Medicine interview questions and answers: free PDF

I would tell them straight away that they shouldn't be talking about a patient in a lift, because it breaks confidentiality. Confidentiality is really important in medicine and doctors have to follow GMC guidance on it. Then I would report them.

The patient could be identified from her name and her diagnosis, and visitors heard both, so her privacy has already been breached; patients only tell us things because they trust they stay private. Challenging the staff loudly in a full lift would repeat her details to more people, so I would not do that. As a student on work experience, I would either say something quiet and polite if the moment allowed, or say nothing in the lift and tell my supervisor afterwards, factually: what I heard, where and when. It is possible they did not realise they could be overheard. For myself, I would take a simple rule from it: never discuss a patient anywhere I could be overheard.

• Sees the privacy risk. Says why it matters for this patient: she can be identified, and strangers heard it.
• Acts within your role. Chooses a discreet action that a work-experience student can take, and explains why a public challenge would make it worse.
• Knows when to raise it. "Report them" becomes telling a named person, the supervisor, with the facts.
• Reflects and prevents. Allows that the staff may not have realised, and ends with a lesson for the student's own conduct.

I'm really sorry for the wait, it's very busy today. The doctors are doing their best. It shouldn't be much longer, maybe another twenty minutes, so if you could just take a seat that would be great.

I'm sorry you've been kept waiting so long, especially when you've taken the day off for this; I'd be frustrated too. I'm a volunteer here, so I can't see the clinic list myself, but I can find out what's happening and come straight back to you. Before I go, how are you feeling? You've been here a while. [He says he feels dizzy and hasn't eaten since last night.] Thank you for telling me. Let's get you sitting down. I'm going to let a nurse know right now so someone can check on you, and I'll ask whether it's all right for you to eat or drink before your appointment, in case you need to have an empty stomach for anything.

• Acknowledges his frustration. Names what he is upset about, the wait and the day off, instead of a stock apology.
• Stays honest. Drops the guessed twenty minutes and offers to find out, within a volunteer's role.
• Responds to what he says. Asks how he is, which is how the dizziness comes out, and then puts it first.
• Gets the right help. Tells a nurse at once and checks before offering food, in case he needs to fast.

The new tablet halves your risk of a heart attack, from 40 down to 20, so it works really well and people at risk should take it.

In the trial, 40 of 1,000 people on the dummy tablet had a heart attack within five years, which is 4%, and 20 of 1,000 on the new tablet did, which is 2%. So the headline is right that the risk halved: that is the relative drop. But the absolute drop is 2 percentage points: out of every 100 people like those in the trial, about 2 fewer had a heart attack over five years, and most would not have had one either way. Put another way, about 50 people take the tablet for five years to prevent one heart attack. Before recommending it, I would want to know the side effects and cost, who was in the trial, and whether it was properly randomised.

• Gets the numbers right. Turns 40 and 20 into 4% and 2% of 1,000 people.
• Explains baseline and time. Separates the relative drop (half) from the absolute drop (2 percentage points over five years).
• Explains without exaggerating. Puts it in patient terms, 2 fewer in 100 and about 50 treated to prevent one, instead of repeating "halves".
• Considers the trial's limits. Ends on what you would check before recommending it, instead of "people should take it".

I have always wanted to help people, and I love science, so medicine is the perfect career for me. Doctors make such a difference to people's lives, and I find the human body fascinating.

Example only: use your own experience. On a week of work experience on a respiratory ward, I watched a registrar explain to an older patient why her breathlessness was not yet explained and what the next test would rule out. What stayed with me was that the doctor was responsible for the decision about what to do while the answer was still uncertain, and had to say so honestly. I respect how much the nurses did for the same patient; what draws me to medicine specifically is that diagnostic responsibility, and applying science to one person at a time. I know uncertainty is also one of the hardest parts of the job, and I would want to learn from senior colleagues how they manage it. Before that week I thought of medicine mostly as knowing the answers; now I see a large part of it as making careful decisions without them.

• Uses real, specific evidence. One ordinary, anonymous moment, told briefly, in place of "I have always wanted to help people".
• Links it to what doctors do. Names the part of the job that appeals, responsibility for decisions under uncertainty, and why it is a doctor's role, with respect for nurses.
• Knows the hard parts. Names a real challenge and how the student would get support with it.
• Shows how the view developed. Ends on what changed in the student's understanding.