Residency interviews aim to deduce what kind of physician you will be. Your experiences and academic performance offer insight into your clinical future, but for qualities such as communication and teamwork, there are fewer benchmarks to indicate one’s skills.
That’s where behavioral questions come in. Often beginning with the prompt “tell me about a time when,” residency program interviewers are asking you to draw from your past experiences as a medical student to demonstrate competencies that can be key to success as a resident physician.
How can residency applicants craft responses to these questions that stand out? Two veteran physicians on the residency program side of the Match process shared their insights.
Come prepared
The behavioral questions that most frequently arise during physician residency interviews are generally going to ask about stressful situations and your responses.
“If you are looking for common themes that might come up, a lot of these questions deal with teamwork dynamics and communication skills, how you function in a high-stress environment and how you like to communicate and receive information. They also look at how you prioritize your own wellness and your ability to decompress after stressful encounters,” said Angela Debo, DO.
Dr. Debo directs the family medicine residency program at Bayhealth, which is part of the AMA Health System Member Program that provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
Knowing which types of situations you might be asked about, it’s important to have a few anecdotes in your back pocket.
“One mistake is not coming prepared with well-thought-out answers,” said Dr. Debo. “Sometimes someone claims they've never disagreed with anyone, which is unlikely and not what programs are looking for. You don't need a dramatic story, but you do need to show your ability to navigate different personalities.”
Demonstrate collaboration
It’s important to demonstrate your ability to collaborate in a clinical setting. Because of that, applicants should present experiences as part of team dynamics rather than making yourself the sole hero, said Gary Siegelman, MD.
“Simply put, if someone says ‘I’ all the time, it tells you something,” said Dr. Siegelman, the designated institutional official for graduate medical education at Bayhealth, in Dover, Delaware. “Because no matter what you're doing—even if a doctor comes into a room and saves a patient who's about to expire, there's still a ‘we’ in that. Someone may have assisted with resuscitation or helped in some other way. There's always a team involved.”
Highlight problem-solving
Medical students aren’t going to have all the answers when it comes to difficult situations that come up in the clinical setting. But showing a growth mindset and problem-solving skills are key in formulating effective responses to behavioral questions in physician residency interviews.
“You want to see that a medical student has at least some capability to handle crises and challenging situations without panicking and can work with others to find solutions,” Dr. Siegelman said.
“When something unexpected happens or you face a really complex situation, like having 70 patients show up in an hour, how do you deal with those challenges? You need to use your own resources and work with others to figure out how to get out of the situation and find logical solutions.”
Showcase adaptability
Claiming that you have all the answers and are someone who is closed to other viewpoints or approaches is not going to come off well with a physician residency program interviewer. Instead, responses to behavioral questions should highlight medical students’ flexibility and willingness to adapt.
“Going into interviews, have specific examples about times when you navigated a difficult teamwork dynamic or there was someone involved with a different communication style and you had to adjust your approach,” Dr. Debo said.
“Answers that shows you are not open to other viewpoints or other approaches and really highlighting rigidity would not be a good thing.”
In the end, residency programs are looking for thoughtful answers that show some self-awareness and personal growth.
“The biggest thing we are looking for is your ability to reflect on a situation and show insight into it,” Dr. Debo said. “That’s what many of these questions are trying to assess—your insight, your ability to introspect, to consider how your actions played a role, and whether you have a growth mindset in these situations.”
