Residency program interviews: Screen out the bad apples
As interviewees start parading through your office, there’s no question that most are on their best behavior. I’ve heard a few program directors and coordinators say some of their ‘problem’ residents should’ve earned Academy Awards for the act they put on during interviews. This begs the question: How can we screen these problem residents out during the interview process?
“Most the residents who are accepted into residency programs have virtually perfect records. Any problems tend to be behavioral. It’s really hard to catch those behavioral issues in an application, but It’s easier to sort them out in an interview, said Jamie S. Padmore, assistant vice president of academic affairs at Medstar Health in Columbia, MD.
In October’s issue of RPA, I interviewed Padmore about how to draw some of those behavioral issues out during an interview. I introduced readers to a technique called behavioral interviewing. The idea is that rather than talking with candidates about what’s on their CVs, interviewers ask them questions about their past experiences. This way, interviewers get an idea of how the candidates handled themselves in real-life situations.
For example, say that your hospital has a diverse patient population, and you want to make sure your candidates are open to doing what it takes to give the best care to patients. You may ask candidates a question like, “Tell me about a time when you had a patient come in who did not speak any English. How did you handle that situation?”
Depending on the answer you receive, you can see if interviewees are sensitive to patients’ needs, and if they are resourceful enough to find the hospital services (translator, etc.) to help them care for this patient. This also gives you a clue about the progress of their professionalism and communication skills.
Does anyone else out there use behavioral interviewing? What are some of the questions you find most helpful?
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Residency Program Alert is the only monthly resource that brings you best practices and tools from the most well-respected experts working in the field.
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Comments
It is very difficult to assess the professionalism, ethics and motivation among those with high desire and great “scores”. In orthopedic surgery the applicant pool is huge.
I try to give an essay question that requires the applicant to wrestle with difficult questions as well as ask them in a brief interview a similar question.
There are many personality profile tests available however the cost is prohibitive. I have long wanted to ascertain the profile of the “best residents” and then match the same attributes to applicants
yesterday in addition to the formal exam and open discussion/queries from the staff and present residents, I did have each applicant do the on line quiz from Kingdomality.com. I do not think it is able to be used as a throw out but it was interesting to see what type of member of the medieval kingdom the present residents, attendings, and applicants fit. Interestingly the vast majority fit one or two profiles.
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