that you find inappropriate but most of all unprofessional. Do you talk to the doctor about his comments or do you keep your comments to yourself? Why?

You are a genetic counsellor. One of your clients, Linda, had a boy with a genetic defect that may have a high recurrence risk, meaning her subsequent pregnancies has a high chance of being affected by the same defect. You offered genetic testing of Linda, her husband, and their son to find out more about their disease, to which everyone agreed. The result showed that neither Linda nor her husband carry the mutation, while the boy inherited the mutation on a paternal chromosome that did not come from Linda's husband. In other words, the boy's biological father is someone else, who is unaware that he carries the mutation. You suspect that Linda nor her husband are aware of this non-paternity. How would you disclose the results of this genetic analysis to Linda and her family? What principles and who do you have to take into consideration in this case?

One of the key competencies for medical practice outlined by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada is the need to develop and maintain self-assessment skills. Describe the strategies you employ when assessing your ability.

Some people think that the new or younger generation of physicians are not as hard-working (i.e., wanting to leave right at 5:00 p.m., not wanting to put in as long of a work week) as previous generations. How do you feel about this perception?

What is the difference between Medicare and Medicaid?

You and your best friend try out for the varsity track team. You just find out you got in, but your friend was rejected for the 3rd time. Enter the room.

It has been suggested that in order to promote healthy lifestyles, medical schools preferentially admit students who do not smoke. Do you think this approach will be effective? Discuss the implications with respect to health and health care costs.

You have two patients who need an organ transplant and one organ available. One is a 20 year old drug addict and the other is a 70 year old prominent member of the community. Who do you give the transplant to and why? What information will you use to make your decision?

In his recent novel „I am Charlotte Simmons‟, Tom Wolfe bases on life at a typical university in North America. He develops various characters and describes their lives, surroundings, beliefs, and moral behaviour while they are at the university. Wolfe acknowledges that it is 40 years since he himself was a student at university. Consequently, his children, currently at university, read the drafts of the book as it was been written and ensured that the descriptions associated with life at this fictitious university were appropriate for the modern day. What changes to the original script do you think Wolfe‟s children made?

Recently, certain hospitals in the Vancouver Area have been charging patients $29/day for their hospital fee on top of the fees charged to MSP. What are the implications of this policy? Discuss both positive and negative impacts with the interviewer.

You discover that your boyfriend has a substance abuse problem. His conduct has never been influenced by this since you have been together. How do you handle this?

The parking garage at your place of work has assigned parking spots. On leaving your spot, you are observed by the parking attendant as you back into a neighbouring car, a BMW, knocking out its left front headlight and denting the left front fender. The garage attendant gives you the name and office number of the owner of the neighbouring car, telling you that he is calling ahead to the car owner, Tim. The garage owner tells you that Tim is expecting your visit. You enter Tim‟s office.

In your opinion, what is a primary flaw in the health care system? How would you address it?

An athlete who is training for the Olympics admits that he is using anabolic steroids and asks you to monitor his liver function. He would prefer to be under your care, as you are his family physician and you know his history. However, he states that if you do not agree, he will go to a walk-in clinic. Discuss the ethical issues in this case.

Discuss any topical health care issue that is unique to the Pacific Northwest region (or region for Med School you are applying to)?

Discuss one of these health care issues: human genome project, AIDS, abortion, the right to die, the cost of health care, and genetic engineering.

Discuss the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana on the Canadian Health Care system. How does this impact a physician‟s present ability to write out prescription for „medical marijuana'? Would legalization cost the health care system more or less after it was passed?

A student is working in a clinic, where the office double book aboriginal patients. The student asks their reasoning and the receptionist replies that “These people never show up for their appointments.” How would you deal with this situation?

You are on a day out in London with a group of friends. One member of your group, who has never been to London before, becomes separated from the rest of the group in the Underground. What actions would you take?

Should there be legislation stating that a physician must report a gunshot wound of their patients to police? Discuss.

You are a resident working in a team of several others for on call shifts. You and your partner just had a new baby. Would you re-adjust the call schedule? How? What problems do you foresee and how would you approach the problems?

Mrs. Jones has signed a donor card indicating that she is willing to donate her body to science without notifying her husband and son. She gets into an accident and it is determined that she is brain dead. The family doctor, who is on call that afternoon, reviews the chart and determines that she would be perfect for medical students to practice the removal of organs for transplantation purposes. The doctor then talks to the family to discuss the procedure and to confirm their consent. They both oppose the procedure and refuse to allow their doctor to move forward. The doctor points out that Mrs. Jones could be helping hundreds of people by educating the medical students and that technically consent has already been provided. The husband understands how beneficial the educational experience is but is too emotional to allow them to continue. The son, a medical student, refuses because he knows the bodies are not treated with dignity. If you were the doctor, how would you proceed? Why?