How do you cope with stress?
Stress is a part of any fellow's day-to-day professional life. You will encounter patients with unexpected diagnoses, difficult personalities, and overbearing families. The interview panel wants to know what strategies you have in place for dealing with these situations.
Avoid suggesting that you don't get stressed. Everyone does. Instead, acknowledge that stress is expected and provide an answer that reassures the interview panel that you manage stress in ways that won't have a negative impact on your practice.
"For every smooth day I had during residency, I had two that were stressful. I understand there are many situations that can cause stress in a medical setting from having to deliver a terminal diagnosis to dealing with EMR systems being down. By the end of PGY2, I learned to take things in stride. It's okay to experience stress and feel urgency--but it's important to have the ability to step back and evaluate priorities and the actual impact of a situation on the things that matter. When I do this, it's usually easy for me to think objectively, remain calm, and take a logical approach, which alleviates stress."
