IMT interviews preparation- an ordeal or a relish/ merriment?
CONGRATULATIONS! You have managed to reach this point of the process and hopefully, you will ace at the end.
The interview session for the IMT selection process is essential and more or less formulates the decision of your journey, so please, do take it seriously and PREPARE for it. A book called "Medical Interviews" is very famous among the applicants and is honestly very helpful in understanding the pattern of questions and answers, so is highly recommended to go through it.
A candidate is given a total of 18-20 minutes for the whole interview which consists of:
a) a 2-minute presentation about yourself (which has to be very formative)
b) a few follow-up questions for 5 minutes (can be on multiple topics and the answers can be short for this)
c) a clinical scenario lasting for 8 minutes
d) an ethical scenario lasting for 5 minutes
The entire interview goes very rapidly and needs a lot of attention and present-mindedness. It is totally normal to have the head pounding with tension but don't show a crease of nervousness on the face and voice.
STRUCTURE OF THE ANSWERS:
Every answer has a basic structure to be followed, simply we can put it as:
background, current situation, future plan, and feedback received (if goes with the question).
I have dropped down some of the illustrations of questions that a candidate should prepare and their potential answers to just take an idea (it is always recommended to construct your own answer and portray it in your own wording and style).
Q: Tell us about yourself? (CAMP structure)
My name is XYZ and I am from ABC country where I graduated in 2017. After that, I worked as a licensed doctor there for almost a year and a half during which I served in the emergency medicine and palliative care center. At the moment, I am working at XYZ Hospital as a clinical fellow in general medicine. Within my job, I’ve worked in the wards, take lists, and managed night on-call shifts. I have good hands-on experience in performing basic procedures like catheterization, venepuncture, and ascetic tap.
Over the past few years, I’ve gained experience in research and publications where I got two of my
research projects published in a PubMed-recognized journal, both being done in medicine. A couple of
months ago, I conducted a QIP in the Trust where I targeted the improvement of 48-hour documentation
and de-escalation of antimicrobials in patients along with probiotics prescription. Hence, the sector of
audit and QIP interests me and I am looking forward to conducting more such projects in the future.
Apart from clinical skills, I am keen on conducting teaching sessions. Recently I conducted two formal
teaching sessions in the Trust. Besides that, I conduct some informal teachings daily
with the medical students or nurses having case-based discussions or discussing blood reports.
In terms of commitment to medicine, I have taken theoretical MRCP exams and am planning to take PACES by the end of this year. From a personal perspective, I am a very organized person and know how to balance my personal and professional life. In my spare time, I love to travel to different areas to de-stress myself and hang out with friends.
Q: Where do you see yourself in the next ten years? (CAMP structure)
Well, ten years is a long run time. If I start shortly, I do see myself working as an IMT with one of the deaneries and will be taking the PACES exam by the end of the year. In a five-year time, I could envision myself being in a specialty training seeking gastroenterology in which I’d be taking care of the take list and the clinics, and performing various procedures. Moving on to the ten-year time, I would be working as a consultant gastroenterologist in the NHS. From an academic point of view, I could see myself doing some projects like audits, QIPs, or research in medicine during my training and presenting those at regional or national levels. As I like teaching, I would love to take my interest with me and could see to be an educational supervisor for non-trainees and trainees and for that Of course, I’d be attending respective courses. In terms of my personal life, in the next ten years, I will be settled in the UK with a family. I’d be traveling to different countries to experience cultures and rituals.
Q: Tell us about your teaching experience.
I have a handful of teaching experience in my career so far. I have conducted a couple of teaching sessions in the Trust. For instance, a few months ago, I conducted a face-to-face teaching session on presentation and the management of acute upper and lower GI bleeds. The audience included the consultants and other colleagues. I included the recent guidelines and the scoring tools used in my presentation. Besides that, I also conducted a virtual session for the junior doctors where I taught about deranged liver enzymes and their causes.
Apart from the formal teaching sessions, I am also keen on some informal teaching which I come across daily like teaching ECG to medical students or having a bedside case-based discussion.
The feedback from both sessions has been positive in terms of having a confident attitude and good communication skills in conveying the message. But to further flourish my way of teaching, I am planning to attend a teaching course shortly.
Q: What makes you a good team player?/ What are your Strengths?
In terms of being a good team player/ my strengths, I would say that I am a very approachable and
amenable person. The nurses and junior doctors feel very comfortable approaching me for any issue. A lot
of my juniors from back home contact me for any guidance needed in their career plan. They also
appreciated me for being supportive and helpful to them. Besides this, I am very balanced and organized
in my personal and professional world and never compromise either of those. I take care of my patients
and side by side, I pay attention to my social needs as well. Alongside this, I am always keen and open to
learning new things and improving my medical and ethical skills by attending courses and seminars.
Recently, I took ALS and BLS courses to polish my reflexes on dealing with a cardiac arrest. I also sort of
motivate my team members to schedule some informal or formal teaching sessions where we can discuss
some common cases and their management which could improve our medical knowledge and ethical
skills. I am also very adaptive to the new environment. When I was living in Dubai, I got well adjusted
to the climate and the society there, and when I moved to England, where I also adjusted myself to the
weather and the culture. I have learned the NHS system very quickly as well. I am on a rotational post in
my Trust and get accommodated quickly with the team which makes me an efficient team player as well.
Q: Why do you want to train in medicine?/ Why do you want to work in the training program?
Well since my undergrad time, I have had this immense interest in pursuing medicine and being a physician. One of the reasons is the challenges and the diversification offered by the field itself. We come across new things daily which broadens my way of thinking and making decisions. For instance, I saw a unique case during my internship which was of SLE with Parkinsonism in an elderly patient. I got that case published in a PubMed journal. Thus, this variety and the room to grow every day inclines me more towards it. Once my consultant commented that I have a peculiar physician's hand and mind. That gave me a further boost in pursuing medicine.
From an academic point of view, I have always enjoyed reading and practicing medicine from my MBBS time. I have done a few researches back then where I made 2 publications in PubMed journal both being in gastroenterology. It also provides good opportunities for teaching for instance, I do some informal teachings daily which improves my communication and interpersonal skills. Medicine is intercalated with so many specialties that it allows me to work independently as well as with multidisciplinary teams.
Lastly, I get this sense of satisfaction and immense happiness while reliving a patient’s current symptom or illness. For example, giving oxygen to any patient coming with low saturation makes a huge difference for them and side by side to me. In terms of my commitment to medicine, I’ve taken theoretical parts of MRCP and am planning to take PACES shortly. I am registered with RCP to keep myself updated with the new guidelines and revise my medical knowledge. Hence, I have applied for IMT to move a step ahead towards my goal.
Q: Tell me an example where you demonstrated leadership skills/ good communication skills?
So I got a bleep the other day from one of the nurses stating about a female patient who got admitted with
paracetamol overdose. She wanted me to talk to the patient as the patient was being abusive and wanted a
self-discharge at that time. As soon as I reached the ward, I first made sure that the rest of the patients and
staff in the ward were unharmed by the patient. Then I took the patient to a separate room where I could
talk to her. After introducing and making a repo in front of her, I asked about the issues that she was having.
She mentioned being attended by the staff, not having a cigarette break and not being informed about the
future plan of management. So I addressed her concerns one by one and apologized on behalf of the staff.
I explained to her about the workload that the staff might be having and also about the hospital management
and further plans. I also notified her regarding the aftermath of leaving the hospital in the middle of the
treatment. After a good 20-minute chat, she got relaxed, appreciated the time given to her, and also decided
to stay overnight. The nurses also appreciated my way of communicating and handling the situation very
calmly. Thus, via that example, it is shown how small things like good communication and adequate
information passed to the patient can bring change in their management. I also demonstrated leadership
skills by both assigning staff their tasks and supporting her emotionally.
Q: What is the IMT curriculum?
So initially it was a CMT program that was of 2 years but in 2014, it was amended to three years when
they found that doctors were not efficient enough to manage acute medical emergencies. Thus, now the
IMT program is 3 years. The purpose of the Internal Medicine (IM) stage 1 curriculum is to produce
doctors with the generic professional and specialty-specific capabilities needed to manage patients
presenting with a wide range of general medical symptoms and conditions. They will be entrusted to
undertake the role of the medical registrar in NHS district general and teaching hospitals and are qualified
to apply for higher specialist training. Internal medicine stage 1 will normally be a three-year program that
will include mandatory training in geriatric medicine, intensive care, outpatients, and ambulatory care.
IM stage 1 will be the first stage of training in internal medicine and the specialties managed by the
Joint Royal College of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB). During that period, the trainee has to gain
the IMT competencies, required to get the MRCP diploma and have to undergo an annual ARCP
assessment. After these three years, in stage 2 of training, there will be competitive entry into specialty
plus internal medicine dual training. A minimum of three years will be spent training in the specialty (there will be variation across specialties) and there will be a further one year of internal medicine integrated flexibly within the program. This will ensure that CCT holders are competent to practice independently at the consultant level in both their specialty and internal medicine.
Q: Mistake that you have made?
During my rotation in geriatric medicine, I had a patient who presented with a fall and a background of
normocytic anemia. I was supposed to send her cross cross-match sample to keep a unit of packed cells
prepared in case her HB drops. However, at that time, I was not very confident of doing the bloods so I
booked the crossmatch for the phlebotomy team the next day. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the
phlebotomist didn’t take the blood sample. Anyway, I managed to send the sample and got the unit
prepared that day before the end of my shift however, I think her transfusion got delayed because of me.
Thus I realised my weakness and acted upon that by practicing more venesections and assisting a
phlebotomist in it to improve my skill. And I can say now, that my hand is improved a lot now.
Q: Tell us an incidence where you showed professional integrity?
It is something that is a requirement of GMC’s good medical practice and remains with me daily.
For instance, recently there was a patient who was admitted with aspiration pneumonia and AKI over that.
At the time of discharge, the family offered me a 100-pound check and my personal number. I was a bit
surprised as that’s unethical to do in my profession. Thus, I spoke to them humbly and refused to accept
the check. I think I maintained professionalism and did the right thing.
