St Andrews Medicine Interview Questions

General/Personal Statement Station – These may be questions relating to your work experience which demonstrate how you have prepared yourself for entering a medical career. They will be keen to know what you have gained from work experience in a medical or ‘caring’ environment, or from some other environment that you feel has been relevant in preparing you for a career in medicine. Recent questions have included the following:

• Did you see any particularly difficult scenarios of patient-doctor interactions during your time at…?
• What are the benefits of working in a medical environment? How would you be well suited to this?
• How would you cope with a high stress/demanding environment?
  
  

Ethical Dilemmas – These may be incorporated into other stations such as the role-play or communication stations. Ensure that you integrate the four pillars of medical ethics. For example:

• Can private filming of patients be justified if the hospital felt the patient was being abused?
• A range of additional MMI Ethical dilemmas with model answers can be found in the Online MMI Question Bank.

 
Role-Play Scenarios – One of the key attribute assessors are looking for in this station is empathy. For advice on how to maximise your performance in this station refer to the BlackStone Tutors 6 Stages of MMI Role Play in the MMI Question Bank. Examples of scenarios may include:

• Breaking bad news to a patient or friend
• Convincing a patient to take their prescription medicine to help their condition, when they are reluctant to do so – The key here is not to successfully persuade them to take their medication, but instead to explore why they do not wish to take their medication.

 
Motivation and Insight into Medicine – This includes both awareness of the course that St Andrews offer as well as the day-to-day job of being a doctor. The panel will expect the candidate to have a general understanding of the course, in particular, the way in which the Medical programme is delivered and to be able to verbalise its advantages and limitations. You need to show that you understand what a career in medicine entails, for example, the advantages and disadvantages of being a doctor, and having a realistic view of a typical daily routine.
 
Communication Station – Communication skills are essential to the practice of almost all aspects of medicine. For tips and advice on how to show effective communication refer to the 7 Stages of MMI Communication Stations. This station could include activities such as:

• Reading a short article on a medically related topic (for example nicotine, vaccination, osteoporosis) and be asked questions, or explain to a patient about this medical topic.
• Helping a person pack their holiday luggage

 
Case Article/Review Station – Read an article or case study and answer the questions. For example:

• What were the main points/issues.
• In your opinion, which response/course of action was the best option?
• A number of case review stations can be found in the Online MMI Question Bank, including model answers and common pitfalls.