Oncology Mock Interview

Master 20 Oncology interview questions covering patient care, treatment protocols, and clinical decision-making.

Question 12 of 20

How would you answer a patient who indicated he wanted self-assisted suicide instead of a lengthy, pain-filled period of final days?

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"Spiritually, ethically, and morally I cannot take someone's life. However, the caveat of 'do no harm' means not allowing pain to dominate one's final days or moments. Those belong to him or her and loved ones--it's a special time that should not be wasted because of being consumed with pain. I can comfort a patient by whatever means becomes necessary. Although I cannot take life, I also cannot allow harm, which is what pain is, especially when it's being there or not makes no difference in the expected outcome."

D. Leo

"We all will die. It is inevitable. However, if the inevitable were to come sooner by a few minutes or hours because I was treating something else, like intractable pain, my patient has a right to that relief. If he or she wanted death to come sooner by months or years, however, then that is nothing less than suicide. There is a big difference between experiencing a side effect of pain relief and committing euthanasia, even if it results in the same thing. I want my patient to have the right to the former, but I am not doing my best in being an Oncologist by embracing the latter."

D. Leo

Your specialty is one that tries to sidestep death, but the jump out of the way isn't easy and it's never guaranteed. It makes even a rational man consider the tradeoffs in just accepting death and, to that end, even consider a 'designer' death that is easier than the alternative. You need not have a position on this subject, but siding with your patient and his or her rights may give you a way to please both sides of the issue.

D. Leo

"I morally feel no one is qualified to actively take a life. However, I would pledge to my patient a dedication to his or her comfort, even if it meant pain management that was fraught with the risk of side effects that brought on the inevitable sooner, such as with respiratory depression."

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20Oncology Interview Questions & Answers

1.What made you want to choose Oncology as a vocation?

2.More than any other type of specialty, there frequently is death occurring in your work; what is your strategy for avoiding psychological distress?

3.If you had a patient who was newly diagnosed with cancer but refuses chemotherapy for whatever reason, how would you counsel him or her?

4.Do you feel you can abandon evidence-based medicine and pursue the 'art' of medicine, especially in a patient with a high risk of mortality?

5.Many patients with life-threatening conditions find comfort in religion; how would you counsel a patient who feels therapy can be adjusted because of faith in God (Allah, etc.)?

6.Patients with life-threatening conditions often change their attitudes to life, hopefully for the better. However, if you discovered destructive lifestyle changes, how would you get involved?

7.If you thought family members were taking advantage of a terminal patient financially, would you intervene?

8.How might you react if you, as an Oncologist, were given a diagnosis of cancer?

9.How far would you go in giving opiates to a patient with end-stage cancer? Would you go as far as giving enough to shorten his or her life if that's what it took to give relief?

10.Are you opposed to using new protocols you find in the literature before they become accepted as "evidence-based" medicine?

11.It's hard to get people to quit smoking, and it's often said that 'cancer cures smoking'; what steps do you think we, as a society, can do to finally rid ourselves of this powerful carcinogen in our lives?

12.How would you answer a patient who indicated he wanted self-assisted suicide instead of a lengthy, pain-filled period of final days?

13.Do you have coverage for your patients for when you are vacationing or for when you get sick?

14.Your terminal patient has cognitive dysfunction from a closed head injury, and if his family pleads with you to keep him unaware of his terminal prognosis because of how he won't be able to deal with it, would you?

15.Your cancer patient has as favorable diagnosis, but asks you to sign an advanced care directive that disallows aggressive resuscitative measures; how do you counsel her not to give up that easily?

16.A lab report comes back to you after having been misplaced for over a month. What would you say to the patient and the patient's family regarding this clerical error that may have clinical implications?

17.If you find a senior nurse prying into a relative's chart for some personal information that is otherwise HIPAA-protected, what steps would you take, if any?

18.After a patient's adverse reaction due to a medication error, what would you do?

19.If an 18-year-old nulliparous woman were to ask your advice on hysterectomy and removal of her ovaries prophylactically due to a strong family history of ovarian cancer, would you arrange referral for such a surgery?

Oncology Mock Interview

How would you answer a patient who indicated he wanted self-assisted suicide instead of a lengthy, pain-filled period of final days?

20Oncology Interview Questions & Answers

1.What made you want to choose Oncology as a vocation?

2.More than any other type of specialty, there frequently is death occurring in your work; what is your strategy for avoiding psychological distress?

3.If you had a patient who was newly diagnosed with cancer but refuses chemotherapy for whatever reason, how would you counsel him or her?

4.Do you feel you can abandon evidence-based medicine and pursue the 'art' of medicine, especially in a patient with a high risk of mortality?

5.Many patients with life-threatening conditions find comfort in religion; how would you counsel a patient who feels therapy can be adjusted because of faith in God (Allah, etc.)?

6.Patients with life-threatening conditions often change their attitudes to life, hopefully for the better. However, if you discovered destructive lifestyle changes, how would you get involved?

7.If you thought family members were taking advantage of a terminal patient financially, would you intervene?

8.How might you react if you, as an Oncologist, were given a diagnosis of cancer?

9.How far would you go in giving opiates to a patient with end-stage cancer? Would you go as far as giving enough to shorten his or her life if that's what it took to give relief?

10.Are you opposed to using new protocols you find in the literature before they become accepted as "evidence-based" medicine?

11.It's hard to get people to quit smoking, and it's often said that 'cancer cures smoking'; what steps do you think we, as a society, can do to finally rid ourselves of this powerful carcinogen in our lives?

12.How would you answer a patient who indicated he wanted self-assisted suicide instead of a lengthy, pain-filled period of final days?

13.Do you have coverage for your patients for when you are vacationing or for when you get sick?

14.Your terminal patient has cognitive dysfunction from a closed head injury, and if his family pleads with you to keep him unaware of his terminal prognosis because of how he won't be able to deal with it, would you?

15.Your cancer patient has as favorable diagnosis, but asks you to sign an advanced care directive that disallows aggressive resuscitative measures; how do you counsel her not to give up that easily?

16.A lab report comes back to you after having been misplaced for over a month. What would you say to the patient and the patient's family regarding this clerical error that may have clinical implications?

17.If you find a senior nurse prying into a relative's chart for some personal information that is otherwise HIPAA-protected, what steps would you take, if any?

18.After a patient's adverse reaction due to a medication error, what would you do?

19.If an 18-year-old nulliparous woman were to ask your advice on hysterectomy and removal of her ovaries prophylactically due to a strong family history of ovarian cancer, would you arrange referral for such a surgery?

20.If a patient for whom you had nothing more to offer begged you to try something--anything--else, how would you respond?