Before your residency interview, think of what you consider the most intriguing and thought-provoking case you worked on in medical school. The cases that are most interesting to you should pertain to the specialty you want to pursue. As you answer, take a few minutes to set the stage for the case, name a couple of points that intrigued you the most, and talk about why. If you know the outcome of the case, discuss that briefly as well.

"The most intriguing case I was exposed to during medical school was a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in an elderly victim of a brutal crime following the loss of her spouse. Over time, the patient was moved to an assisted living facility and continued to develop severe psychotic symptoms and paranoia. The patient suffered from hallucinations and was moved to a psychiatric unit for further observation. A neuroleptic drug was finally prescribed and began to improve the patient's mental well-being."

The most interesting case I saw in my medical school training was a young woman who was in multisystem organ failure from severe pancreatitis. She languished in the ICU on a ventilator for months with minimal improvement. The case manager brought the intensive care doctor to the ethics committee, arguing for comfort care measures. The ICU doctor felt the patient would improve. She ended up waking up and waving us goodbye on her way to inpatient rehab.

"I had an interesting case where I was working with a Family Medicine physician who discovered that a patient had cancer during a routine office visit. This solidified the power Family Medicine doctors have to be able to impact patients' lives."

"I was involved in the delivery of a baby boy during my first year as a medical student. By chance, I happened to see this child multiple times in the pediatric clinic during my later clinical rotations. I was able to see firsthand how this little boy met his milestones and developed into a fun toddler. It was an amazing feeling to watch this child grow, knowing that I participated in his and his family's care."

"One of the most interesting cases was a patient with a chronic hand rash that had bothered him for many years. After numerous treatments were trialed without success, and multiple biopsies that were non-specific, a later biopsy revealed a diagnosis of cutaneous lymphoma. Following initiation of lymphoma treatment, the patient's rash drastically improved. It highlighted for me the role of a dermatologist in providing longitudinal care to patients and in diligently and determinedly searching for a diagnosis when it may be quite challenging. I was also in awe of how significant a quality of life improvement dermatologic care could make for patients."

"The most interesting case I saw as a medical student was in the Emergency Department and involved a woman who had been labeled as a "frequent flyer". She would always come in with vague complaints and receive broad workups which were essentially benign. Finally, one time, instead of brushing off her complaints as the "usual problems" a resident took time to sit down and talk with the woman about her personal life and what was bothering her outside of her stated issues. She found out that in addition to having housing insecurity, the woman was in an abusive relationship with a partner which she had previously been reluctant to admit. She was ultimately able to help that patient obtain social services and safe shelter and I think that was a great example of how sometimes a patient has issues that are deeper than we can see and that we as EM physicians need to take time to understand our patients as people in order to truly help them."