Situational Anesthesiologist Mock Interview

Master 30 Situational Anesthesiologist interview questions covering critical scenarios, clinical judgment, and perioperative decision-making.

Question 8 of 30

How would you handle a difficult family member who disagrees with the care that the patient agreed to?

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Dianne Barnard

Dianne Barnard is a Registered Nurse and former nursing instructor. She is also board certified in Psychiatric Nursing and Holistic Nursing Critical Care.

Patient families can often be the most challenging to physicians, as they do not always agree with the patient's decision. While it is rarer for an Anesthesiologist to run into any issues with the families of patients because they aren't often allowed in the OR or surgical prep areas, your interviewer still wants to see how you would react in this situation. Your interviewer wants to hear that you are a patient advocate and respectful communicator.

Dianne Barnard

Dianne Barnard is a Registered Nurse and former nursing instructor. She is also board certified in Psychiatric Nursing and Holistic Nursing Critical Care.

"I would acknowledge that I understand they want the best for their family member. Then, I would explain that I cannot discuss the patient's care with them and that the patient has the right to make their own decision. I would encourage them to discuss their concerns with the patient directly and perhaps ask for a meeting with the care team so their concerns could be addressed. Throughout my career, I've most experienced upset family members in the PACU following surgery. In these situations, I take the time to talk with the family and educate them further on general medical process so they have a better understanding."

Ryan Brunner

Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.

As long as the patient can make their own decisions, the best way to deal with these situations is to tell the family that they need to talk with the patient. You also should not talk about the patient's condition when they are not present. In your answer, talk about how you will rely on your ability to educate the family and loved ones of your patients and why doing so is best for their care.

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30Situational Anesthesiologist Interview Questions & Answers

Situational Anesthesiologist

1.If you are called to a code blue situation at our hospital, what would your initial steps be as the Anesthesiologist?

Situational Anesthesiologist

2.What steps would you take if you suspected a patient was being subjected to physical abuse in their home?

Situational Anesthesiologist

3.If you had too many patient priorities at once, how would you decide which to do first, and how would you seek assistance?

Situational Anesthesiologist

4.A colleague left their computer open with our EMR and sensitive information on the screen, and you are the only one in the shared office at the time. How would you address this with them?

Situational Anesthesiologist

5.How would you react to an emotionally difficult or challenging patient situation?

Situational Anesthesiologist

6.How would you handle a colleague rejecting an idea you pitched?

Situational Anesthesiologist

7.Describe a situation in which it may be appropriate to use humor in the workplace as an Anesthesiologist.

Situational Anesthesiologist

8.How would you handle a difficult family member who disagrees with the care that the patient agreed to?

Situational Anesthesiologist

9.How would you handle someone asking you for medical advice or diagnosis validation outside the workplace?

Situational Anesthesiologist

10.How would you handle a situation in which you had an ethical or philosophical difference with a patient?

Situational Anesthesiologist

11.What would you do to change your communication style if a patient, or their family, had trouble understanding what you were trying to tell them?

Situational Anesthesiologist

12.At times, you may work with difficult and uncooperative colleagues and team members. How would you handle an uncooperative colleague in an important situation?

Situational Anesthesiologist

13.You are alone in a break room with two other physicians who are talking about a patient and confidential health information. How would you respond?

Situational Anesthesiologist

14.You are nearing the end of your shift, and you are exhausted from a busy shift for the anesthesia care team. As your colleague arrives to relieve you, tell me how you proceed.

Situational Anesthesiologist

15.How would you handle a patient who requests more pain medication, even though they've received enough per your best judgement?

Situational Anesthesiologist

16.Everyone on your PACU is busy, and you asked the nursing staff to get one of your patients a warm blanket. The patient has yet to receive a blanket 30 minutes later, and they are upset about it. Tell me how you proceed.

Situational Anesthesiologist

17.You are preparing for a simple procedure, and you ask the nurse to retrieve the mepivacaine that will be used on the patient. What do you do upon receiving it from the nurse?

Situational Anesthesiologist

18.You just finished preparing IV medications for a patient with the nursing staff, and you thoroughly washed your hands before doing so. As you enter the patient's room with the medication, describe the first thing you do to prevent patient infection.

Situational Anesthesiologist

19.Let's say you are caring for a patient in our PACU whose respiratory function has taken a turn for the worse. Tell me how you would proceed.

Situational Anesthesiologist

20.You are caring for a three-year-old patient and ordering a weight-based medication. When you look at the patient's records, you find the weight was documented in pounds by the nursing staff. Explain how you proceed.

Situational Anesthesiologist

21.How would you handle a member of the patient-care team who wasn't pulling their weight on the team on a busy day?

Situational Anesthesiologist

22.If you were in the middle of a busy day and a key piece of equipment failed, how would you handle the workload, patients, and stress moving forward until a fix was found?

Situational Anesthesiologist

23.A recent patient survey comes back, and you find out that you did not meet a patient's expectations for their anesthesia care. What are the next steps you would take?

Situational Anesthesiologist

24.If you encountered a patient that had an allergy to lidocaine or other local anesthesia, what alternative methods of sedation would you suggest?

Situational Anesthesiologist

25.If you had a personality conflict with a fellow physician in our practice, how would you effectively work through that situation?

Situational Anesthesiologist

26.If you are faced with days of long work hours and stressful case loads in our anesthesia practice, how will you stay motivated to succeed every day?

Situational Anesthesiologist

27.How would you handle a patient who was combative and verbally abusive, including spitting and forcefully removing IVs and catheters?

Situational Anesthesiologist

28.If you witnessed a physician peer doing or saying something inappropriate to a support staff member, how would you respond?

Situational Anesthesiologist

29.As an anesthesiologist, there is a chance that your patient will not make it out of surgery. How would you handle that situation?

Situational Anesthesiologist

Situational Anesthesiologist Mock Interview

How would you handle a difficult family member who disagrees with the care that the patient agreed to?

30Situational Anesthesiologist Interview Questions & Answers

1.If you are called to a code blue situation at our hospital, what would your initial steps be as the Anesthesiologist?

2.What steps would you take if you suspected a patient was being subjected to physical abuse in their home?

3.If you had too many patient priorities at once, how would you decide which to do first, and how would you seek assistance?

4.A colleague left their computer open with our EMR and sensitive information on the screen, and you are the only one in the shared office at the time. How would you address this with them?

5.How would you react to an emotionally difficult or challenging patient situation?

6.How would you handle a colleague rejecting an idea you pitched?

7.Describe a situation in which it may be appropriate to use humor in the workplace as an Anesthesiologist.

8.How would you handle a difficult family member who disagrees with the care that the patient agreed to?

9.How would you handle someone asking you for medical advice or diagnosis validation outside the workplace?

10.How would you handle a situation in which you had an ethical or philosophical difference with a patient?

11.What would you do to change your communication style if a patient, or their family, had trouble understanding what you were trying to tell them?

12.At times, you may work with difficult and uncooperative colleagues and team members. How would you handle an uncooperative colleague in an important situation?

13.You are alone in a break room with two other physicians who are talking about a patient and confidential health information. How would you respond?

14.You are nearing the end of your shift, and you are exhausted from a busy shift for the anesthesia care team. As your colleague arrives to relieve you, tell me how you proceed.

15.How would you handle a patient who requests more pain medication, even though they've received enough per your best judgement?

16.Everyone on your PACU is busy, and you asked the nursing staff to get one of your patients a warm blanket. The patient has yet to receive a blanket 30 minutes later, and they are upset about it. Tell me how you proceed.

17.You are preparing for a simple procedure, and you ask the nurse to retrieve the mepivacaine that will be used on the patient. What do you do upon receiving it from the nurse?

18.You just finished preparing IV medications for a patient with the nursing staff, and you thoroughly washed your hands before doing so. As you enter the patient's room with the medication, describe the first thing you do to prevent patient infection.

19.Let's say you are caring for a patient in our PACU whose respiratory function has taken a turn for the worse. Tell me how you would proceed.

20.You are caring for a three-year-old patient and ordering a weight-based medication. When you look at the patient's records, you find the weight was documented in pounds by the nursing staff. Explain how you proceed.

21.How would you handle a member of the patient-care team who wasn't pulling their weight on the team on a busy day?

22.If you were in the middle of a busy day and a key piece of equipment failed, how would you handle the workload, patients, and stress moving forward until a fix was found?

23.A recent patient survey comes back, and you find out that you did not meet a patient's expectations for their anesthesia care. What are the next steps you would take?

24.If you encountered a patient that had an allergy to lidocaine or other local anesthesia, what alternative methods of sedation would you suggest?

25.If you had a personality conflict with a fellow physician in our practice, how would you effectively work through that situation?

26.If you are faced with days of long work hours and stressful case loads in our anesthesia practice, how will you stay motivated to succeed every day?

27.How would you handle a patient who was combative and verbally abusive, including spitting and forcefully removing IVs and catheters?

28.If you witnessed a physician peer doing or saying something inappropriate to a support staff member, how would you respond?

29.As an anesthesiologist, there is a chance that your patient will not make it out of surgery. How would you handle that situation?

30.If a patient was undergoing a very risky procedure, what would your communication objective be prior to the surgery?