Talk about a difficult patient experience you had during medical school. How did you deal with it?
As you enter Internal Medicine Residency training, you will be in charge of patients for the first time. This question allows your interviewers to assess the patience, communication, conflict resolution, and stress management skills that you would bring to their team as a new resident with their program.
"During my surgery rotation, I cared for a patient during his post-operative recovery from knee surgery. He had a long history of opioid misuse and, as a result, had pain that was difficult to manage. While our team voiced concerns about using higher opioid levels, he remained dissatisfied with his care. I took the time to talk with him two to three times per day and provided an empathic ear to validate his concerns about his pain. Although we did not increase his opioid use, his satisfaction with his care improved remarkably over time, and he became a more cooperative patient invested in the next steps of his recovery."
Talk about a simple scenario you experienced during your medical school training so you don't spend too much time describing details of the patient's story. Instead, spend your time describing your thoughts and actions. Your answer should demonstrate your ability to remain calm, patient, empathetic, and logical.
"A difficult patient experience I had during medical school was when one of the cancer patients that I was helping to take care of died. This was a difficult experience but I felt very honored to be able to help take care of this person and relieve some of their suffering near the end of their life."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I had a friend of mine who came to me with a problem. Bad reaction from an insect bite. Said he’d tried things like Benadryl and creams to make it better. He sent me a photo. I saw the ring of red. This was a person who was resistant to doctors because he felt doctors gave him the wrong meds when he was younger. He also was part of a subculture that believes in things like crystals and energy healing. I explained to him what I thought was going on. I explained how cellulitis works and also explained that this was a situation that could get ugly quickly. I explained that cellulitis spreads quickly and needs antibiotics. He was hesitant, but I said why not try it. He did end up taking antibiotics and the ring of red receded very quickly. He thanked me for my advice. He didn’t necessarily trust doctors, but I had rapport with him and my solution worked for him. So now he has a little more faith in medicine and doctors.
Marcie's Feedback
It's fantastic that you were able to help your friend in this way. While your example proves that you were able to assist someone who was wary of doctors, was your friend truly difficult to deal with? You might want to discuss a time when you calmed someone down who was being belligerent, verbally abusive, and/or very argumentative. If your friend acted in these ways, perhaps talk about this a bit more? (Right now, you mention that he was resistant to doctors but your example begins with him voluntarily sending you a photo of his ailment which sounds cooperative.) If not, you might want to consider switching to an example that includes someone who was more outwardly disagreeable to make a bigger impact with the interviewer. Just a thought!
Unlock all 40 Internal Medicine Residency questions
Master questions program directors use to evaluate your clinical judgment and training goals.
Get Started