When you suffer a setback, how does that emotionally affect you and your work?
Everyone handles the stress and disappointment of setbacks differently. When you work in the medical field, there is less room for error, and those setbacks can feel amplified. Misdiagnosing a patient, not identifying a medical contraindication, or prescribing the wrong treatment can impact one's career. Not to mention, your grades greatly determine your future success. Discuss with the interviewers how you typically cope with such setbacks. The key is applying the lessons learned from your failures to shore up your chances for success later.
"Experiencing a setback is always disappointing and can be very disheartening, especially when involving a project that I have put a lot of time and effort into. I understand that setbacks happen to everyone - despite their level of expertise or years of experience. If I experience a major setback, I will take a few moments to debrief internally, get some fresh air if possible, or discuss what I could have done differently with a mentor. Then, I move on. Rather than dwell on my mistakes, I choose to learn from them."
