No worries ...... it definitely is important to note whether they are both matches or not based on the mouth structure. The last thing you want to do is to consider factors like age, severity and any underlying issues (which are all very valid), only to find out their mouth isn't compatible for the dental implants (whether due to size or the gum reaction; I don't really know too much about dental implants so don't know the technical details behind it), but you get my general train of thought
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Practice Interview Question Thread
- Thread starter whoartthou
- Start date
chezpopcorn
UNSW BMedMD II
Yep, you could consider it slightly like the MMIs. Once your e.g. 5 minutes has run out, it doesn't matter which of the five questions you are on/whether you've finished all of the questions, they will move on to the next 'section'. I don't actually remember all of the 'section' names but remember them saying something like 'this next section is on teamwork and you will get 5 minutes for 5 questions'
cocodreams
Regular Member
A six year old girl comes in to your clinic with decay in many of her teeth and your clinical opinion is that they need to be extracted. You explain this to the girl’s father who disagrees with you and does not want the teeth to be extracted. How do you approach this situation?
For a question like this, we need to consider the mental competency of the 6 year old. However, do we just highlight it and move on? As in, "because this is a 6 year old, it is important to assess her mental competency. It is unlikely she will be able to make a decision, so the father will make the final decision"? How should we phrase it and is it likely that she will be competent enough to make a decision?
For a question like this, we need to consider the mental competency of the 6 year old. However, do we just highlight it and move on? As in, "because this is a 6 year old, it is important to assess her mental competency. It is unlikely she will be able to make a decision, so the father will make the final decision"? How should we phrase it and is it likely that she will be competent enough to make a decision?
In this instance, given the child is 6, there’s no way they have capacity to make their own medical decisions. This 100% falls to the parents to consent. The issue here isn’t the child’s capacity to make an informed decision, but the father’s. Does he have capacity? How will you determine/evaluate that?
cocodreams
Regular Member
That is also a very good point! I didn't think about considering the capacity of both people because the father may also not be competent when making the decision. If he did not have the capacity to make the decision (so neither the child or father do), what could be done in this case? Would I still proceed with the decision because it's acting in the best interest of the patient or is too complex of a situation? Should we outline that I would assess the mental capacity of the father and based off that, take the next steps etc?
cocodreams
Regular Member
You have treated a patient’s cavity in your emergency dental practice and the patient says that they cannot pay for the treatment because they lost their job recently. Would you pursue legal action against the patient?
In this scenario, there is a possibility that the patient could be lying to avoid paying. However, in interviews are we allowed to point that out or it's too harsh? Do we give the patient the benefit of the doubt?
In this scenario, there is a possibility that the patient could be lying to avoid paying. However, in interviews are we allowed to point that out or it's too harsh? Do we give the patient the benefit of the doubt?
I hope it's okay to revive this thread again! I have done a practice MMI scenario here. If anyone else would be happy to continue sending through their responses, I would be more than happy to give feedback to the best of my ability. Thank you in advance if anyone would be kind enough to provide feedback to me!
Joe is a pizza delivery worker. The pizza shop he works for has a 30 minutes or less delivery guarantee or else the customer does not have to pay. On Joe’s most recent delivery, he spots a woman bleeding on the street. There is no one else around and the woman seems to be unable to move by herself. However, Joe knows that if he returns empty handed again, he will be fired from this job he most desperately needs. What do you think Joe should do? Justify your solution in terms of practicality and ethical considerations
Context: as someone who has the potential to save someone else’s life, Joe’s responsibility as an ethical and moral human being to protect the wellbeing of someone else must be weighed against his responsibility to his employer.
Joe’s need for this job may be a result of specific circumstances: for example, he may be already living near the poverty line and is relying on this job to provide sufficient income to support him and potentially other people. He may be working in order to afford to pay for food or other essential things such as medication, and the loss of this income may lead to significant financial hardship. There is a particular nuance to the situation if Joe is already in a particularly dire place, thus it may be difficult for him to shake the responsibility he has for his employer, including the impending threat of being fired. However, Joe’s ability to put the needs of someone in an emergency situation above his own reflects his own selflessness and moral compass.
Further, the pizza shop may be in more of a financial detriment if Joe does not deliver this pizza in time, which is likely to occur if he stops to assist this woman. If the pizza shop is owned by a small family or local business, this may have more implications for their financial situation than if it were a large chain; however, the fact that this company has such a delivery guarantee indicates that they are not in a particularly vulnerable financial situation. If one customer not paying will not significantly damage the pizza shop’s finances, then Joe stopping to assist this woman would be a better option. Concurrently, if media headlines pick up this story and publish the fact that a worker is more worried about their employment than potentially saving a life, this may result in public scrutiny and backlash toward the pizza shop, leading to potential lost income.
Firstly, Joe should stop to check on this woman and assess whether she is at dire risk of losing her life: he should attempt to talk to her, and if he has received any first aid training before, he should attempt to check her pulse and breathing to determine the urgency of the situation in order to convey this to the dispatch operator. As she is bleeding, and further dependent on her level of consciousness, he should immediately call an ambulance and monitor her situation. While he is waiting for an ambulance, Joe should ring his employer and let them know what has happened, so they can potentially arrange any alternative method to continue his delivery, and to send someone to assist Joe with the situation.
Ultimately, If Joe is let go due to his inability to deliver the pizza on time directly due to this circumstance, he should attempt to follow it up with any fair work commission in order to see if he can receive compensation. As his ability to complete his work has been compromised due to providing emergency care to someone, regardless of whether up to this point he has had issues delivering pizza in the past, he would have fair ground to dispute his dismissal.
Joe is a pizza delivery worker. The pizza shop he works for has a 30 minutes or less delivery guarantee or else the customer does not have to pay. On Joe’s most recent delivery, he spots a woman bleeding on the street. There is no one else around and the woman seems to be unable to move by herself. However, Joe knows that if he returns empty handed again, he will be fired from this job he most desperately needs. What do you think Joe should do? Justify your solution in terms of practicality and ethical considerations
Context: as someone who has the potential to save someone else’s life, Joe’s responsibility as an ethical and moral human being to protect the wellbeing of someone else must be weighed against his responsibility to his employer.
Joe’s need for this job may be a result of specific circumstances: for example, he may be already living near the poverty line and is relying on this job to provide sufficient income to support him and potentially other people. He may be working in order to afford to pay for food or other essential things such as medication, and the loss of this income may lead to significant financial hardship. There is a particular nuance to the situation if Joe is already in a particularly dire place, thus it may be difficult for him to shake the responsibility he has for his employer, including the impending threat of being fired. However, Joe’s ability to put the needs of someone in an emergency situation above his own reflects his own selflessness and moral compass.
Further, the pizza shop may be in more of a financial detriment if Joe does not deliver this pizza in time, which is likely to occur if he stops to assist this woman. If the pizza shop is owned by a small family or local business, this may have more implications for their financial situation than if it were a large chain; however, the fact that this company has such a delivery guarantee indicates that they are not in a particularly vulnerable financial situation. If one customer not paying will not significantly damage the pizza shop’s finances, then Joe stopping to assist this woman would be a better option. Concurrently, if media headlines pick up this story and publish the fact that a worker is more worried about their employment than potentially saving a life, this may result in public scrutiny and backlash toward the pizza shop, leading to potential lost income.
Firstly, Joe should stop to check on this woman and assess whether she is at dire risk of losing her life: he should attempt to talk to her, and if he has received any first aid training before, he should attempt to check her pulse and breathing to determine the urgency of the situation in order to convey this to the dispatch operator. As she is bleeding, and further dependent on her level of consciousness, he should immediately call an ambulance and monitor her situation. While he is waiting for an ambulance, Joe should ring his employer and let them know what has happened, so they can potentially arrange any alternative method to continue his delivery, and to send someone to assist Joe with the situation.
Ultimately, If Joe is let go due to his inability to deliver the pizza on time directly due to this circumstance, he should attempt to follow it up with any fair work commission in order to see if he can receive compensation. As his ability to complete his work has been compromised due to providing emergency care to someone, regardless of whether up to this point he has had issues delivering pizza in the past, he would have fair ground to dispute his dismissal.
4. First thing to consider is that your aunt is in a vulnerable position with an ill friend and you should approach the situation with great care and sensitivity. It’s also important to consider the health of her friend and the potential damage only using sharks cartilage could cause. I think explaining to your aunt that you appreciate the care she has shown however in your experience you’ve found traditional methods to be much more effective, potentially adding in an anecdote to support this would be the best approach as your aunt is unlikely to respond to scientific data especially considering the heightened emotions due to her friend's condition.
I don’t feel like I’m very good at providing feedback in these so hopefully someone else chimes in, but I just wanted to say, firstly, that I really appreciated that you explicitly identified and discussed the many and varied points of view in this scenario.
Secondly, your suggestion that the delivery driver stop, assess, call 000, but also call his employer to explain the situation and implement possible alternatives seems like a sensible and well considered approach.
I thought this was a really well structured answer I maybe wouldn't have dedicated as much time to the pizza shops financial situation and would've probably been a bit more clear that although there are many considerations leaving the woman unattended was not in the scope of reasonable responses to the situation. Other than that seemed a lot better than what I would've come up with so nice work!
Agree with LMG!
The above is a bit of a ridiculous scenario, in my opinion. Typically ethical scenarios will not have a right or wrong answer so long as you can justify one over the other.
You simply can’t justify leaving a woman to bleed out on the street to deliver a pizza (other than, perhaps, in a medical school interview).
The above is a bit of a ridiculous scenario, in my opinion. Typically ethical scenarios will not have a right or wrong answer so long as you can justify one over the other.
You simply can’t justify leaving a woman to bleed out on the street to deliver a pizza (other than, perhaps, in a medical school interview).
asFdsgfadgd
Member
I was wondering if anyone could rate or critique this response to this MMI question. This is transcribed from a spoken response so it carries a few of my verbal idiosyncrasies and such. I'm going for a Monash Undergraduate MD position (tia):
Your grandmother lives alone and is fiercely independent. Recently however, she has become quite ill, and your mother is worried that she is unable to look after herself anymore. Your grandmother however, flatly refuses to live in a nursing home. Your mother then decides that it would be best for her if she came and lived with the family instead. Your father however, is resolutely against this idea.
1. What should the mother do?
First of all, I should establish that the mother's objective should be to find an outcome that works for all parties-- the grandmother, herself and her husband. If I was the mother, I would try to understand where both of the opposing parties -- in the grandmother and the father - are coming from.
So in terms of ascertaining why the grandmother is unwilling to live in a nursing home, there could be something related to the loss of agency -- it is mentioned she is a fiercely independent person, and there is a stigma that nursing homes often infantilise their residents, and take away the agency and freedom that this grandmother obviously values and enjoys. It could also be seen as a sign of her aging, which could perhaps be something she is quite insecure about, because there again is this public perception that the people in nursing homes are somewhat helpless, or perhaps too old to take care of themselves.
On the father's side -- not wanting to house the grandmother in the household -- there is this aspect of perhaps being burdened or bothered, or there is a factor of financial impact of having to take care of this ill grandmother.
So in this respect, as the mother, I would try to ascertain where both the father and grandmother's motivations lie -- so if the grandmother feels as if she is going to lose a significant amount of agency by living in a nursing home, I would try to find a nursing home which allows its residents to have more freedom. In terms of the father, if there was this aspect of not wanting to be financially burdened by the grandmother, there could be a closer examination of the household finances to reassure the father that housing the grandmother would not be a burden, particularly if the grandmother is receiving pension or superannuation.
SPEAKING TIME 2:43
2. How might you discuss this with your father?
As a child in the household my 2 priorities are trying to keep peace in the household, but also trying to achieve a positive outcome for my grandmother. First of all, again, I would try and empathise with my father, and try to see where he is coming from. There could be many reasons for this -- there could be a personal problem my father has with my grandmother -- some sort of disagreement they had in the past, or there's that aspect of not wanting to support another person -- perhaps not having enough space, or wanting peace and quiet. There are many other reasons why my father might be opposed to housing my grandmother. And so I would first of all try to understand where he is coming from, but I would also try to ensure he understands the situation of my grandmother, and that he empathises with her, in that she has this independent nature and it needs to be understood that she has an inability to live by herself as she is seriously ill. However, we need to respect her wish not to live in a nursing home. So I would try and come to some sort of resolution with my father, some sort of compromise, after clarifying the situation of my grandmother and ensuring he has not been misinformed of unaware of the situation at hand.
SPEAKING TIME 1:42
3. How might you persuade your father?
Again this sort of comes down to 1. understanding him, and 2. ensuring he understands all of the surrounding areas. So I would first of all try to ensure that all of the concerns he has are allayed, for example that financial aspect could be resolved by seeing if the grandmothers own income in the form of pensions and superannuation would be able to cover her expenses, or if the sale of the grandmothers house would be possible in order to bolster the family finances -- that sort of thing to ensure his concerns are addressed and that he feels as if his opinion is valued, and then secondly ensuring that he understand the grandmothers situation, as she is in quite a vulnerable position herself, particularly as she has become ill and this is a very tough time for her mentally, and that he has an understanding of her situation and perhaps almost a sense of responsibility to her as her son or son in law to try to assist or to try and help out.
SPEAKING TIME 1:27
4. Imagine you are a teenager, and your grandmother is very conservative. How might you react to having your grandmother living with you?
The grandmother being conservative is perhaps not uncharacteristic of people of her age, and perhaps as a consequence of her age as well, she might be unlikely to change her views. However, if she was to come to live with us, as she is ill and she is quite obviously in need of some aid and is relying on me and my family to keep her safe and well attended to, I suppose the first thing I would do ascertain her beliefs lie, where any disagreements may be, and if there are particularly egregious ones which really don't align with my belief system, I might try to have a reasoned conversation with her, but if she continues to be unwilling to reason with me, I would try to prevent causing a rift in the family dynamic by pressing it with her, because ultimately, my role in the family is to help out and to try and support especially my seriously ill grandmother.
SPEAKING TIME 1:35
Your grandmother lives alone and is fiercely independent. Recently however, she has become quite ill, and your mother is worried that she is unable to look after herself anymore. Your grandmother however, flatly refuses to live in a nursing home. Your mother then decides that it would be best for her if she came and lived with the family instead. Your father however, is resolutely against this idea.
1. What should the mother do?
First of all, I should establish that the mother's objective should be to find an outcome that works for all parties-- the grandmother, herself and her husband. If I was the mother, I would try to understand where both of the opposing parties -- in the grandmother and the father - are coming from.
So in terms of ascertaining why the grandmother is unwilling to live in a nursing home, there could be something related to the loss of agency -- it is mentioned she is a fiercely independent person, and there is a stigma that nursing homes often infantilise their residents, and take away the agency and freedom that this grandmother obviously values and enjoys. It could also be seen as a sign of her aging, which could perhaps be something she is quite insecure about, because there again is this public perception that the people in nursing homes are somewhat helpless, or perhaps too old to take care of themselves.
On the father's side -- not wanting to house the grandmother in the household -- there is this aspect of perhaps being burdened or bothered, or there is a factor of financial impact of having to take care of this ill grandmother.
So in this respect, as the mother, I would try to ascertain where both the father and grandmother's motivations lie -- so if the grandmother feels as if she is going to lose a significant amount of agency by living in a nursing home, I would try to find a nursing home which allows its residents to have more freedom. In terms of the father, if there was this aspect of not wanting to be financially burdened by the grandmother, there could be a closer examination of the household finances to reassure the father that housing the grandmother would not be a burden, particularly if the grandmother is receiving pension or superannuation.
SPEAKING TIME 2:43
2. How might you discuss this with your father?
As a child in the household my 2 priorities are trying to keep peace in the household, but also trying to achieve a positive outcome for my grandmother. First of all, again, I would try and empathise with my father, and try to see where he is coming from. There could be many reasons for this -- there could be a personal problem my father has with my grandmother -- some sort of disagreement they had in the past, or there's that aspect of not wanting to support another person -- perhaps not having enough space, or wanting peace and quiet. There are many other reasons why my father might be opposed to housing my grandmother. And so I would first of all try to understand where he is coming from, but I would also try to ensure he understands the situation of my grandmother, and that he empathises with her, in that she has this independent nature and it needs to be understood that she has an inability to live by herself as she is seriously ill. However, we need to respect her wish not to live in a nursing home. So I would try and come to some sort of resolution with my father, some sort of compromise, after clarifying the situation of my grandmother and ensuring he has not been misinformed of unaware of the situation at hand.
SPEAKING TIME 1:42
3. How might you persuade your father?
Again this sort of comes down to 1. understanding him, and 2. ensuring he understands all of the surrounding areas. So I would first of all try to ensure that all of the concerns he has are allayed, for example that financial aspect could be resolved by seeing if the grandmothers own income in the form of pensions and superannuation would be able to cover her expenses, or if the sale of the grandmothers house would be possible in order to bolster the family finances -- that sort of thing to ensure his concerns are addressed and that he feels as if his opinion is valued, and then secondly ensuring that he understand the grandmothers situation, as she is in quite a vulnerable position herself, particularly as she has become ill and this is a very tough time for her mentally, and that he has an understanding of her situation and perhaps almost a sense of responsibility to her as her son or son in law to try to assist or to try and help out.
SPEAKING TIME 1:27
4. Imagine you are a teenager, and your grandmother is very conservative. How might you react to having your grandmother living with you?
The grandmother being conservative is perhaps not uncharacteristic of people of her age, and perhaps as a consequence of her age as well, she might be unlikely to change her views. However, if she was to come to live with us, as she is ill and she is quite obviously in need of some aid and is relying on me and my family to keep her safe and well attended to, I suppose the first thing I would do ascertain her beliefs lie, where any disagreements may be, and if there are particularly egregious ones which really don't align with my belief system, I might try to have a reasoned conversation with her, but if she continues to be unwilling to reason with me, I would try to prevent causing a rift in the family dynamic by pressing it with her, because ultimately, my role in the family is to help out and to try and support especially my seriously ill grandmother.
SPEAKING TIME 1:35
___anonymous___
Member
PLEASE HELP:
You are a haematologist and your patient is a man who cannot speak English and has his daughter to translate. He has leukaemia, but his daughter pulls you aside and asks you not to tell him because in their culture, having cancer is like a death sentence. What do you do?
You get a translator; the daughter becomes overbearing and talks over the translator. What would you do so the daughter feels that you have taken her concerns into account?
You are a haematologist and your patient is a man who cannot speak English and has his daughter to translate. He has leukaemia, but his daughter pulls you aside and asks you not to tell him because in their culture, having cancer is like a death sentence. What do you do?
You get a translator; the daughter becomes overbearing and talks over the translator. What would you do so the daughter feels that you have taken her concerns into account?
I recommend you have a go at answering this yourself, and post your response here in the thread where others can give you feedback.
I would speak to the daughter and inform her that I understand and respect her cultural view of cancer, however, with early treatment, empirical evidence has shown that there is a higher chance that her fathers cancer will have a better prognosis than without treatment, and that therefore it is in my best interest (as the haematologist) to inform her father about his leukaemia.
It is important that this information is translated to the father not only to act with non-maleficence as a haematologist, but to respect that her father has the autonomy and right to know about/ make informed decisions about his own health (this is given that he has the capacity to understand the medical information provided to him and is able to provide consent).
This is how I would answer the question but I am not sure if I have covered all of the important points. Open to any constructive criticism
Last edited:
MedASP2023
Member
Came across with a scenario, not sure how to respond to it...any help?
You are working as a laboratory assistant who has been handed a project by your research supervisor that was begun by a previous undergraduate assistant (who has since graduated to a health professional program). The data from the previous assistant is being incorporated into a paper that the supervisor wants to publish, but after three weeks of trying, you have been unable to reproduce the data. The supervisor calls you in for a meeting about your productivity on the project. Describe what you would prepare and say to your supervisor.
You are working as a laboratory assistant who has been handed a project by your research supervisor that was begun by a previous undergraduate assistant (who has since graduated to a health professional program). The data from the previous assistant is being incorporated into a paper that the supervisor wants to publish, but after three weeks of trying, you have been unable to reproduce the data. The supervisor calls you in for a meeting about your productivity on the project. Describe what you would prepare and say to your supervisor.
I think the purpose of this interview question is to see how sensitive you are when delivering bad news.
I would answer it by:
- Preface that there is bad news; this would allow supervisor to get prepared mentally
- Be honest, own up to your progress and talk about the current situation - "unfortunately, I was unable to reproduce the data for the past 3 weeks... I have tried ___, but this seemed to not work."
- Show empathy; "I'm sorry that I was unable to get much progress, I understand that this paper is a big goal for you and has a deadline to meet..."
- Talk about the exact process you did, and your hypotheses on what could have gone wrong - "I believe that the issue may have been because of unfamiliarity with system, need help, incorrect data, etc."
- Talk about what you will do to figure out exact reason this productivity was impaired/your next actions - e.g. "I will reach out to the previous undergraduate assistant to see how they obtained the data..."
- Ask for help/advice - "Could you please help me find the issue and tackle it, so the paper can be finished and published on time?". Remember you are a lab assistant - you have less knowledge and experience compared to a research supervisor.
I think your answer is pretty strong so far, but you didn't talk significantly about how you would ensure the daughter's concerns are being heard.I would speak to the daughter and inform her that I understand and respect her cultural view of cancer, however, with early treatment, empirical evidence has shown that there is a higher chance that her fathers cancer will have a better prognosis than without treatment, and that therefore it is in my best interest (as the haematologist) to inform her father about his leukaemia.
It is important that this information is translated to the father not only to act with non-maleficence as a haematologist, but to respect that her father has the autonomy and right to know about/ make informed decisions about his own health (this is given that he has the capacity to understand the medical information provided to him and is able to provide consent).
This is how I would answer the question but I am not sure if I have covered all of the important points. Open to any constructive criticism
- Sit down with her and her father for a private talk; try to understand their cultural perspective but also explain your medical opinion --> come to a compromise in which you ensure that patient's health is maximised AND culture is respected. For example, since cancer is like a "death sentence" in their culture, you could try to show them data regarding the treatment plans you created - help them have hope and see possibility in these options.
- If daughter is talking over the translator, I would pause convo in gentle manner - explain to daughter that I need her father to listen to all medical opinion, risks and benefits of treatment to make an informed and free decision. While I do understand that she wants her father to not knolw about his diagnosis and feels worried due to cultural beliefs, it's important that her father has the choice regfarding his medical treatment, etc. However, I would encourage her to participate in convo after this medical opinion was explained by the translator, to provide her opinion to her father.
forevafrensbear
Regular Member
In these situations ; I will explain to the daughter I understand her concerns and try to ascertain what the patient would like to know. And what their understanding of where things are at presently. Their viewpoint is paramount. Independent of the daughter. It is rare that the patient does not want the frank discussion. Then I proceed as appropriate. Patients tend to know more than they let on and have a feel what is wrong.
If the daughter continues to obstruct the consultation, despite a verbal warning, I politely eject her from the room.
If the daughter continues to obstruct the consultation, despite a verbal warning, I politely eject her from the room.
If I was to go a rural placement, what would I do to make the best of it? I see this question often in interviews, but I honestly have no clue what they are expecting or what I would even do (I guess go out to get a feel for the community/culture stuff like that, which everyone would do anyway). Any advice would be greatly appreciated.