130 practice questions for 2023

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.

Statistics have shown that effects of advanced age such as changes in vision and response time may adversely affect elderly drivers' ability to drive safely. As a matter of fact, many doctors discuss the issue of stopping driving with their older patients as a precaution for the safety of theirs as well as the public's. Do you think older drivers have to give up driving when they reach a certain age?

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.

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

You are working in a clinic for street youth. A 16 year old girl comes in seeking sleeping pills that you do not think is appropriate for her. She says she will see another doctor if you do not prescribe them. What would you do?

You witness two girls hitting a homeless woman and taking items that belong to her. The victim has only a bleeding nose. You approach her after the incident and she tells you she is fine, this has happened before by the same girls and it is no big deal. How do you deal with it?

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

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?

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?

You are given a list of items that you would want to take in your suitcase for a two-week holiday. You are told that you can only pack half of the items available.

In June 2011, the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup and riots broke out in Downtown Vancouver. Discuss the impact on the community and the range of health care professionals at St. Paul‟s Hospital.

The daughter of the interviewer is 16 years old. She is adamant that she have a tattoo next week. The interviewer is against letting her daughter have a tattoo and this is causing much friction in the household. What advice would you give the interviewer?

What is the difference between Medicare and Medicaid?

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

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 students were seen verbally abusing a young person with intellectual impairment for the amusement of the group and other students. Two final year students are attending a hearing with you (their principal) to explain their actions in the incident. What are the issues that you (the principal) are likely to consider?

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. An elderly woman has been admitted to emergency room with asthma/difficulty breathing. She refuses to allow a medical student to treat her. Discuss the ethical issues in this case and possible safeguards to protect patient and students/physicians.

In the City of Plymouth in England, the City Council has introduced a maximum speed limit for all vehicles of 30km/h (previous limit was 50km/h) within city limits because this will reduce the number and severity of traffic accidents. The city councillors in Edmonton wish to introduce the same restriction. Would you support such a policy here in Edmonton?

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?

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?

Your mother calls you and asks you to help with a major family decision. Your maternal grandfather is 70 years old and has been diagnosed with a condition that will kill him some time in the next five years. He can have a procedure that will correct the disease and not leave him with any long-term problems, but the procedure has a 10% mortality rate. He wants to have the procedure, but your mother does not want him to. How would you help mediate this issue?

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.

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?

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.

Recently, a drug company has been aggressively marketing their HPV vaccine for young girls to protect young women from cervical cancer. The vaccine has gained support because it will be protecting girls from this potentially deadly and costly disease. However, some people think there haven‟t been enough clinical trials. Pick a stance on this issue and prepare to support your argument.

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.

You are a current undergraduate student. During the week of graduation, you attend a number of parties around the Lower Mainland with your best friend, Kelly. The last party is held at a camp ground in Squamish. The morning after the party, you receive a call from Kelly. She asks that you come over and talk. Kelly reveals that she left early and drove home despite drinking that night. Enter the room and talk to Kelly.

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.

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 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?

A woman enters the emergency room with stomach pain. She undergoes a CT scan and is diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The physicians inform her that the only way to fix the problem is surgically, and that the chances of survival are about 50/50. They also inform her that time is of the essence, and that should the aneurysm burst, she would be dead in a few short minutes. The woman is an exotic dancer; she worries that the surgery will leave a scar that will negatively affect her work; therefore, she refuses any surgical treatment. Even after much pressuring from the physicians, she adamantly refuses surgery. Feeling that the woman is not in her correct state of mind and knowing that time is of the essence, the surgeons decide to perform the procedure without consent. They anaesthetize her and surgically repair the aneurysm. She survives, and sues the hospital for millions of dollars. Do you believe that the physician's actions can be justified in any way? Is it ever right to take away someone's autonomy?

A 12-year old boy is diagnosed with a terminal illness (e.g., malignancy). He asked the doctor about his prognosis. His parents requested the doctor not to tell him the bad news. What should the doctor do in this situation?

Two patients need a liver transplant, but there is only one liver available at the time. Tell the interviewer how you would decide between a 64 year old politician who happens to be an alcoholic or, a 26 year old mother of three who is on welfare.

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.

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