How to Answer: If you are summoned to a code by a hospital-wide announcement and, when you arrive, it is being run by a physician you feel is less qualified than you, how would you ensure the patient is getting the best management?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Cardiologist job interview.
2. If you are summoned to a code by a hospital-wide announcement and, when you arrive, it is being run by a physician you feel is less qualified than you, how would you ensure the patient is getting the best management?
How to Answer
Consider if less qualified means a physician who is not in a cardiovascular specialty or a hospitalist with ICU experience. If so, you outrank him/her--pure and simple. Don't be afraid to say so and answer that you expect that person to step aside. You can tailor your answer any way you want as long as you ensure the patient is getting the best management. It gets stickier if the person running the code has the same qualifications as you. If that physician is not doing a good job, but is credentialed to run a code, you must abide by that or--at worst--ask if you can take over.
Written by Audra Kresinske on April 14th, 2021
Answer Example
"I have no reason to usurp the position of another physician running a code if he or she is as qualified as I am, according to the hospital's/group's credentialing committee. However, if I feel the protocol is not exemplary, I believe it is my obligation to stay and observe and even help, where needed. I won't just leave. I have a responsibility to the patient to make sure the best resuscitative measures are being implemented, even if that means I have to 'suggest' other remedies to the physician in charge. If it ever got really ugly, however, I would have a nurse call the Chief-of-Staff to instantly weigh in and intervene. This can easily be done over the phone."
Written by Audra Kresinske on April 14th, 2021