Shuffle your interview practice

You are a physician and you have been treating a patient in the hospital for several days. How would you handle this situation?

What is the most important issue facing health care today?

There have been more medical students and physicians participating in activism. What is your perspective on our role in activism?

Have you ever doubted whether medicine is right for you?

Describe a time when you had to deliver bad news.

From your file, I can see that you have a lot of experience doing 'x experience'. Please describe your strategy with 'x'. What is the most important lesson you learned?

During your final exams week, your grandmother calls and tells you she feels lonely. What would you do?

Your friend tells you that he wants to take an "Introduction to Spanish" course to boost his GPA even though he is a native Spanish speaker. Native speakers are not allowed to take the course. What do you tell your friend?

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

Some medical schools have a preference for selecting medical candidates from certain geographical locations. What are your thoughts about such selection policies?

Systemic issues exist in the provincial health care system. Discuss one of them and how you would address it.

Describe a time when you stood up to an authority figure.

You are a family physician and another physician at the clinic is dating one of their patients. What would you do?

Describe a time when you did something wrong.

Describe a time when you helped someone in need.

What is your greatest weakness?

What career would you choose other than medicine, and why?

Describe a time when you stood up for someone.

What do you think are the long-term benefits of the Jordan principle, for the indigenous community on a population level?

What is your greatest strength and greatest weakness? Which one is more important to you?

A drug formulary is a list of generic and brand name prescription drugs covered by your provincial health insurance. With a finite provincial budget, how would you determine which drugs should not be included in the drug formulary (not covered by health insurance)?

Who is your mentor?

Describe a time when you felt excited. What happened?

During your shift, you notice your preceptor is intoxicated. What do you do?

What is your opinion on medicine and research?

During COVID-19, the Maritimes created an "Atlantic Bubble". What do you think about this decision by public health?

Describe a time when you had to say “no”.

Our health care system is supposed to be comprehensive, but it does not cover many services offered by optometry, dentistry, nutrition, and other components of health. What is your opinion on this and what is your solution to improve it?

If you were on the admissions committee, what would be the most important thing you look for in a candidate?

Describe a time when you improved on a weakness.

Compare and contrast between public and private health care.

Have you considered other careers besides being a physician?

Describe a time when you many have lost your temper.

You are a doctor working ER intake during a particularly busy shift. What do you do?

Choose a health care debate and discuss both sides. Which side do you agree with most?

People infected with COVID-19 variants are experiencing a spectrum of symptoms with some suggesting that it can be compared to the flu or common cold. Some believe that the risk of vaccination side effects (e.g. inflammation of the heart) may outweigh the risk of contracting COVID. Discuss your stance on vaccination decision making when factoring side effects and contracting the disease.

Describe a time when you did something you were not proud of.

Explain our Canadian health care system at a level appropriate for a high school student to understand.

A 16-year-old child wants to have a procedure done but their parents disagree with this. What would you do as the teenager’s physician? Do you have to listen to the patient or the parents?

What are your thoughts and feelings on reflecting your life during the COVID pandemic?

A 14 year old boy is diagnosed with a terminal illness. What should the physician do in this scenario?

Medical students are involved with many extracurricular activities. Choose one and talk about it.

A couple has decided to have a child through artificial insemination. They asked the doctor for sex selection of the child. What should the physician do?

Describe a time when you found that you had “too much on your plate”.

Physicians are expected to be leaders. In today’s health care system, do you think leadership is important – if so, why?

Describe a difficult decision that you had to make.

Tell me about the last time you were upset.

Describe a time when you felt ashamed.

Discuss your perspective on how social media is being used in the context of medicine.

What role should privacy play in telemedicine and electronic health records?

A proposed bill would require all individuals to vote in federal elections or face a $100 fine. What do you think about this bill?

Recently truckers have gathered to form a convoy in protest of certain decisions made by the federal government. What are your thoughts on this demonstration?

You are a family physician. You notice bruises on your patient, a 10 year boy. What would you do?

Social media platforms have been restricting content that is deemed discriminatory and offensive. What do you think about these practices?

What is the biopsychosocial model of medicine and what role does it play in the field of medicine?

Your little cousin needs to complete 40 hours of volunteering for his school. He thinks volunteering is useless and serves no purpose since you don't get paid for it. What would you say to convince him of the benefits of volunteering?

You started your clerkship rotations coincidently with your best friend. In your conversations, he often mentions patients by name and gives details on their conditions as well as their behaviour. What are some ethical issues that may arise in such a situation?

Describe a time when you doubted yourself.

What are some ways to reduce healthcare inequalities in Canada?

Describe a time when you had to be a follower.

Medical schools across Canada continue to switch between in-person and online delivery of medical education. Discuss the impact of online medical education.

Most Canadians have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Why do you think some Canadians are choosing not to get the vaccine?

One of the patients hands you a basket of baked goods and wine for the holidays as a gift. What would you do?

The Olympics is a global competition of sport and athleticism. Historically, there have been controversies in numerous Olympic Games. Select one of these controversies and discuss.

Why is confidentiality important for physicians? In what cases should physicians breach confidentiality? Have you ever had to break confidentiality in your life? Why or why not?

Do you think physicians should lie or withhold the truth from their patients, even if its for the patient’s own good? What are some benefits to telling the truth?

Tell me about a time you handled interpersonal conflict.

Why do you like our school over other schools?

Resident physicians are employees but also still completing their training. What are challenges that resident physicians face?

Bill-C7, which amended the Criminal Code to permit MAID for individuals whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable, was recently passed in Canada. What impact do you think this will have?

Describe a time when you were wrong about something very important.

A physician picked up a car accident victim from the street and brought him to the ER in his car. He did not want to wait for an ambulance because the patient’s condition was critical. Physical examination in the ER reveals quadriplegia. Is the physician liable for this consequence?

What are some difficulties faced by physicians during the pandemic?

Aside from the Medical Expert role, select another CanMED role and discuss why you think it is the most important one for a physician.

In healthcare, mandatory vaccinations has been met with mostly support. With COVID-19, mandatory vaccinations and booster shots have been further explored ethically and pragmatically. Discuss your perspective on mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19 compared to others (e.g. flu).

Why do you wish to attend our medical school?

Physicians are using social media to grow their network, showcase their lifestyle, and share medical tips and tricks. What are some positives and negatives of this increased exposure of physicians on social media?

You say you enjoy helping others. There are many other careers other than medicine where you can do that. Why medicine?

It sounds really bad. You are on an airplane and after you have taken off for a 4-hour flight, a baby sitting right behind your seat starts to cry. As time goes on, even while you have earphones, the screams don’t stop. The parent accompanying the child keeps trying to quiet the baby down but to no avail. For every passing minute, the screams get louder and louder. What do you do?

What are the difficult parts of being a physician?

Lord Byron stated “always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.” What does this quote mean to you in terms of how you will pursue your career in medicine?

Describe a time when you felt you were treated unfairly. What did you do about it?

Describe a time when you had to be a leader.

What are issues that people living with addiction face during a pandemic? What are some solutions to these problems?

What are your thoughts on universal basic income?

You are playing the card game hearts, and your partner is demonstrably less skilled and experienced than you. After a few hands, you both are down by over 100 points as a team, mostly because your partner keeps apologizing for making stupid mistakes during the game. What do you say to your partner?

Why do you want to be a doctor?

Tell me about the best day of your life.

What about our school appeals to you in terms of your medical education?

You have two patients who have been admitted after a serious accident. Both require immediate attention in order to survive. One patient is 20 years old; the other is 60 years old. Which life would you save?

A lot of people you work with have noticed that many random things which they own are going missing. It appears that some personal items that are not extremely valuable have gone missing over the course of the last two months. Regardless, many of your co-workers are concerned. What suggestions would you bring to an upcoming meeting with your co-workers about finding a way to address this issue?

What is the Jordan principle? What are some long-term benefits of this principle to a child’s life?

Have you ever almost quit something but then changed your mind? Why? What did you learn?

The Cannabis Act 2018 came into action across Canada. What are your thoughts on how this Act has affected Canadians?

How would you go about convincing a parent who does not want to vaccinate their newborn?

Describe a time when you were scared.

Describe a time when you asked for help.

Describe a time when you disappointed your parents/grandparents.

What health issue within our province are you most passionate about? Why?

You are a surgeon, and you discharge a patient. She becomes ill and dies not long after. The family asks why you discharged her. How do you respond?