Why did you choose to pursue fellowship training in pulmonary critical care?
Your team of interviewers simply wants to know what aspects of the specialty appeal to you and why you want to focus your career path on pulmonary critical care.
"Throughout my internal medicine residency, I gravitated toward the ICU and management of disorders of the lungs and upper airways. These areas of care offer a blend of challenging cases and the opportunity to foster meaningful relationships with patients, which are both aspects of care that are important to me."
Discuss why you are interested in pulmonary critical care. Perhaps it is due to certain experiences you had during residency; maybe you have a family member who suffers from COPD. Answer honestly, and feel free to add a personal touch to your answer. This will help the interviewers relate to you as an individual and make for a memorable conversation down the road as the interviewers decide which applicants to match into their fellowship program.
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
My interest and inclination to go into pulmonary and critical care started while doing my ICU rotation as a medical student. The things that drew me to it were how cerebral it was, and that the intensivist had to connect his/her knowledge of core medicine, critical care, and other organ systems when managing patients. As a resident in the ICU, I further appreciated the complexity of cases and managing critically ill patients. In the ICU, I saw the most drastic change, from a patient on the brink of death to become very stable. I also enjoyed and participated in the procedural aspect of it. In addition to that, lung mechanics and physiology fascinated me.
Marcie's Feedback
Wow! This is a great response because it clearly shows your passion for this area of medicine, as well as how knowledgeable you are about it. To strengthen your answer further, consider explaining why you enjoy complex patient cases, lung mechanics and physiology, and cerebral topics. Adding some additional color will make your response even more memorable to the interviewer. Excellent job!
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