A recent patient survey comes back, and you find out that you did not meet a patient's expectations as their physician. What are the next steps you would take to improve as an Infectious Disease fellow in training?

If you were to ask any physician if they have ever received critical feedback on a patient survey, the answer would be a resounding yes. The goal in answering this question is to demonstrate to your interviewers that you can take the feedback, analyze it, and use it as motivation to improve the care you provide moving forward. Remember that most patient feedback is anonymous; you may not be able to pinpoint the exact interaction that resulted in the feedback from the patient. If you have experience handling patient survey data as a resident, now is a great time to discuss that.

"I faced this situation as an Internal Medicine Resident, and I didn't let it get me down. After a GIM patient said my approach was too personal, the operations administrator approached me. Rather than taking the feedback personally and getting upset, I saw it as an opportunity to improve. I took the time to analyze the feedback and remember which patient encounter it came from. It was a turning point in my approach to patients, and I appreciated the feedback. I would take the same approach with patient surveys at your institution as an ID fellow."