This might be a stupid question, but how should I be preparing for an MMI interview? For traditional one on one I have prepared for the common questions such as tell me about yourself, why medicine, why us, strengths/weaknesses, and I’ve reviewed my app for questions about my ec’s / research. But I’m not confident about what to expect / how to prepare for an MMI
Posted Sep 13, 2019, 12:31 AM UTC
Youtube has a lot of great videos! i'm new to MMI too so i've just been watching those to prepare
That one guy gave a good, in depth answer, so I’m not about to compete with that shit.
Have an answer ready for why medicine, or why this school? Those tend to be popular follow-up questions (I’ve had 3 mmi’s)
Other than that, just focus on having fun. I was shocked at how much I just enjoyed the whole thing. At no point did I think “wow this is an admissions interview, and one of the most important ones of my life.” And that is precisely what allowed me to shine.
I promise you will not be able to prepare for individual prompts, they WILL surprise you, because that is exactly the idea...what do you have to say when put on the spot?
Approach your answer from both sides of the argument, patient always first, and don’t say anything ignorant or stupid. That last one should be intuitive, truly.
You’re going to have a great time. The people that overanalyze these things are the one’s that don’t do well. Best of luck.
Practice with people on Reddit. Once you do a couple MMI prompts you will realize a lot of them have similar themes.
So I do interview prep for a living.
MMIs are usually divided into stations. You'll have a few minutes to read a prompt, and then you'll talk about it for around 7 minutes. Then you move to the next prompt.
While they might ask a personal question, like "tell me about yourself," MMIs are most likely to be ethical questions. For those, you'll want to give a balanced response that considers multiple viewpoints respectfully.
For example: "A patient who has a chronic, debilitating illness has been complaining about the side effects of their long-time medication. They confess to you that their cousin has told them about an amazing herbal supplement from the jungles of Brazil. Since they stopped taking their medication and replaced it with this supplement, they have never felt better. How do you advise your patient?"
A good, balanced response might say something like "I ask the patient more about the supplement they are taking, and research if there are any studies done on the supplement. I see if there are any harmful interactions identified with it, or if it actually has any use in treating their disease. Just because it's herbal doesn't mean that it contains no active chemicals.
I wouldn't want to shut the patient down immediately or make them feel stupid. People who feel bad about their decisions aren't likely to come back to me for advice, and certainly aren't likely to listen.
If the plant doesn't have any medical benefit, I would assume it's helping via placebo. I would explain to the patient the importance of their medication, but suggest they take this supplement alongside their medicine if it's helping them feel better. The important thing is to get the patient back on their medicine. Perhaps they can be weaned off the supplement in the future.
If the supplement has been shown to be medically active, I'll tell them that. I'll caution them against side effects of the supplement, which likely hasn't been as well studied as the medications that they're on. I'll explain to them how studies work, and that while some things might show promising results, they might end up being harmful later. I'm not going to deny that she's feeling something different as a result of this supplement, but I'll make sure she understands that the prescribed medicine is the safest known medicine, and we understand the side effects very well. This supplement is an unknown, and she's risking her future health if she continues to take it."
Bravo.. bravo.. but I must ask.. how long do you think you took to come up with this typed response? That's my only worry.. is that it'll take me a little longer than a minute or two to come up with something that is a valid solution while also addressing the concerns I have with the alternative viewpoint (while expressing my understanding of this side coherently). It kind of reminds me of CASPer, but at least with CASPer, you could ramble on a little before finally getting to your point. I wouldn't want to ramble in front of an interviewer.
So when you practice enough MMI questions, you start to see the trends. There are only so many things they can ask about. There are personal questions that you'd get in a formal interview, there are ethical situations that one might encounter outside of medicine (classmate cheating, co-worker stealing, being faced with the decision to cover for someone who had an excuse for doing something "wrong," etc.), and then there are ethical situations inside the medical field.
They shouldn't expect you to be 100% aware of all the actual laws--after all, you learn those in medical school. But you should have a basic awareness of them in regards to issues like assisted suicide, court-ordering the treatment of minors, the right to refuse treatment, and the rights of the doctor to refuse to provide certain treatments in your state.
Eventually, you come up with an algorithm for approaching these problems. Read through the health news sections on various news outlets, and practice articulating your thoughts on each issue as it comes up.
Think about the 10-year-old girl in 2017 who became pregnant after being raped by her uncle in India, and the court proceedings that followed about whether or not she should be granted a late-term abortion. Consider both sides of the case--if the girl didn't know she was pregnant, should she be given the opportunity to voice an opinion about whether or not she gives birth? If the fetus is already viable when the pregnancy is discovered, does that change the ethics of the abortion procedure? When the pregnancy is a result of incest as opposed to rape by a non-relative, does that change things? etc.
And keep in mind, it's perfectly OK to not have a definitive answer by the end. It's OK to talk about what comes to mind for a while and then say that you would have to do more research before reaching a final decision, or consult the hospital ethics board and your colleagues before making a decision. In fact, sometimes it shows maturity to give a non-answer when faced with a decision based on incomplete info.
They're not looking for someone who knows all the laws, rules, and can make an instantly correct decision (of course that's nice, but it's not realistic); they're looking for someone mature enough to consider all the sides, and be open to receiving new information (often MMI questions will "shake things up" and introduce new information that could change your decision in a second part of the question).
Once you go over enough questions, you'll learn to think on your feet well enough to be OK with a variety of MMI questions. It might seem daunting at first, but once you learn how to think the way they want you to, it's really not so bad.
Very useful, thank you! I'll take a look at some common medical ethical dilemmas and practice walking through the logic. Super helpful, many thanks.