Basic Interview Tips 

Interviews are arguably one of the most important parts of the application process. Interviews will typically start sometime around November and will run until as late as March and possibly later in some circumstances. This leaves the question of how much notice you would get before an interview. This too can vary, for some universities it can be as little as 1 week but for others you may have months of notice. As a result it is vital you start interview preparation early, well before you receive your first interview. Different universities will utilise different interview styles. There are one of 2 key styles a university may utilise:

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- Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI): a series of stations which each station testing different knowledge

- Panel Interviews: an interview infant of 2 or more interviewers who may be a selection of doctors, nurses, scientists etc. 

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Make sure to research each medical school you are applying to thoroughly understand what types of questions you could be asked and the style of interview your medical schools will use. 

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When starting interview prep fully analyse your personal statement and think about questions you may be asked from this. A good tip is to record yourself answering these questions and self analyse them to see where you can improve. To be more effective and gain more feedback Dr-Tutor also offers full mock interviews and interview preparation sessions where we will go through your personal statement and the majority of other question types you could be asked about. Be truthful about why you chose a career in medicine as well as why you chose to be doctor and not another form of healthcare professional like a nurse for example. In order to answer these questions successfully also have an understanding of the reality of life as a doctor, reflect on your work experience and volunteering and know how to bring these into answers about why you want to be a doctor as well as when directly asked about your work experience or volunteering. 

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It is important you have a good understanding of key developments and advancements in medicine, this is as simple as just reading some scientific articles that interest you. It is possible that you may be asked a question akin to 'tell me about a recent scientific article you read,' having read widely makes answering a question like this easier. 

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In addition it is key that you understand the structure and function of the NHS, this will help you in answering interview questions where you can apply this knowledge but equally you could be asked a question that is directly related to the NHS structure and function. This involves having an understanding of NHS trusts, the flow of funding in the NHS and knowledge of other aspects of the structure such as Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) etc. Also have an understanding of the NHS core values and the seven key values. 

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In addition it is imperative that you are aware of the core ethical discussions and key topics that are being discussed right now, this includes the discussion of abortion, euthanasia, the uses of AI and the issues they can raise, organ donation and more. In order to successfully answer medical ethics interview questions you need to understand the 4 core medical ethics pillars. These are:

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- Autonomy: right to self governance

- Beneficence: duty to act in the best interest of the patient 

- Non-maleficence: this is a duty to do no harm 

- Justice: this refers to the fair distribution of resources and treating all patients equally irrespective of race etc. 

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When answering interview questions to do with ethics it is key that you make reference to all of these ethical pillars and form what can be seen as a balanced argument. This does not mean you cannot pick a side in an argument but you must be seen to evaluate both sides of the argument. 

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Research and understand important medical legal cases and legal principles as these can also be helpful in curating a good medical ethics answer and displaying how well read you are. Beginning with understanding the ideas of capacity, consent, Gillick competence, Fraser guidelines and more is useful. These are core ideas that will frequently be useful in answering questions. Legal cases like the Charlie Gard case are also useful to have an understanding of. 

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A short guide like this only just scratches the surface of what you need to know for interviews, for a more detailed understanding of what you need to know and most of the exact information you require you can purchase the Dr-Tutor Interview Booklet which is a booklet of over 8500 words of detailed information from the exact NHS structure to the ethical pillars, their application, key discussion topics, how to answer personal statements questions, work experience and volunteering questions and even why medicine and motivation based questions. To purchase click the link below

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