Would you be willing to serve on a committee investigating an issue with one of your colleagues?
Internal affairs and investigation are just necessary. Things happen, and when patient care is affected or jeopardized, they must be explored and dispositions made so that they don't recur. Besides Joint Commission accreditation and insurance reimbursements, a public reputation is jeopardized by uncorrected omissions or errors in care. The interviewer wants to know if you'll have the courage to step up and do what's right.
"There is no easy answer for this, only a difficult one: yes, I would have an obligation to do what's right when it comes to patient care and safety, even if that means making an enemy if a disposition were resented by a colleague. If it were a close personal friend being targeted by the investigation, I would ask to recuse myself, but I would be prepared for that not to be granted. The only thing I would want is to not be the only one making a judgement--having more than one investigator, I feel, is necessary to take politics out of such an inquiry and give it additional objective credibility."
