How to Answer: After a patient's adverse reaction due to a medication error, what would you do?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an Oncology job interview.
4. After a patient's adverse reaction due to a medication error, what would you do?
How to Answer
This is very similar to the question above about the misplaced lab report. However, it goes a step further by describing an incident in which a person is actually harmed. Nevertheless, your policy should be the same: own it. The repercussions from honesty are easier to withstand than surviving the fallout from dishonesty. Most hospitals or state boards require doctors to take online courses about medication errors and how to take steps in their charting protocols to lessen the possibility of their happening. Your answer, thus, should be reversal of harm, admission of fact, and prevention strategies. Also, don't be afraid to say it's never happened to you, which is always good for the interviewer to hear.
Written by D. Leo on April 22nd, 2021
Entry Level
"Patients put their trust in us as healthcare professionals, so errors, although inexcusable, are at the mercy of whatever standard of professionalism is being maintained. Such maintenance means constantly thinking about what could go wrong and double-checking every decision and order I make. When that fails, I cannot also fail in my loyalty to my patient via any type of dishonesty. Assuming I corrected any harm, I then would level with the patient and express remorse as part of my professional duties."
Written by D. Leo on April 22nd, 2021
Answer Example
"My first responsibility is to 'un-do' the harm by treating the adverse reaction, be it an allergic reaction, the wrong medication, or even an overdose. After that, I should explain to the patient what happened and what steps I felt were necessary to mitigate the harm."
Written by D. Leo on April 22nd, 2021
Experienced Level
"Although it's never happened to me, I know what to do because we've all been trained on what to do, and I would follow hospital policy. I would treat any reaction that had been caused by the error, document the error and what steps I took to address it, and inform the patient fully on what happened, how it happened, and what implications might be there for him or her. After that, I would hope that the patient-doctor relationship could survive such an honest mistake."
Written by D. Leo on April 22nd, 2021