interview prep to date

[luckyduck378]

I started reviewing a number of books a while ago, including: "Doing Right"; "The Medical School Interview- Secrets and a system for Success"; "So you want to be a Doctor, Eh?"; "Change and Continuity in Canada's Healthcare System"; and the Romanow report among others.

 

There was also a lot of introspection/self-reflection re. why I want to get into this, how I've demonstrated, in the past, that I have the perseverance and longevity to train to be an MD, and my knowledge of Canadian HC system including REALISTIC solutions/ideas to some of the current issues/limits facing our national system.

 

I also have the luck of working with many doctors (attendings, residents, IMG's, etc.) in a downtown teaching hospital who have agreed to mock interview me, and/or passed on helpful interview advice.

 

That said, I think an effective way to prepare, on top of readings, would be to talk to residents/medical students who already went through the process, and admissions committee docs, to find out about (a) what the process is like from the OTHER (i.e. admissions) side, and ( what the students/residents did, what they would have done differently (i.e. identify common mistakes/mishaps), and what you could do to best prepare for your interviews. In my experience, most have been willing to help motivated and focused applicants, and potential future colleagues!

 

Good luck to all!!

 

"Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something." - Dr. Randy Pausch

[funkmunk]

Hello everyone!

 

I'm trying to set a benchmark for interview prep by all the other keeners out there. What have you done to date to prep for interviews to date?

 

I know on various threads people are talking about meeting up and running some mock interviews, but have people already started self-studying, or are you all waiting to hear get an invitation first?

 

Thanks and best of luck!

[RandomGuy]

I've started "prepping" by continuing the read the news and CMAJ, as I have for some time now (because I like to, not because I was thinking that far ahead ). In the past few weeks I have stepped up my game a bit, though: I use a program called Evernote to keep track of odds and ends, and I've added a "Medicine" folder where I've been tossing in particularly interesting medical news/articles. Before my interview, I will probably breeze through that folder to remind myself of some talking points.

 

... Is that sleazy?

[smm99]

 

... Is that sleazy?

 

Sleazy? No. Neurotic? Maybe.

I actually think that's a great idea in terms of keeping up to date on current events and research, so that you don't come across as having lived under a rock for the past year...

[Rach]

I haven't started prepping though hopefully I'll start pretty soon reading up on medical news stories and such. I feel like I'm definitely OK with my knowledge of world events, politics, etc. Unfortunately I doubt that will be of much help and I really need to focus on health care issues (moved back to Canada 2 years ago and still feel like I'm way behind in knowing what's going on in the Canadian health care system).

 

Maybe we should start a thread where we can discuss different aspects of the health care system or interesting news stories in medicine to help expand our knowledge a little.

[funkmunk]

I may have some articles at home that could be useful to prep with. They're pdf files from a health economics class I took last year. Some compare different aspects of delivery in OECD countries, and some are specific to Canada.

Let me know if you're interested.. I can rifle through them tonight.

Cheers!

[Rach]

I may have some articles at home that could be useful to prep with. They're pdf files from a health economics class I took last year. Some compare different aspects of delivery in OECD countries, and some are specific to Canada.

Let me know if you're interested.. I can rifle through them tonight.

Cheers!

 

I'd love to read those, thanks for offering! I like the idea of sharing our finds. Once I start prepping I'll def link you to interesting articles, etc if anyone is interested in doing this.

[RandomGuy]

I think a "journal club" style reading group would be a neat idea, if we circulated around interesting reads and ideas. Let's do it up!

[RandomGuy]

This thread seems to have gotten messed up when the forums went down, so I'll bump it.

[Rach]

I think a "journal club" style reading group would be a neat idea, if we circulated around interesting reads and ideas. Let's do it up!

 

You think we should do it in this thread? It might get a little messy but I'm willing to try.

[ocean]

i'd be into sharing what i have learned through my nursing programme. i will look for stuff

[medaholic]

My Advice Apart from the reading up on ethic principles, health care roles, health care delivery, you MUST practice.

 

Most schools will be offering free practice interview sessions. Please go to them, the actual simulation of an interview and the feedback you get will really help you prepare more than reading countless articles.

 

Find some friends to ask you a list of typical questions too. The best way to get better at interviewing is to practice speaking and answering interview style questions/scenarios.

[ocean]

i am all for practice sessions, but i live no where near a university, being arctic girl et al... just looked at CMAJ's list of ethical scenarios, very informative. maybe i can grab some people to help me simulate interviews. otherwise, i will be lookin' out for helpful articles/news stories. but when it comes down to interview time i will call on the Power of Now and just be me self...

[RandomGuy]

My Advice Apart from the reading up on ethic principles, health care roles, health care delivery, you MUST practice.

 

Most schools will be offering free practice interview sessions. Please go to them, the actual simulation of an interview and the feedback you get will really help you prepare more than reading countless articles.

 

Find some friends to ask you a list of typical questions too. The best way to get better at interviewing is to practice speaking and answering interview style questions/scenarios.

 

I don't think it needs to be an either/or scenario. We can both read articles and do mock interviews.

[w8kg6]

Hey Funkmunk, I'd love to get my hands on those PDFs. My email is w8kg6@unb.ca (I'm only applying to Atlantic schools, in case you're worried about helping out the competition). I'll send you a PM as well just so I know you'll see this .

 

Cheers

 

w8kg6

[funkmunk]

Hey,

Sorry I've been out of touch. I tried looking for the usb with the files and I must have lost it in the move. I moved provinces after finishing school this summer and can't find it. I'll keep looking, as I could use the info too, and I'll let you know if I find it. Sorry!

Cheers

[Flame219]

Hey I think this is the best thread I've seen in a while! Do you guys think the mock interviews from prep course companies (ex. Princeton, Kaplan) would help?

 

I'll be keeping an eye out on the news and certain useful material in the books that I might find too and we could pool them together!

[ocean]

hi, here is a link to a story in CMAJ on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside's efforts to combat the increasing rates of HIV/Hep C infections

 

http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/179/4/348?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1&author1=wood&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&fulltext=vancouver&andorexactfulltext=or&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=date&resourcetype=HWCIT,HWELTR

 

"Despite the Tories' treatment of evidence-based public health, the activities of the nurses at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control have continued. Bevel Up's presentation of the reality confronted by the nurses on the Downtown Eastside's gritty streets pulls back the curtain of ignorance shrouding the Harper government's approach to illicit drugs — witness Health Minister Tony Clement's statement that "law enforcement is harm reduction." While Bevel Up will be informative to anyone interested in evidence-based approaches to drug addiction, it should be required viewing for nursing and medical students across the country. Someone should also send a copy to the Prime Minister's office."

 

 

also search in CBC for Dr. Wood's article on Insite, the safe injection site.

 

what do you think? it is certainly a controversial intervention we need to be able to talk about

cheers

[abcwxyz]

hi, here is a link to a story in CMAJ on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside's efforts to combat the increasing rates of HIV/Hep C infections

 

http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/179/4/348?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1&author1=wood&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&fulltext=vancouver&andorexactfulltext=or&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=date&resourcetype=HWCIT,HWELTR

 

"Despite the Tories' treatment of evidence-based public health, the activities of the nurses at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control have continued. Bevel Up's presentation of the reality confronted by the nurses on the Downtown Eastside's gritty streets pulls back the curtain of ignorance shrouding the Harper government's approach to illicit drugs — witness Health Minister Tony Clement's statement that "law enforcement is harm reduction." While Bevel Up will be informative to anyone interested in evidence-based approaches to drug addiction, it should be required viewing for nursing and medical students across the country. Someone should also send a copy to the Prime Minister's office."

 

 

also search in CBC for Dr. Wood's article on Insite, the safe injection site.

 

what do you think? it is certainly a controversial intervention we need to be able to talk about

cheers

 

I disagree with the federal government's stance on the issue. I think that this is a good program, provided it is administered correctly.

 

I'm unsure as to how they are actually planning to decrease drug use; my assumption is that as they are running the needle exchange program, they are also offering counseling on how to get help. In this case, I'd say that the program is not unethical. They are indeed facilitating drug use, but their ultimate goal is to build up trust and connections with the drug users such that they may be convinced to enter treatment programs. This is in addition to the explicitly mentioned goals in the article to reduce Hepatitis and HIV transmission.

 

This gets a bit into moral relativism vs. moral absolutism. By following Bevel Up, health workers are indeed facilitating drug use directly. They are making it safer for a drug user to continue their lifestyle in addition to providing an aura of official sanction towards their lifestyle. If we were to pursue an absolutist policy, this would certainly not be kosher. However, I think that looking for absolutes when dealing with complex issues like this is inappropriate; complex problems require complex solutions.

 

In this case, the ends justify the means; to leave helpless people who are not mentally or physically capable of change to their fate is unethical. Aiding them would take moral precedence to a hard stance on anti-drug policy. If, in addition to empirical data, this policy has WHO support, I feel that it is certainly a good policy to pursue in parallel to drug enforcement.

[abcwxyz]

What I'm really looking for is a current synopses of changes to the health system within the past 5-10 years. Of particular interest would be legislative reaction to the Romanow report (with changes made up to some time in 2008).

 

I've got http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/healthcare/firstminconf.html but it's a bit dated and I'd like to know the outcomes of all that.

 

Does anyone have such a link?

 

Some other sites that I have:

http://www.utmj.org/ (If applying to U of T, for UT related issues)

http://premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25691 (Sample MMI questions)

http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/179/8/757?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=20&resourcetype=HWCIT (Where parties stood in 2008 election)

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/transformation/wait_times/wait_mn.html (Ontario wait times strategy)

http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/177/1/51 (Sustainability of healthcare)

http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/lang-en/ (Electronic health records)

 

Hopefully you find them useful

[future_doc]

Hello everyone!

 

I'm trying to set a benchmark for interview prep by all the other keeners out there. What have you done to date to prep for interviews to date?

 

I know on various threads people are talking about meeting up and running some mock interviews, but have people already started self-studying, or are you all waiting to hear get an invitation first?

 

Thanks and best of luck!

 

There are two excellent Articles referred to under the thread "New Developments in Medicine" dealing with Checklists in surgery and ICU - much food for thought I believe.

 

I agree with Ocean that the best prep for interview is to be yourself and to relax. There is little preparation to do in my opinion for an MMI. Our personalities need to shine, we need to be personable, to shows excellent communication skills, to show we understand the larger ethical issues involved in the scenarios we are presented with, we need to be able to state and defend our position while showeing we understand the other side. They want to test our critical thinking skills and ability to solve new and difficult problems under pressure, which problems may have nothing whatsoever to do with medicine.

 

So, I don't think it is helpful to any of us to cram, over prepare, worry or to get all worked up. Moreover, there are too many variables involved beyond our control that include the pool of applicants and our respective strengths and weaknesses. So, yes we should be aware of medical issues and healthcare in a general sense, but overall our personal skills, our critical thinking and problem solving ability combined with our ability to communicate effectively will carry the day. So, lets all relax and not worry, and sort of prepare like a patient to undergo surgery - except remeber to stay awake:) if fortunate enough to be selected for an interview. And for those of who are not chosen to be interviewed this year, don't sweat it (I won't). I am enjoying my studies, will apply again next year and I have a Plan B and Plan C, as there is no certainty in life, they say, but death and taxes.. I think in this entire process, we need to do our best, but the most important ingredient is chance or luck! After all, there are so many excellent candidates in Canada and relatively speaking, so few seats available. With such an overabundance of worthy candidates with great GPAs, ECs, ABS, the selection process makes it somewhat of a random process and when we are interviewed, no matter what our strengths in writing, if we lack in quick critical thinking, in personal skills of charm and communication, if we dress inappropriately (females, provocatively and not conservatively....males, like coming from another planet), if we don't make eye contact, if we app[ear overly nervous, if our problem solving abilities are lacking, we become dead meat this time around.

 

So, relax and follow Ocean's advice. Good luck to you all.

[ocean]

 

I'm unsure as to how they are actually planning to decrease drug use; my assumption is that as they are running the needle exchange program, they are also offering counseling on how to get help. In this case, I'd say that the program is not unethical. They are indeed facilitating drug use, but their ultimate goal is to build up trust and connections with the drug users such that they may be convinced to enter treatment programs. This is in addition to the explicitly mentioned goals in the article to reduce Hepatitis and HIV transmission.

 

.

 

you are correct with the conjunct treatment offered by Insite, the supervised injection site. also, the nurses on the street are establishing a rapport with users of drugs. this offers a safe connection to treatment, or perhaps prevention for a friend. the 'four pillars' of Vancouver's approach to drug use are prevention, treatment, harm reduction and law enforcement. i really recommend watching the DVD 'Bevel Up' (fyi, a bevel is the cut out part of the needle tip) i do not know if i would personally assist someone to inject drugs, but i am thankful there are nurses/MD's that do.

[ocean]

I'm also very interested in changes made to aboriginal healthcare and how they are working out (2007/2008 preferred... after Romanow report at least). I'm sure that this is studied extensively since it's a federal concern.

 

 

check out: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/index-eng.php

[wishywish82]

I found this helpful for the MMI interview http://www.topstarinterview.com MMI package. Looks pretty sweet to me.

[cling]

Oh wishywash...Don't do it. Just don't.