11-09-2005, 04:54 AM
Hey guys,
I went back and checked response's interview experineces. Very interesting and extremely helpful. I recommend them to everybody how didn't read them yet.
Here they are:
Hi again..
Some facts about the hospital:
Big hospital --- 750 beds, alot of constructions..!!
Positions: 12, 6 prelim and 6 categorical.
Affiliation: Major affiliation with University of Cincinnati.
Prematch positions: No for the last 4 years.
Did I ask for prematch: No.
IMG friendly: Yes.
Teaching hospitals: Good Sam hospital.
Board passing rate: 100% for th elast 4 years.(means nothing!!).
Candidates at the day of interview: 3, 2 prelim(AMG) and me.
The interview started at 7:15. we met the residency coordinator, then a second year resident came and talked to us and took us to the morning report. They had an EKG conference...Booooooring!! no interaction!
EKG conference done by 8:00 am. Interviews with faculty. Each one had 2 interviews with PD and a faculty.
My first interview with the faculty:
The same questions guys. I will put here the new questions
F: Tell me one physician you will not forget and he was like your father in medicine..if there is any??
Otherwise the same questions: Tell me about yourself, USCE, Area of strength and ur weaknesses, any questions to ask?
Done with first interview...second one with PD..
The same questions again and again. Nothing new. At the end, You are the best, please consider us seriousely and rank us very high on ur ROL....( Means nothing)!!
At 10:00 am a tour with first and second year residents for 1:30 hour. It is pretty big hospital.
At 11:30 am lunch with residents..Done by 1:00 pm
That is it guys..I am sorry but nothing specific about thi sprogram. Community program with no peculiar features.
Few residents go for fellowship, cardio and GI are near impossible.
-They have a fixed curriculum for research which is good.
-The curriculum is good in which they concentrate on general IM for interns and for 2nd and 3rd year they concentrate on subspecialties.
- Teaching rounds 3 times per week.
- Very relaxed environment, friendly attendings.
Overall, it is an average community hospital...!! Thank you guys and again sorry for such disappearance, I was really busy..I wish you the best in your interviews.
Lets start now!!!
The day before the interview we went for a dinner with 2 residents, first and third year resident. It was very helpful and really it decreass the anxiety at the day of the interview. We had the chance to ask the residents alot of questions about : Research, chance of fellowship, teaching, program structure but what I noticed is that they were trying mainly to discuss the life at Roanoke as a resident. We talked alot about outdoor activities in Roanoke and the weather in Roanoke. Questions asked by the residents:
- They asked me about my USCE in details.
- They asked me about my hobbie and extracurricular activities.
- They asked me about my future plans(esp. fellowships).
They were very friendly....
The interview day started at 7:15 were we met the chief resident at the lobby( One of the kindest chief residents I have ever met in my life.!!) He made my day easy..
At 7: 30 am The morning report: Bunch of residents and one faculty. They presented a case of Seizure with high temp(105) and elevated CK, drug abuse. The nice thing is that they allowed us to participate in the discussion.
The resident gave the complete hx and p/e. Then the attending asked what do u think (ddx), answers given:
- Neuroleptic malignant syndrome( the pt is on antipsych)
- Serotonin synd. the pt is on SSRI.
- CNS infection--The attending said, what type of infection?
one of the candidate said: weired bugs like legionella---He said OK!!
I said: with this high temp we can think of CNS abscess--He said OK..
Then he aske dwhat to do next? Residents answers:
-CBC-----Was normal
- Electrolytes---- Was normal
- Phenytoin level----OK although no hx of phenytoin intake
- Urine for drug screen---OK. It was negative.
- CT scan---OK. It was normal
- EEG: Non specific changes..
One of the candidates answered: LP----OK and he gave us the values of glc, prtn, wbc all normal. He asked what to check also on CSF fluids, one of the candidated said HIV----He said weellllll anything else? I said G-stain. He said OK it was negative....
At the end.... NMS Vs Serotonin Synd.....,End of the case!!
Then another resident gave brief presentation about NMS and serotonin synd.
The last 5 minutes, they reviewed 2 question from MKSAP13 Rheumatology.
Q1: A female pt with SLE on long term steroids, smoker. at the office visit, BP: 140/90, P/E normal. Total cholesterol 250, next step:
A- Check TSH.
B- Measure serum Cr.
C- Check Fasting blood glc and fasting serum lipids.
D- CT scan
E- Dont remember this one....
All residents answered A TSH? Why? They said Hypothyroid with hypercholest.
He asked us Agree? 3 said yes. I said: I disagree. Why? Well, although hypothyroi can cause elevated cholest but this pt had been on steroids for long term and I will start with fasting blood glc. and then I will check fasting lipid profile....OK!!!
Next Q:
A lady with RA and subcutaneous nodule that increased in size recently. She is on Methotrexate for th elast 8 months in an ascending dose and she developed new nodules in tthe achilllis tendon bilaterally, the nodules are non tender. P/E normal. Next step:
A- Bx of the nodule
B- Reassure the pt. This is part of the natural hx of the RA and its treatment.
C- Check lipids and TG.
D- Start anti-TB.
E- Check Uric acid level in the serum.
Residents----the majority answered Lipids( Xanthomas) at achillis tendon.
Candidates----Do u agree?? Yes!! I raised my hand and said " Well, I have an addition. THis pt has hx of RA and on MTX on ascendin dose..Now, it is known that pt started on MTX will notice- Surprisingly- an increase in the size of the subcut. nodules initially after the Rx with MTX, I dont why but just an addition" He said: R U sure, I didnt hear about that before....Lets seeHe checked the answer then he said : Hmmmmmm u r right !, where did u get this information. I said, during my step-2 preparation I used to join Kaplan center and one of the lecturer named Ashur Kornbluth, mentioned that...He said OK, I would like to thank yoiu for adding this piece pf information to my medical knowledge, I really didnt know that!! Thank you, I said u r welcome....End of the morning report.....
At 8:30 we went to secretary room, she introduced herself, She was very nice( Mrs Nancy James).
At 8:35 PD and associate PD. gave a presentation about the program in details and I summarized that at the beginning. Then he asked any questions? I asked him about the research oppurtunity and fellowship chances!! Then he asked us about our extracurricular activities and hobbies.
At 9:15 am My first interview with one of the faculties
F)
F: How are u doing today?
Me: Great.
F: Well, Can you tell me about yourself from childhood until today? I talked about myself, childhood, school, medical school and USCE breifly.
F: Why IM?
Me: The same answer, My USCE and Physician-Patient Relationship.
F: How did u hear about our program?
Me: FREIDA and ur website.
F
iff b/w medicine in ur home country and USA.?
Me: U have to give him an impresion that ur medical school is really a good one and prepares u well to be a good physician but give one reason in which the American system is better just to justify why u want to come to USA? I picked the research which is more advanced in USA in comparison to my home country.
F: What are your weaknesses??
Me: the same answer in prev. interviews.
Now here is the question that I didnt expect at all, it was like a surprise....In my previous interviews, all interviewers were asking me about my USCE, tell us about it, What did u like about it?? What I didnt expect:
F: Tell me some disadvantages of the American System!!!! I didnt expect that..I said, Hmmmmm. Can you give me one minute to think about it?
F: Yes, Sure! I was able to remeber something
Me: well from my exp at the hospital at which I am doing externship now, we have noticed a delay from the nurses. Our attendings were complaining of that. Alot of orders being put in the computers but not done!!
F: U are right, we have the same problem to some extenct but overall nurses here are really good.
F: Where do u see ur self after 10 years?
Me: A faculty member in my home country?
F: So u plan to go back?
Me: Yep!
F: How many interviews u got o far? (Unethical question)
Me: 32.
F:32?!!!, R u going to attend all of them?
Me: Yes.
F: Any questions?
Me: I asked him the same questions: Fellowship,Research, teaching resources, physician turnover, board pass rate.
My advice here, with time u will start to feel bored being repeating the same questions in all interviews and this might lead u to lose ur enthusiasm, This is a warning sign, dont,dont lose enthusiam..
End of first interview.....9:45
At 9:45 interview with associate PDAPD)
APD: How are u doing today?
Me: great.
APD: How was ur trip?
Me: Not so bad.
APD: OK...Why IM?
Me: The same answer.
APD: Any of your parents in the medical field?
Me: No.
APD:Can you tell me about your internship in your home country? Your daily schedule....
APD: In your personal statement, you said that your USCE made u "mastering skills in hx and p/e" what do u mean by mastering?
Me: Well, I beleive that hx and p/e is an art, the more u practice the more you know what to ask in hx and to examine and I think that my USCE had helped me alot in that issue..and this is what I mean by the word "mastering"
APD: OK. That is great.
APD: I see that u did many rotations in USA in many places. Whatis the impact of being in different programs in USA?
Me: Well, I think it had a very good impact on me since I get in contact with many attendings in many programs, they agree on a lot of things but each one of them has his clinical sense and this added alot to my experience.
APD: Can you briefly tell me any interesting case that u will not forget?
Me: the same case.!!
APD:Any questions?
Me: The same questions..
End of second interview.....
At 10:15---tour in the hospital with the chief resident.
At 12:00 lunch with residents...I asked them about the work load, on call schedule, teaching, do u recommend this program, etc....
At 1:00 closing inetrview with the PD...Here I decided to ask him a challenging question (at least challenging in my point of view):
Me: you said that 45-60 % of your graduate go to fellowship, my question is the rest of your graduate, why they dont go to fellowship, is it b/c they dont want to go to fellowship or b/c they cant get a fellowship??
PD: Well, we are a community hospital and to get a fellowship u have to work hard. All of our residents who focused from the beginning on fellowship and had an idea in their mind from first year and did researches on that idea and did electives at the place they are interested to get fellowship at, I can tell u all of them got fellowship at prestigeous programs like JHU, Mayo and UPMC.
Then he expained how do they rank their applicants. He told me that they got b/w 800-1000 application this year and picked 110-120 for interviews. They rank applicants based mainly on their Performance in the interview then based on USMLE and LOR and medical school performance.
At 1:30 a tour with the chief resident at the VA medical Center.....We are done by 3:00 pm
That is it guys.....The best of luck to all of you!! Excuse me for any typing or spelling mistakes!!!
Well, I can start saying that it is the most difficult interview I had so far.
I arrived at 7:00am. The morning report was at 7:30, presenting a case of Acute SOB with Rt. massive pleural effusion with DDX of CHF Vs Acute renal falure....My advice, always in the morning report you have to participate. I was asking in the morning report and gave a comment about the Dx. I mean although they mainly ask residents and medical students but if u ar ready to ask you can do it...The attending asked me whether u think this pt SOB is likely secondary to CHF, I told him I dont think so, b/c it was acute SOB (4 days) and nothing to suggest acute CHF decompensation like MI( Cardiac enz negative) but the pt has decreas in urine output so, I think It is most likely to be secondary to renal failure. Then He asked about the criteria for dialysis but he idnt let me answer and asked instead a medical student.
At 8:30 we went to secretary office, she intorduced herself and gave us a brochure about the hospital and the program and some papers to sign.
9:00 am interview with the first faculty, the PD, Hispanic guy, He started by saying when I saw your photo in the ERAS I thought you are hispanic since you look hispanic but from your I recognized that you are not hispanic!!!
He asked me how months do u have USCE and where?
What r ur strength and weak points?
I answered I am "hard worker" and regarding my weak point I told him the same in my second interview" that I am obsessed about my work and that I have to check that everything is perfect and check with the nurses whether they took that bllod sample or took that stool sample...Now he said, you are right, this is a weak point b/c medicine is multi disciplinary approach and many teams are involved in the pt work up but you will overcome this thing during your residency...
How did you hear about us? I said through FREIDA., He said, really that is nice b/c in the past the information about our program in FREIDA was inaccurate but now it is totally accurate.
Fourth question..Ok now I will give you a case and ask you few questions about that....OH MY GODDDDDD!!
A 28 year old male pt presented to you in the ER with hx of Headache, fever, nausea, vomiting. photophobia. Pmhx is unremarkable, he is sexual active and HIV test 3 months ago was negative. P/E : Agitated. BP: 145/70
P: 105
T: 103
RR:20
Chest is clear, Abdomen is benign, Neurological exam: unremarkable except for neck rigidity.
What r u going to do next? My answer: well, this guy with headache, fever, phtophoboa and neck rigidity, I will admit the pt to r/o meningitis. He said: OK do you want to do some thing in the ER: I said yes, I will order CT scan to r/o any mass occupying lesion in the brain before doing LP. He said: but I told you on P/E neurologically intact, I said although Neuro exam was normal I have to order CT if not MRI to protect my self medicolegally, he said OK you want to do the CT and they told you this will take couple of hours what are you going to do? I said : I will start empirical antibiotic Rx. He said what antibiotic , I said I will choose broad spectrum like Ampicillin/Ceftriaxone. He said Good choice...Ok You did LP and the result came back:
WBC: 1100
Prtn: 110
glc: 28
G-stain : diplococci
What do u think? I said strept meningitis.
He said: Ok now knowing that it is strept meningitis do you want to change antibiotics. I said : well, there is no need now for ceftiaxone but I will continue Ampicillin. He said OK the lab came back with 70% sensitivity to ampicillin, what are you going to do.....I said: hmmmmmm, I will not add vancomycin, He laugheeed and said why? I said 70% sensitivity is not bad besid that using vancomycin freq will raise VRE. He said OK when the nurse started the antibiotic she told you Doc. do yo uwant to start the pt on anything else before the antibiotics: I said well, we can give dexamethazone but up to my knowledge it is highly effective only in H. Influenza, he said you can give it also in strep meningitis. He said OK if you want to check the latest recommendation for Rx a specifid ID problem what are your ur references. I said well, My top reference will be the CDC, Then I can use UP To Date. He said, great but I would like you to know this web site he gave me that website for ID uptodate Mx and he gave me an article about the latest Mx of Strept meningitis and that now b/c of the high risk of resist to ampicill they use always Vancomycin with Ampicillin.. I said thank you for giving me this piece of information...
Then he said: do you have any questions: I asked him about the fellowship chances, research and teaching resources......
end of interview with PD (45 minutes) BTW, I realized later that he is ID specilist!!!!
At 9:45 Interview with a faculty... He is a very nice guy. He focused mainly about medical system in my home country VS USA. He asked me about my future plans. What surprised me is that he asked me : how many interviews you have and where??? " i think it is inappropriate to be asked such questions" After that he said: Ok you had been called by the nurse to see a pt with palpitation, what are you going to do? OH MYYYYYY GOOOD, Not again. I said I will see if the pt stable or not and I will order EKG. He said do you want to know anything else. I said I want to know if he has any recent IHD b/c it is very common to have arrythmia post MI. He said what is the most common arrythmia? Here I said well, you can get SVT, A fib or V.fib He said: But with V Fib he will be unstable. I said you are right. Then he said again well what is the most common arrythmia post MI. Here I said V-Tach. He said great....Thanx god
Then he said if yo uhave to see the chart of that pt for 1 minute only what are you going to look for. I said To his medication...He said: absolutely!!! Do you have any questions.
I asked him about fellowship and I asked him this question: Well, Dr...... Do you think b/c I cant speak spanish, is it going to be a problem to me here...He said absolutely not!!!I said thank you...end of second interview (30 minutes)
At 10:15 Interview with another faculty...This was the most difficult one. She was a very nice lady but she asked mainly about the city elpaso. What do you like about this city???and why you want to come to elpaso....I start getting sweaty b/c I dont know anything about this city.,.I said well I came to this city b/c I heard that your program is very good and my first priority is to get into a very good program which will make me a good physician...She said OK lets say you got a prematch in a program which is excellent teaching wise but it is in a very bad city will you take that prematch?? I said, well, ofcourse, everyone likes to live in a nice city, but if I have to choose, i will choose th egood program regardless where it is...
Next question: Since you dont speak spanish, how do you feel dealing with residents and staff who mainly speak spanish. I answered, well one of my good things is that I can get along with anyone very easily and I gave here an example in which one of my externship the attending, the residents were hispanics and I got along with them easily.
She said: Do you any questions to me about the city elpaso????? I asked her about the weather, the accomodation and the nice places in elpaso to visit...end of third interview( 30 minutes)
At 10:45 we joined the round....bed side round for 1 hour
At 12:00 noon conference, then lunch...And that is guys.....
At the end it is a very good program but I didnt like the city at all...I wish yo uthe best of luck guys...!!
I was at the hospital by 8:00 am. At 8:15 we met the secretary, she introduced herself and welcomed us. By 8:30 we met the PD. He did a presentation about the program in details( The structure, curriculum, advantages, disadvantages, research and fellowship chances). At 9:00am we started the interviews. 3 interviews with 3 faculty memeber each lasting 30 minutes.
At 9:00, My first interview with the PD, He is a very nice guy. Asked me the following qs:
- How did u heard about us?
- Can you tell me about your USCE. He told me that I had one of the strongest USLOR he had ever seen!! I dont know. So, I spent 15 minutes talking about my externship.
- Can you tell me an interesting case in your Externship.
- Do you have any question?
I asked him: about the fellowship chances, teaching resourcses, and board passing rate.
At 9:35, second interview with associate PD, He is Indian guy, he was very, very nice guy. Asked me:
- How did you heard about us?
- Why our program?
- Can you tell me about USCE, also he mentioned my strong USLOR.
- Hoe medicine in your home country differs from medicine in USA.
- Tell me an interesting case that u will never forget!!
- Do you have questions? I asked him 8 questions, about : the fellowship chances, teaching resourcese and teaching sessions, faculty stability and turnover, research, what type of affiliation to university program do they have is it major or limited, also asked him about electives.
At 10:00 we joined the attending round and they were discussing a case which was interesting and then the attending start asking me huge amounts of medical questions: for e.g.
- The pt had ARF, he went in details with me about the diffentiation b/e pre,intrensic and post renal azotemia from lab and from urine electrolytes and FENA.
- The pt had Wide anion gao MA, he asked me about the causes of that and does RTA present with wide or Normal anion gap MA!! Wowww, it is just an interview not a step-2 exam!!!!!
-He asked me about Naproxen induced Thrombocytopenia.
- The pt had bleeding which could be from liver disease, so he asked me about hepatorenal syndrome as a cause for his ARF..
At 11:30 My third interview with a hospitalist: The same questions but he asked me about my strength and weakneses. Future plans: I told him that I am interested in Hem/onc fellowship then he asked me, if you want to go back to your home country and join the faculty there as a hematologist, how can you change the system!!!! I told him, I dont know in the mean time but I am sure I will know the answer once done with my fellowship...I think it is a dump answer, isnt it..?
AT 12:00 noon conference and lunch
At 1:00 tour into the hospital with 2nd year resident.
At 1:30 we met again the PD for closing interview and said that he was pleased having us.
A great exp for me..Hope that it was helpful
Finally... My First interview experience, (Fairvie
#58801
response - 10/21/05 18:42
We started the day(8:30) by joining a medical management conference. At 9:30 we interviewd with 2 faculty members, very nice people. They asked me the usuaul stuff, why IM, Tell me an interesting case(My advice is to prepare a case and present it), what r ur future plans. The other faculty memeber spent like 15 minutes only discussing my USLOR, he also discussed with me in details my USCE.
Then we took lunch and went with the senior resident into a tour.
The hospital is great, friendly residents, At the end as usual they said they will rank me high,,My overall impression: It is a great hospital although the chance to get a fellowship is not that great. The hospital is affiliated with cleveland clinic foundation. The work load is reasonable. Bottom line, I just liked that hospital and I hope I can match there....
I went back and checked response's interview experineces. Very interesting and extremely helpful. I recommend them to everybody how didn't read them yet.
Here they are:
Hi again..
Some facts about the hospital:
Big hospital --- 750 beds, alot of constructions..!!
Positions: 12, 6 prelim and 6 categorical.
Affiliation: Major affiliation with University of Cincinnati.
Prematch positions: No for the last 4 years.
Did I ask for prematch: No.
IMG friendly: Yes.
Teaching hospitals: Good Sam hospital.
Board passing rate: 100% for th elast 4 years.(means nothing!!).
Candidates at the day of interview: 3, 2 prelim(AMG) and me.
The interview started at 7:15. we met the residency coordinator, then a second year resident came and talked to us and took us to the morning report. They had an EKG conference...Booooooring!! no interaction!
EKG conference done by 8:00 am. Interviews with faculty. Each one had 2 interviews with PD and a faculty.
My first interview with the faculty:
The same questions guys. I will put here the new questions
F: Tell me one physician you will not forget and he was like your father in medicine..if there is any??
Otherwise the same questions: Tell me about yourself, USCE, Area of strength and ur weaknesses, any questions to ask?
Done with first interview...second one with PD..
The same questions again and again. Nothing new. At the end, You are the best, please consider us seriousely and rank us very high on ur ROL....( Means nothing)!!
At 10:00 am a tour with first and second year residents for 1:30 hour. It is pretty big hospital.
At 11:30 am lunch with residents..Done by 1:00 pm
That is it guys..I am sorry but nothing specific about thi sprogram. Community program with no peculiar features.
Few residents go for fellowship, cardio and GI are near impossible.
-They have a fixed curriculum for research which is good.
-The curriculum is good in which they concentrate on general IM for interns and for 2nd and 3rd year they concentrate on subspecialties.
- Teaching rounds 3 times per week.
- Very relaxed environment, friendly attendings.
Overall, it is an average community hospital...!! Thank you guys and again sorry for such disappearance, I was really busy..I wish you the best in your interviews.
Lets start now!!!
The day before the interview we went for a dinner with 2 residents, first and third year resident. It was very helpful and really it decreass the anxiety at the day of the interview. We had the chance to ask the residents alot of questions about : Research, chance of fellowship, teaching, program structure but what I noticed is that they were trying mainly to discuss the life at Roanoke as a resident. We talked alot about outdoor activities in Roanoke and the weather in Roanoke. Questions asked by the residents:
- They asked me about my USCE in details.
- They asked me about my hobbie and extracurricular activities.
- They asked me about my future plans(esp. fellowships).
They were very friendly....
The interview day started at 7:15 were we met the chief resident at the lobby( One of the kindest chief residents I have ever met in my life.!!) He made my day easy..
At 7: 30 am The morning report: Bunch of residents and one faculty. They presented a case of Seizure with high temp(105) and elevated CK, drug abuse. The nice thing is that they allowed us to participate in the discussion.
The resident gave the complete hx and p/e. Then the attending asked what do u think (ddx), answers given:
- Neuroleptic malignant syndrome( the pt is on antipsych)
- Serotonin synd. the pt is on SSRI.
- CNS infection--The attending said, what type of infection?
one of the candidate said: weired bugs like legionella---He said OK!!
I said: with this high temp we can think of CNS abscess--He said OK..
Then he aske dwhat to do next? Residents answers:
-CBC-----Was normal
- Electrolytes---- Was normal
- Phenytoin level----OK although no hx of phenytoin intake
- Urine for drug screen---OK. It was negative.
- CT scan---OK. It was normal
- EEG: Non specific changes..
One of the candidates answered: LP----OK and he gave us the values of glc, prtn, wbc all normal. He asked what to check also on CSF fluids, one of the candidated said HIV----He said weellllll anything else? I said G-stain. He said OK it was negative....
At the end.... NMS Vs Serotonin Synd.....,End of the case!!
Then another resident gave brief presentation about NMS and serotonin synd.
The last 5 minutes, they reviewed 2 question from MKSAP13 Rheumatology.
Q1: A female pt with SLE on long term steroids, smoker. at the office visit, BP: 140/90, P/E normal. Total cholesterol 250, next step:
A- Check TSH.
B- Measure serum Cr.
C- Check Fasting blood glc and fasting serum lipids.
D- CT scan
E- Dont remember this one....
All residents answered A TSH? Why? They said Hypothyroid with hypercholest.
He asked us Agree? 3 said yes. I said: I disagree. Why? Well, although hypothyroi can cause elevated cholest but this pt had been on steroids for long term and I will start with fasting blood glc. and then I will check fasting lipid profile....OK!!!
Next Q:
A lady with RA and subcutaneous nodule that increased in size recently. She is on Methotrexate for th elast 8 months in an ascending dose and she developed new nodules in tthe achilllis tendon bilaterally, the nodules are non tender. P/E normal. Next step:
A- Bx of the nodule
B- Reassure the pt. This is part of the natural hx of the RA and its treatment.
C- Check lipids and TG.
D- Start anti-TB.
E- Check Uric acid level in the serum.
Residents----the majority answered Lipids( Xanthomas) at achillis tendon.
Candidates----Do u agree?? Yes!! I raised my hand and said " Well, I have an addition. THis pt has hx of RA and on MTX on ascendin dose..Now, it is known that pt started on MTX will notice- Surprisingly- an increase in the size of the subcut. nodules initially after the Rx with MTX, I dont why but just an addition" He said: R U sure, I didnt hear about that before....Lets seeHe checked the answer then he said : Hmmmmmm u r right !, where did u get this information. I said, during my step-2 preparation I used to join Kaplan center and one of the lecturer named Ashur Kornbluth, mentioned that...He said OK, I would like to thank yoiu for adding this piece pf information to my medical knowledge, I really didnt know that!! Thank you, I said u r welcome....End of the morning report.....
At 8:30 we went to secretary room, she introduced herself, She was very nice( Mrs Nancy James).
At 8:35 PD and associate PD. gave a presentation about the program in details and I summarized that at the beginning. Then he asked any questions? I asked him about the research oppurtunity and fellowship chances!! Then he asked us about our extracurricular activities and hobbies.
At 9:15 am My first interview with one of the faculties
F)F: How are u doing today?
Me: Great.
F: Well, Can you tell me about yourself from childhood until today? I talked about myself, childhood, school, medical school and USCE breifly.
F: Why IM?
Me: The same answer, My USCE and Physician-Patient Relationship.
F: How did u hear about our program?
Me: FREIDA and ur website.
F
iff b/w medicine in ur home country and USA.?Me: U have to give him an impresion that ur medical school is really a good one and prepares u well to be a good physician but give one reason in which the American system is better just to justify why u want to come to USA? I picked the research which is more advanced in USA in comparison to my home country.
F: What are your weaknesses??
Me: the same answer in prev. interviews.
Now here is the question that I didnt expect at all, it was like a surprise....In my previous interviews, all interviewers were asking me about my USCE, tell us about it, What did u like about it?? What I didnt expect:
F: Tell me some disadvantages of the American System!!!! I didnt expect that..I said, Hmmmmm. Can you give me one minute to think about it?
F: Yes, Sure! I was able to remeber something
Me: well from my exp at the hospital at which I am doing externship now, we have noticed a delay from the nurses. Our attendings were complaining of that. Alot of orders being put in the computers but not done!!
F: U are right, we have the same problem to some extenct but overall nurses here are really good.
F: Where do u see ur self after 10 years?
Me: A faculty member in my home country?
F: So u plan to go back?
Me: Yep!
F: How many interviews u got o far? (Unethical question)
Me: 32.
F:32?!!!, R u going to attend all of them?
Me: Yes.
F: Any questions?
Me: I asked him the same questions: Fellowship,Research, teaching resources, physician turnover, board pass rate.
My advice here, with time u will start to feel bored being repeating the same questions in all interviews and this might lead u to lose ur enthusiasm, This is a warning sign, dont,dont lose enthusiam..
End of first interview.....9:45
At 9:45 interview with associate PD
APD)APD: How are u doing today?
Me: great.
APD: How was ur trip?
Me: Not so bad.
APD: OK...Why IM?
Me: The same answer.
APD: Any of your parents in the medical field?
Me: No.
APD:Can you tell me about your internship in your home country? Your daily schedule....
APD: In your personal statement, you said that your USCE made u "mastering skills in hx and p/e" what do u mean by mastering?
Me: Well, I beleive that hx and p/e is an art, the more u practice the more you know what to ask in hx and to examine and I think that my USCE had helped me alot in that issue..and this is what I mean by the word "mastering"
APD: OK. That is great.
APD: I see that u did many rotations in USA in many places. Whatis the impact of being in different programs in USA?
Me: Well, I think it had a very good impact on me since I get in contact with many attendings in many programs, they agree on a lot of things but each one of them has his clinical sense and this added alot to my experience.
APD: Can you briefly tell me any interesting case that u will not forget?
Me: the same case.!!
APD:Any questions?
Me: The same questions..
End of second interview.....
At 10:15---tour in the hospital with the chief resident.
At 12:00 lunch with residents...I asked them about the work load, on call schedule, teaching, do u recommend this program, etc....
At 1:00 closing inetrview with the PD...Here I decided to ask him a challenging question (at least challenging in my point of view):
Me: you said that 45-60 % of your graduate go to fellowship, my question is the rest of your graduate, why they dont go to fellowship, is it b/c they dont want to go to fellowship or b/c they cant get a fellowship??
PD: Well, we are a community hospital and to get a fellowship u have to work hard. All of our residents who focused from the beginning on fellowship and had an idea in their mind from first year and did researches on that idea and did electives at the place they are interested to get fellowship at, I can tell u all of them got fellowship at prestigeous programs like JHU, Mayo and UPMC.
Then he expained how do they rank their applicants. He told me that they got b/w 800-1000 application this year and picked 110-120 for interviews. They rank applicants based mainly on their Performance in the interview then based on USMLE and LOR and medical school performance.
At 1:30 a tour with the chief resident at the VA medical Center.....We are done by 3:00 pm
That is it guys.....The best of luck to all of you!! Excuse me for any typing or spelling mistakes!!!
Well, I can start saying that it is the most difficult interview I had so far.
I arrived at 7:00am. The morning report was at 7:30, presenting a case of Acute SOB with Rt. massive pleural effusion with DDX of CHF Vs Acute renal falure....My advice, always in the morning report you have to participate. I was asking in the morning report and gave a comment about the Dx. I mean although they mainly ask residents and medical students but if u ar ready to ask you can do it...The attending asked me whether u think this pt SOB is likely secondary to CHF, I told him I dont think so, b/c it was acute SOB (4 days) and nothing to suggest acute CHF decompensation like MI( Cardiac enz negative) but the pt has decreas in urine output so, I think It is most likely to be secondary to renal failure. Then He asked about the criteria for dialysis but he idnt let me answer and asked instead a medical student.
At 8:30 we went to secretary office, she intorduced herself and gave us a brochure about the hospital and the program and some papers to sign.
9:00 am interview with the first faculty, the PD, Hispanic guy, He started by saying when I saw your photo in the ERAS I thought you are hispanic since you look hispanic but from your I recognized that you are not hispanic!!!
He asked me how months do u have USCE and where?
What r ur strength and weak points?
I answered I am "hard worker" and regarding my weak point I told him the same in my second interview" that I am obsessed about my work and that I have to check that everything is perfect and check with the nurses whether they took that bllod sample or took that stool sample...Now he said, you are right, this is a weak point b/c medicine is multi disciplinary approach and many teams are involved in the pt work up but you will overcome this thing during your residency...
How did you hear about us? I said through FREIDA., He said, really that is nice b/c in the past the information about our program in FREIDA was inaccurate but now it is totally accurate.
Fourth question..Ok now I will give you a case and ask you few questions about that....OH MY GODDDDDD!!
A 28 year old male pt presented to you in the ER with hx of Headache, fever, nausea, vomiting. photophobia. Pmhx is unremarkable, he is sexual active and HIV test 3 months ago was negative. P/E : Agitated. BP: 145/70
P: 105
T: 103
RR:20
Chest is clear, Abdomen is benign, Neurological exam: unremarkable except for neck rigidity.
What r u going to do next? My answer: well, this guy with headache, fever, phtophoboa and neck rigidity, I will admit the pt to r/o meningitis. He said: OK do you want to do some thing in the ER: I said yes, I will order CT scan to r/o any mass occupying lesion in the brain before doing LP. He said: but I told you on P/E neurologically intact, I said although Neuro exam was normal I have to order CT if not MRI to protect my self medicolegally, he said OK you want to do the CT and they told you this will take couple of hours what are you going to do? I said : I will start empirical antibiotic Rx. He said what antibiotic , I said I will choose broad spectrum like Ampicillin/Ceftriaxone. He said Good choice...Ok You did LP and the result came back:
WBC: 1100
Prtn: 110
glc: 28
G-stain : diplococci
What do u think? I said strept meningitis.
He said: Ok now knowing that it is strept meningitis do you want to change antibiotics. I said : well, there is no need now for ceftiaxone but I will continue Ampicillin. He said OK the lab came back with 70% sensitivity to ampicillin, what are you going to do.....I said: hmmmmmm, I will not add vancomycin, He laugheeed and said why? I said 70% sensitivity is not bad besid that using vancomycin freq will raise VRE. He said OK when the nurse started the antibiotic she told you Doc. do yo uwant to start the pt on anything else before the antibiotics: I said well, we can give dexamethazone but up to my knowledge it is highly effective only in H. Influenza, he said you can give it also in strep meningitis. He said OK if you want to check the latest recommendation for Rx a specifid ID problem what are your ur references. I said well, My top reference will be the CDC, Then I can use UP To Date. He said, great but I would like you to know this web site he gave me that website for ID uptodate Mx and he gave me an article about the latest Mx of Strept meningitis and that now b/c of the high risk of resist to ampicill they use always Vancomycin with Ampicillin.. I said thank you for giving me this piece of information...
Then he said: do you have any questions: I asked him about the fellowship chances, research and teaching resources......
end of interview with PD (45 minutes) BTW, I realized later that he is ID specilist!!!!
At 9:45 Interview with a faculty... He is a very nice guy. He focused mainly about medical system in my home country VS USA. He asked me about my future plans. What surprised me is that he asked me : how many interviews you have and where??? " i think it is inappropriate to be asked such questions" After that he said: Ok you had been called by the nurse to see a pt with palpitation, what are you going to do? OH MYYYYYY GOOOD, Not again. I said I will see if the pt stable or not and I will order EKG. He said do you want to know anything else. I said I want to know if he has any recent IHD b/c it is very common to have arrythmia post MI. He said what is the most common arrythmia? Here I said well, you can get SVT, A fib or V.fib He said: But with V Fib he will be unstable. I said you are right. Then he said again well what is the most common arrythmia post MI. Here I said V-Tach. He said great....Thanx god
Then he said if yo uhave to see the chart of that pt for 1 minute only what are you going to look for. I said To his medication...He said: absolutely!!! Do you have any questions.
I asked him about fellowship and I asked him this question: Well, Dr...... Do you think b/c I cant speak spanish, is it going to be a problem to me here...He said absolutely not!!!I said thank you...end of second interview (30 minutes)
At 10:15 Interview with another faculty...This was the most difficult one. She was a very nice lady but she asked mainly about the city elpaso. What do you like about this city???and why you want to come to elpaso....I start getting sweaty b/c I dont know anything about this city.,.I said well I came to this city b/c I heard that your program is very good and my first priority is to get into a very good program which will make me a good physician...She said OK lets say you got a prematch in a program which is excellent teaching wise but it is in a very bad city will you take that prematch?? I said, well, ofcourse, everyone likes to live in a nice city, but if I have to choose, i will choose th egood program regardless where it is...
Next question: Since you dont speak spanish, how do you feel dealing with residents and staff who mainly speak spanish. I answered, well one of my good things is that I can get along with anyone very easily and I gave here an example in which one of my externship the attending, the residents were hispanics and I got along with them easily.
She said: Do you any questions to me about the city elpaso????? I asked her about the weather, the accomodation and the nice places in elpaso to visit...end of third interview( 30 minutes)
At 10:45 we joined the round....bed side round for 1 hour
At 12:00 noon conference, then lunch...And that is guys.....
At the end it is a very good program but I didnt like the city at all...I wish yo uthe best of luck guys...!!
I was at the hospital by 8:00 am. At 8:15 we met the secretary, she introduced herself and welcomed us. By 8:30 we met the PD. He did a presentation about the program in details( The structure, curriculum, advantages, disadvantages, research and fellowship chances). At 9:00am we started the interviews. 3 interviews with 3 faculty memeber each lasting 30 minutes.
At 9:00, My first interview with the PD, He is a very nice guy. Asked me the following qs:
- How did u heard about us?
- Can you tell me about your USCE. He told me that I had one of the strongest USLOR he had ever seen!! I dont know. So, I spent 15 minutes talking about my externship.
- Can you tell me an interesting case in your Externship.
- Do you have any question?
I asked him: about the fellowship chances, teaching resourcses, and board passing rate.
At 9:35, second interview with associate PD, He is Indian guy, he was very, very nice guy. Asked me:
- How did you heard about us?
- Why our program?
- Can you tell me about USCE, also he mentioned my strong USLOR.
- Hoe medicine in your home country differs from medicine in USA.
- Tell me an interesting case that u will never forget!!
- Do you have questions? I asked him 8 questions, about : the fellowship chances, teaching resourcese and teaching sessions, faculty stability and turnover, research, what type of affiliation to university program do they have is it major or limited, also asked him about electives.
At 10:00 we joined the attending round and they were discussing a case which was interesting and then the attending start asking me huge amounts of medical questions: for e.g.
- The pt had ARF, he went in details with me about the diffentiation b/e pre,intrensic and post renal azotemia from lab and from urine electrolytes and FENA.
- The pt had Wide anion gao MA, he asked me about the causes of that and does RTA present with wide or Normal anion gap MA!! Wowww, it is just an interview not a step-2 exam!!!!!
-He asked me about Naproxen induced Thrombocytopenia.
- The pt had bleeding which could be from liver disease, so he asked me about hepatorenal syndrome as a cause for his ARF..
At 11:30 My third interview with a hospitalist: The same questions but he asked me about my strength and weakneses. Future plans: I told him that I am interested in Hem/onc fellowship then he asked me, if you want to go back to your home country and join the faculty there as a hematologist, how can you change the system!!!! I told him, I dont know in the mean time but I am sure I will know the answer once done with my fellowship...I think it is a dump answer, isnt it..?
AT 12:00 noon conference and lunch
At 1:00 tour into the hospital with 2nd year resident.
At 1:30 we met again the PD for closing interview and said that he was pleased having us.
A great exp for me..Hope that it was helpful
Finally... My First interview experience, (Fairvie
#58801
response - 10/21/05 18:42
We started the day(8:30) by joining a medical management conference. At 9:30 we interviewd with 2 faculty members, very nice people. They asked me the usuaul stuff, why IM, Tell me an interesting case(My advice is to prepare a case and present it), what r ur future plans. The other faculty memeber spent like 15 minutes only discussing my USLOR, he also discussed with me in details my USCE.
Then we took lunch and went with the senior resident into a tour.
The hospital is great, friendly residents, At the end as usual they said they will rank me high,,My overall impression: It is a great hospital although the chance to get a fellowship is not that great. The hospital is affiliated with cleveland clinic foundation. The work load is reasonable. Bottom line, I just liked that hospital and I hope I can match there....