Talk about a difficult patient experience you had during your career. How did you handle that situation?

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Healthcare organizations like hospitals and clinics emphasize patient care and attending to the patient's needs. As a Nephrologist, you tackle some challenging patients. This question allows your interviewers to assess the patience, communication, conflict resolution, and stress management skills you would bring to their institution.

Talk about a simple scenario you've experienced during your career, but don't spend too much time describing 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 few years ago, I treated a patient diagnosed with kidney failure. While it was a standard acute failure, the patient also had a schizophrenia diagnosis. This made our one-on-one interactions very difficult, to the point where the patient was uncontrollable at times. During my visits and his dialysis, we asked that a trusted family member stay with him for communications and to provide a safe harbor. My approach required calmness and gentleness, far beyond what I've ever provided for a patient. It was a fun experience that I learned a lot from."

Anonymous Answer

"The most difficult patient I had was when I was on respiratory was a patient with early advanced dementia from a nursing home, admitted with a pulmonary embolism soon complicated by pneumonia and delirium. The family wanted everything, including inpatient malignancy workup and NGT feeding while the patient was delirious. The situation was made worse because the respiratory consultants changed over and had differing views, and the geriatric team was consulting and also providing differing views, and it got even more complicated for the family. As I was liaising with the family the most, the decision was made I would be the single point of care, and when unsure I would ask other respiratory doctors or the geriatric team for advice, and I would communicate that directly with the family, and by having single person communicating the consensus of what both respiratory and geriatric doctors felt was best for the patient, I was able to work with the family to also provide patient-centered care, and provide care everyone was happy with."