Posts Tagged ‘Interview’
Those dreaded history questions
Posted on February 1st, 2009 by Rob
I personally never ask candidates about history of medicine as I think it’s slightly unfair and I’m not sure what relevance it has to a medical student applicant; however, many older interviewers love asking about history of medicine and debate that it shows a commitment to the career, a wider reading ability, and demonstrates intellectual ability.
History of medicine is certainly not a starting point and will usually only be asked if the interview is going well and the interviewers really want to push you a little. For example if they were considering a preferential offer. I therefore think that it would be unwise to spend lots of time researching this area for your interview. You should however have a key event and key person in mind.
Typical questions might be:
- What event in the history of medicine do you think has saved most lives?
- Who in the history of medicine do you think has contributed most?
- Do you know of any key events in the history of medicine?
It’s obviously safe to say that large drops in death rates can be contributed to public health measures such as underground sewerage systems and flushing toilets and it could be argued that these advances far outweigh anything that a doctor has achieved eg the advent of antibiotics.
A significant era in the history of medicine followed the Second World War. “Advances in surgical technique, new ideas about the nature of disease and huge innovations in drug manufacture vanquished in three short decades most of the common causes of early death” (James Le Fanu). ‘The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine’ by James Le Fanu talks about twelve definitive moments in modern medicine. I highly recommend a read of this book.
- 1941: Penicillin
- 1949: Cortisone
- 1950: Streptomycin, Smoking and Sir Austin Bradford Hill
- 1952: Chlorpromazine and the Revolution in Psychiatry
- 1952: The Copenhagen Polio Epidemic and the Birth of Intensive Care
- 1955: Open Heart Surgery – The Last Frontier
- 1961: New Hips for Old
- 1963: Transplanting Kidneys
- 1964: The Triumph of prevention – The case of Strokes
- 1971: Curing Childhood Cancer
- 1978: The First ‘Test-Tube’ Baby
- 1984: Helicobacter – The Cause of Peptic Ulcer
Undeniably these were all key points in the history of medicine. Which do you think was most significant and why? For example hip replacements allow people that would have previously been immobile to continue leading a fulfilling and mobile life. Of course you don’t have to choose one of these as your personal favourite.
Allow me to explain number 3, 1950: Streptomycin, Smoking and Sir Austin Bradford Hill, (my favourite) a bit more. Before 1950 what doctors did and what we knew about medicine was determined by everyday practice – what doctors observed – what seemed to work. However, the curing of TB (streptomycin) and the link between smoking and lung cancer changed this because both required statistics to prove. This changed the way that medicine was practiced for good. This was the advent of ‘evidence based medicine’ – the use of statistics to prove the causality or decide which treatment works best. Therefore for me the biggest event in medical history was the realisation of evidence based medicine and the design of the double blind trail because this isn’t a cure for a single disease but a new way of working entirely that affects every new drug and the treatment of every disease. If I had to choose a single person to nominate as contributing the most to medicine it would have to be Sir Austin Bradford Hill as he was the leading force for this shift towards evidence based medicine.
I must stress to you that you shouldn’t just learn my answer and regurgitate it at interview. Remember that you are fairly unlikely to be asked about this but if you are have a key moment of your own that really does interest you and make sure you know why it interests you.
No Comments »Feeling lonely
Posted on November 2nd, 2008 by Matt
As some of you will have no doubt seen these last few days, I’ve been doing some marketing for MedicalAdmissions.co.uk in various online forums for Medicine Applicants.
This has also served another useful purpose. I’ve found other people applying to the same medical schools as me, and what kind of grades and UKCAT scores they’ve got. I’ve discovered the problems people seem to be having, and have added a few things to our task list here at MedicalAdmissions.co.uk so that we can help more people.
And I’ve been taking note of interview dates, and how many people already have interview letters. And I feel lonely. It seems as if every applicant but me has received at least one letter for interview – Liverpool seems to be where a lot of them are coming from. But I feel left out, as if I should be bracing myself for Track to suddenly show four rejections next time I log on.
And then I feel somewhat silly. My application hasn’t even been in for 3 weeks yet, so it’s probably still at the bottom of the Admissions Tutor’s pile. And UCAS hasn’t emailed me yet, so obviously nothing has changed; it probably won’t even if I keep up trying to refresh Track 100 or so times each day. When I stop and think logically, I suddenly remember that only one of the medical schools has sent me an acknowledgement letter.
I’m sure I’m not the only applicant with no interviews as yet. In fact, I remember the Dean at BSMS told us all at their open day that they do two rounds of interviewing – pre-xmas and post-xmas. I may not even hear from them until late January. So, I don’t really know what I’m so worried about!
Matt is convinced he is going to be rejected. Is it better to prepare to fail or fail to prepare?
4 Comments »Working hard
Posted on September 22nd, 2008 by Matt
Sorry about the short absence from both Rob and I. We’ve both been working extremely hard, certainly I’m doing a total of about 20 hours contact time at college, plus all of the homework and coursework that goes with it.
Rob is still doing his Obs & Gynae rotation at the minute, and I’d say we’ve a long way to go before the EU Working Time Directive starts to affect junior doctors. Rob tells me that this week he is on the nightshift, starting at 9pm, and finishing at 11am the following morning. He jokes, “I have about enough time to work, eat, and sleep – usually in that order!”
Not to worry, I’m off at the end of October for a week, and I will personally be overseeing some significant updates to the site, including the Interview Question Bank, Work Experience, and the difference between the teaching/assment styles. I also know Rob is planning to free up some time to make some contributions too!
Don’t forget that while we’re working away at the site, it will remain free-of-charge to our users, so do make the most of it! I can promise you that next year’s users will have to pay for their membership…
Matt is glad he isn’t a junior doctor – yet…
No Comments »Summer is over
Posted on September 1st, 2008 by Matt
I don’t think anybody can testify to this more than Rob & I, based on a very short conversation I’ve had with him last night.
In the last 3 weeks, neither of us have managed to do any of the work we had planned on the site, aside from a couple of blog posts each. To be frank, our newest blogger, Sarah, has probably done more than Rob & I combined! But that’s not because we’re lazy or anything, we’ve just both been doing far more than we imagined – you can follow Rob’s life as a junior doctor by reading the “Foundation Year 1″ blog, as you’ll see 8-day weeks are still expected from junior doctors.
From my perspective, I’ve had results to collect, and then enter into UCAS. I’ve had to sit down and think about whether I’m actually going to realistically achieve the grades for medicine, and I’ve decided that I should, as long as I resit 2 of my chemistry modules and get better grades. And that’s something you should all do about now, realistically check that you can meet the entry requirements for your chosen course by the end of this academic year.
I have been out as a volunteer first aider for 4 solid days, and had to take a 5th day just to recover from the cumulative 46 hours of shifts. I’ll blog about how that will help me both in writing my personal statement, and in talking about what I have gained from it in an interview type situation later.
I haven’t even started my personal statement properly. Something which, now I think about it, kinda scares me. I now have less than 6 weeks to do it. Oh shit. One reality check, please, I think. It’s a good thing MedicalAdmissions.co.uk offers a personal statement checking service to applicants, I think I’ll be making use of that before the end of this month!
Back to the website, we’ve already had to put the launch date back by a full month. I’ve had to block-out two full weekends from my diary to work on the scripting and main content areas. I know Rob is also looking into taking some of his annual leave so that he can really work on the Interview Question Bank for when you all need it. And now we’re faced with the fact that we have 26 days to get this site live, and ready-to-use, because I’ll be out and about in Newcastle University for the visit day, handing out our new flyers!
Matt is panicking about his personal statement (or lack of)!
No Comments »Controversial note
Posted on August 8th, 2008 by Matt
Many parents may well want to have a go at me for this! However, as an applicant myself I feel it is very important to say this: Students applying to do medicine should do so because they want to and not because of any other external factor…
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.?– Dr?Seuss.
Now another little anecdotal tale I have is from the University of Birmingham – the claim to have had a student that turned up for interview and said, “I don’t want to do medicine, but my Dad made me apply, please fail me, please!” Needless to say, she didn’t get in.
I understand that parents want the best for their children, and that they want them to do well, and have a good job, earn lots of money, and the rest (gee, aren’t ideal worlds nice these days?). That’s quite right. But remember that medicine is a very demanding career choice, and influnces the rest of your life in almost every way. The best support a parent can give any university applicant is to provide them with the information and the opportunities for every course and university that they would like to consider, and then support them in whatever choices they choose to make. End of!
Matt says: It’s all about mind over matter, really!
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