When you encounter a problem that requires a quick solution, how do you typically respond?
When it comes to complex problem-solving during pathology residency training, decisions are not always readily reached. It takes practice, experience, and confidence to learn what decisions yield the best results in the toughest situations. Your interviewers ask this question to know that you can make quick decisions instead of asking for assistance from a senior resident or faculty member.
Walk the interviewer through the decision-making process you used during your medical school training. Perhaps you go with a gut feeling or rely on your education/experience. Maybe you rely on case studies. Trusting your gut is a skill, and the more you learn to trust your intuition, the easier it becomes to make these types of decisions. Demonstrate that you are confident and can react swiftly as a pathology resident in this program.
"When a quick solution is needed, I am eager to do the work and solve the problem. I try to respond efficiently and accomplish the mission. For example, during a recent rotation, a patient needed to be taken to their car by wheelchair, but it was an hour's wait before a transport assistant could help them. I asked for permission from my preceptor and then escorted them in the wheelchair myself. In diagnostic pathology, I know that sound decision-making skills are used to take facts of a case and assign them to a diagnostic category beyond a reasonable doubt. As a pathology resident, this will require me to be diligent in reducing errors and knowledgeable in making decisions."
