GP training recruitment interview advice?

riza

Anyone gone through this part of their training before?

Is there anything one can do to prepare for the interview (books, materials, etc)? What sort of things do they ask during the interview?

Any tips/advice would be welcome and highly appreciated.

Vorsprung

This may have been overboard (was on my second attempt last year) but the following are amongst about 50 topics I wrote a short piece on in preparation for my interview. Apologies if they seem simplistic (I had only done 2 interviews in medicine in 6 years prior to this interview, one was my 1st attempt!)

Describe your CV
Paper that changed my practice
Relevance of research to you
Why this training scheme?
Speak about electives and what you gained from them
Working abroad (if applicable) - differences, strengths and weaknesses of other systems
Personal learning and approach to same
Research projects/audits you have done
Choose an inspirational figure from the world of medicine/outside of medicine (and reasons)
Solving conflict in practice
How do you deal with a colleague who's been drinking/treated a patient poorly
How do you look after yourself when working? (NB Sick Doctor Scheme)
How do you show you care?
Importance of communication
Ethically challenging situation - describe one you've been involved in
Your own strengths and weaknesses
What will you bring to general practice?
When did you first develop an interest?

Things to know
- Know the names of the Health minister, junior health minister, head of ICGP/IMO GP committee/NAGP!!!

Other things to read
- There's a publication called Signposts to Success on the ICGP site, it's a guide to GPs who are establishing themselves, might be worth a quick look (NB it's long enough but have a brief idea of what it suggests)
- Go through the last year of ICGP's Forum journal
- GP topical issues
- General cuts to general practice in last 6-7 years. Note amount allocated to GP as a proportion of health budget and contrast to say NHS
- Emigration is a big thing at the moment - note recent survey done in North East by Amy Morgan
- Medical cards have been big in the last year
- Under 6s medical cards
- GMS contract due to be revisited (been due for some time!)
- Sign up to gpbuddy.ie to get an idea of some of the opinions on the ground
- Have an idea about waiting lists but remember, the majority of issues are managed within general practice without referral.


Admittedly there's a bit there. Best of luck with it.

riza

Thank you for taking the time to write out such a detailed reply. I appreciate every bit.

I'm a bit nervous to be honest as I don't know what to expect (now I have a better idea, thanks again) and I'm hoping it all goes well. I'm a fresh graduate so some things won't apply to me, however majority of what you wrote seems reasonable and does apply to me. I've been doing mock interviews with the typical questions (tell me about your self, why you, etc) to prepare (cheesy, I know).

Do you know if they ask any questions that test one's medical competence (ex. clinical cases, ECG readings, etc)?

Vorsprung

Re: clinical cases, I imagine it depends on the scheme that's interviewing you.

Try to speak to people already on the scheme you're interviewing for to get a sense of what they were asked.

Vorsprung

Should add re clinical cases - doubt you'd be asked to interpret data/describe a management plan for a condition.