Shuffle your interview practice

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

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?

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?

Describe a time when you disappointed your parents/grandparents.

Can you tell me why a physician must also be a good collaborator, and provide examples?

Why is support for physician work life balance important for the care of patients?

You are a student in an advocacy group. You feel like another student in that group routinely dismisses the ideas of others and is often stuck in their own perspective of what is best. Do you say anything? If so, what do you say? What would you do if they left the advocacy group as a result of your discussion?

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?

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

What are the difficult parts of being a physician?

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?

It is not uncommon for medications to have various adverse side effects. As a physician, how would you help your patients navigate those side effects? How would you determine whether a treatment option is worth any adverse effects or risks?

How would you go about suggesting to a family member that they get vaccinated if they are anti-vaccine?

What role has the internet played in the aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

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

Dr. A is an exceptional surgeon, with by far the best surgical outcomes in the country. However, Dr. A is also highly prone to inter-professional conflict and is frequently disrespectful to patients, hospital staff and students. Do you think exceptional results justify problematic behaviour? If Dr. A threatened to quit in response to any required professional-development or sensitivity training, do you think that this would do more harm than good to patients? Why or why not?

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?

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?

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

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

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?

Describe a time when you felt excited. What happened?

Have you considered other careers besides being a physician?

What is your greatest weakness?

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?

What characteristics do you think are important for a physician to possess as members within a team and why?

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

Why do you like our school over other schools?

Describe a difficult decision that you had to make.

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?

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

What do you think health inequality means? What does health inequity mean? Have you ever felt treated unfairly in your own life?

Tell me about the last time you were upset.

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

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

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

What are some ways to reduce healthcare inequalities in Canada?

How would you deal with the death of a patient?

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

What problems lie at the intersection of indigenous people's relationship with government operated healthcare in Canada and rural communities?

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

Pick a health topic that is relevant to today’s society and discuss your thoughts on it.

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

Discuss your perspective on shifting the COVID-19 crisis from a pandemic to an endemic. What are the positives and negatives? Who stands to benefit and face harm as a result of such a decision? What do you think is the best course of action going forward?

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).

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

Medical school applicants come from a variety of different backgrounds, with volunteer and leadership experience ranging from small local initiatives to worldwide advocacy trips. Do you think medical schools can fairly compare volunteer and leadership experiences that are dissimilar? If you were in charge of medical school admissions, how would you evaluate applicants’ co-curricular experiences?

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

You are on clinical rotation with Dr. A and admire how highly professional and compassionate they are with patients. However, you notice that after patient interactions, Dr. A makes jokes about their patients with other physicians and residents. Dr. A notices your shock at this and mentions that "everyone does this” and “as long as you are good with the patients in person, it’s just private fun". Do you see any issues with this behaviour? Would you say anything to Dr. X? What would you do if Dr. A refused to change their behaviour?

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

Have you ever doubted whether medicine is right for you?

Describe a time when you improved on a weakness.

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

A friend who on the basis of religious beliefs is anti-abortion has just had an argument with their daughter who is pro-abortion rights and is asking you for advice on how to handle the situation what would you do?

You are a judge for a student competition on public health. Student competitors had to present on a current health topic, describing the health issue, current solutions, and possible other health solutions. You and the rest of the judging panel have narrowed down the submission pool to two presentations; one on lung cancer and the other on geographical inequalities in population access to primary care. You and the other judges believe that both projects are extremely well done, but they vary significantly in their subject matter. The competition rules are clear that there can only be one winner. How would you go about choosing a winner?

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?

Experimental medicine can introduce hugely effective new methods of treatment for pathologies that previously could not be treated. Do you think experimental medicine research should be done with children? Why or why not?

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

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

What is your favourite quote and why?

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

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

Describe a time when you made sacrifices to excel at something (can be any activity).

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

Tell me about a time you handled interpersonal conflict.

What is one major healthcare issue that you believe needs to be addressed in the Canadian healthcare system?

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?

Public celebrity cases like the recent Depp vs. Heard case have shown how powerful and biased the ‘Court of Public Opinion’ can be. What kind of effects do you think public opinion can have on the legal process, if any? Do you think that certain court cases should be kept private and out of public view? Why or why not?

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

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

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?

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 most important issue facing health care today?

What would you consider before moving your practice to a rural setting?

What are your thoughts on universal basic income?

You are an attending physician who works at a busy hospital. Patient X frequently ignores the medical advice given by you and seems to dislike being in the hospital. How would you go about handling such patient encounters?

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.

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 many have lost your temper.

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)?

Describe a time when you did something wrong.

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

Describe a time when you stood up for someone.

Orphan diseases are diseases whose rarity means there is a lack of a market large enough to gain support and resources for discovering treatments for them. What is your approach to treating orphan diseases?

If you were the manager of a seniors home how would you address an employee coming to work with symptoms? What would you do if this was during an active outbreak?

You are a member of a student leadership group. You feel that one of the other members of the group only joined to use the experience as a "resume booster". They contribute only the bare minimum to the group and participate just enough to make regular attendance. What would you do in this situation?

Describe a time when you doubted yourself.

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

When do laws deviate from ethics?

What responsibilities do physicians have in informing the general public about topics related to medicine?

What would you hope to achieve as a physician?

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?

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

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

Is physician assisted suicide a potential asset or is it a liability to an effective healthcare system?

What is one lasting effect on healthcare from the COVID-19 pandemic?

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

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

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