Difficult Medical School interview question

Right, that must be definitive proof that it never gets asked then...

Obviously people cannot predict what questions they'll get asked, but questions like the one in the OP are certainly not unheard of.

Should have gone Newcastle... your missing out on a free bar every friday!

Congratulations though!

It was a very difficult decision between those two, believe me (Newcastle was my insurance), despite pretty much everyone I spoke to about it reacting with bemusement and sometimes even genuine anger that I wasn't sure which one to pick... Yet the only reason most of them could think of for feeling that way was "Because it's Oxford"

That answer is likely to be followed up with "and what if there wasn't a waiting list?"

Of course it isn't definitive proof, but the GMC's guidelines advise not to make judgements about a patient's lifestyle, and I can't see how you could answer a question that is essentially asking you to decide who deserves to live the most without doing exactly that... As another poster mentioned, a question with the same people but about a kidney transplant is perfectly reasonable, as you can take the likelihood of success into consideration, but I don't think the one in the OP is. You say this question is "certainly not unheard of", but it's in so many interview help books that that's probably the reason why, with a bit of Chinese whispers going on.

Is there anyone on here who can say they were asked a question like this, where they were told that clinical need was equal?

Thank you so much! That seems like the best approach to take for this question. What would you think if someone were to answer "I would give it to the first person on the waiting list" ?

I did get some scenario questions, but they were things like "What would you do if you thought your consultant has a drinking problem that is endangering patients?", "What would you do if you found out your best friend cheated in final exams?" or "What would you do if you found out your patient was continuing to drive even though his condition means he isn't allowed to, because he says he would lose his job if he didn't?"

I was interviewed at Oxford, Nottingham and Newcastle. I got offers from all three so I must have done reasonably well... Despite my phone going off at Newcastle and me losing the article I was supposed to bring to one of my Oxford interviews

I had a question like this at one of my interviews except I had 5 patients to choose from. I discussed each patient and discounted a few but ultimately said I needed more information to make a decision

Posted from TSR Mobile

Definitely don't say this, it shows no original thought

What would you have answered if they had asked you "What more information would you require?"

bloody Oxford!

I don't think I could cope with the workload there, seems a lot more essay based then Newcastle (but no where near as bad as Cambridge...)

Well good luck to ya and maybe I'll see you on my placements!

Do you get questioned on GMC guidelines at interviews nowadays?

Whilst the question is a little unrealistic i presume this is simply the interviewer is simply trying to find out how the candidate thinks. Even with medical needs being the same all three of these patients will have very different outcomes which i presume is what you're supposed to talk about and rationalize.

In addition, with regards to the guideline you mentioned, there only seems to be mention of a single patient; though i don't have a copy of the GMC guidelines to see if there are any further points made with regards to the care of multiple patients and triage.

Mr Supernova, what did you say to them about the first two? They're quite dodgy, and don't sound like Oxford would ask them.

That was one of the things I was worried about too, I guess I'll see in the coming months if my fears were unfounded or not... Good luck to you too



You'd expect the people making the interview questions to know them though... I can only think that the question is usually worded in a way that can be answered by mentioning the different outcomes, rather than "Who deserves to live the most?"

Any tips for Imperial / Oxford / King's interviews?

Posted from TSR Mobile