PA job interview- will they ask medical questions

[PAnewgrad0909]

Hey everyone! 

 

So I have an interview scheduled for tomorrow for an urgent care position.  This is my first interview since graduating PA school.  I feel prepared to answer general questions but am nervous they are going to ask medical questions.  I believe I'm a competent provider but I get very very nervous during interviews and am scared they are going to give me a scenario or ask me questions and I'm going to blank.  Is it typical for most interviewers to ask this? Many of my classmates said they were not asked medical questions but I just wanted to ask other new graduates or experienced PAs.  Thank you! 

[MCHAD]

Asked about experience and how I would handle a stressful situation yes, had to answer a question like what antibiotic would you use etc no

[Hckyplyr]

4 hours ago, PAnewgrad0909 said:

Hey everyone! 

 

So I have an interview scheduled for tomorrow for an urgent care position.  This is my first interview since graduating PA school.  I feel prepared to answer general questions but am nervous they are going to ask medical questions.  I believe I'm a competent provider but I get very very nervous during interviews and am scared they are going to give me a scenario or ask me questions and I'm going to blank.  Is it typical for most interviewers to ask this? Many of my classmates said they were not asked medical questions but I just wanted to ask other new graduates or experienced PAs.  Thank you! 

How do you feel you're a competent provider when you just graduated PA school? No, they will not ask medical questions. Good luck

[newton9686]

2 hours ago, Hckyplyr said:

How do you feel you're a competent provider when you just graduated PA school? No, they will not ask medical questions. Good luck

I'm 3 months out from graduating PA school and I feel as though I am a competent provider. I don't know everything. But I've seen a lot of it and what I have not seen I have tried to read about. Thats the whole point of clinicals. By then end you hopefully have most of the experience necessary to be competent when you graduate. Are you on a equal level as someone 5 years out, no, but that doesnt mean you are not competent in your own right. 

[south]

This is rare, but happened to me once.  It was a field I enjoy very much and did my school elective in, so I think I swam okay.  I am the type of person that isn't bothered by saying I don't know, or long lapses in conversation.

Listen, I wouldn't worry about it.  They may be looking for how you handle yourself when you don't know the answer. I wouldn't guess.  Just say you don't remember and/or that studying for the board exam pushed useful knowledge out of your head and you anticipate a period of self-study.

[mmiller3]

You are more likely to be asked questions dealing with patient situations, i.e. how to handle an angry patient, how to achieve patient satisfaction, etc, than you are to be asked medical questions.

[camoman1234]

14 hours ago, newton9686 said:

I'm 3 months out from graduating PA school and I feel as though I am a competent provider. I don't know everything. But I've seen a lot of it and what I have not seen I have tried to read about. Thats the whole point of clinicals. By then end you hopefully have most of the experience necessary to be competent when you graduate. Are you on a equal level as someone 5 years out, no, but that doesnt mean you are not competent in your own right. 

Be careful with the word competent. Usually competence comes with time, but you can have someone with 20+ years experience that is not competent. 

[treejay]

2 hours ago, camoman1234 said:

Be careful with the word competent. Usually competence comes with time, but you can have someone with 20+ years experience that is not competent. 

While this is really mere semantics, I generally disagree.  One should got into practice on day 1 with competence.  I'm not suggesting anybody will go into practice day 1 seasoned and knowing much of their medical specialty knowledge set.  But competent in that you know your limits, and know what to do when you don't know something related to patient care. You know when things are more urgent, even if you don't know exactly how to manage it, you know where to go to have the job done.

I mean, I don't think it's OK to be practicing in an incompetent state.  A green provider is one thing.  They should know where to go for help when they need it (SP, referral, colleagues, etc).  To me, that still reflects competence.

[lancer_dancer01]

In the interview, I highly doubt they will ask you any specific questions. I did have one prospective job that told me they would do a mock patient appointment with me during the interview process but I ended up getting a different job so never went through it. 

[camoman1234]

37 minutes ago, treejay said:

While this is really mere semantics, I generally disagree.  One should got into practice on day 1 with competence.  I'm not suggesting anybody will go into practice day 1 seasoned and knowing much of their medical specialty knowledge set.  But competent in that you know your limits, and know what to do when you don't know something related to patient care. You know when things are more urgent, even if you don't know exactly how to manage it, you know where to go to have the job done.

I mean, I don't think it's OK to be practicing in an incompetent state.  A green provider is one thing.  They should know where to go for help when they need it (SP, referral, colleagues, etc).  To me, that still reflects competence.

I see your point and it is a great point, but the question was asked how do you know if your competent and that is a multifactorial answer. 

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

Yes, we do.  A short ten (?) question PC multiple choice questionnaire.  Ranges from current day treatment recommendations, ability to spot warning s/s, and knowledge of common organisms for common conditions.  You'd be surprised at how many basic questions are missed.  The sad thing is that many of these are providers who have been out at least a year and are providing care to others.

[thinkertdm]

You know what would be nifty, a standardized national test that would show we know the basics.  Perhaps with periodic education things I could do on my own time.  

Frankly, if someone brought out a test I would say thanks but no thanks- not because I feel it's beneath me, but because I feel I already have to constantly prove myself to patients, MDs, and with this latest job, fellow PAs.  

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

Speaking from the perspective of >30 years of experience, you will always be proving yourself to others that you interact with, just as I have to each and every day.

[Guest ral]

I have taken mini tests at a couple of interviews.  Most of the time, it is generalized, "Which antibiotic would you use for xxx?”  The problem as I see it, is that the answer list may include more than one appropriate answer.  For example, to ask for a "first line" drug for the treatment of certain illness, there are typically "either/or" medications available to us as guidelines for a standard of care.  To include both in the list of answers, is somewhat deceiving, if the interviewer is wanting one only.  I actually had this very conversation with a physician last year.  It came down to his observations of antibiograms from his region vs mine.

[Cideous]

On 9/21/2017 at 7:38 PM, Hckyplyr said:

How do you feel you're a competent provider when you just graduated PA school? No, they will not ask medical questions. Good luck

 

Not true.

 

CareNow a large UrgentCare/Family practice chain in DFW/Texas doesn't just ask medical questions, they make you take a medical competency test.  Like 50 full on write out answer test.  Not multiple choice.  Complete with EKG's, Derm, and other topics.  I found the questions to be annoyingly vague, yet with the expectation of very detailed answers.  So far they are the only ones I have ran into that did this, but as literally HOARDS of online trained NP's flood the field, get use to it.  I could easily see it as the norm in the next 5 years.

[sas5814]

CareNow is a scary bunch to me. I talked to one of their HR/recruiters several years ago. She showed me their polices about PAs it was YOU WILL NOT GO HOME UNLESS THE PHYSICIAN TELLS YOU TO..... YOU WILL HAVE THE PHYSICIAN READ ALL YOUR XRAYS...and on and on like that. It was a real "put you in your place" document. She asked what I earned last year...a question I hate and don't find relevant to THIS job and when I told her she said they don't offer half that and that, as they say, was that. I haven't heard much good about them since.

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

8 minutes ago, sas5814 said:

CareNow is a scary bunch to me. I talked to one of their HR/recruiters several years ago. She showed me their polices about PAs it was YOU WILL NOT GO HOME UNLESS THE PHYSICIAN TELLS YOU TO..... YOU WILL HAVE THE PHYSICIAN READ ALL YOUR XRAYS...and on and on like that. It was a real "put you in your place" document. She asked what I earned last year...a question I hate and don't find relevant to THIS job and when I told her she said they don't offer half that and that, as they say, was that. I haven't heard much good about them since.

I thought about moonlighting with them years back when I was on sabbatical based on the recommendation of an old classmate/friend.  They wanted to contact former employers/physicians.  When I explained that they were deceased/retired they didn't know how to respond.  Glad it never went any further.

[greenmood]

I was given a medical scenario involving the triage of three patients, based solely on information gathered from a nurse over the phone. The goal was not to test specific knowledge but rather to evaluate medical decision making and ability to think quickly.

Stressful. But now I'm on the other side of it. We still ask interviewees this question and it tells us a TON about how much work we would have to do to get them ready to work a shift by themselves with a very ill patient population.

[camoman1234]

3 hours ago, greenmood said:

I was given a medical scenario involving the triage of three patients, based solely on information gathered from a nurse over the phone. The goal was not to test specific knowledge but rather to evaluate medical decision making and ability to think quickly.

Stressful. But now I'm on the other side of it. We still ask interviewees this question and it tells us a TON about how much work we would have to do to get them ready to work a shift by themselves with a very ill patient population.

Let's here the question...

[greenmood]

On 10/2/2017 at 0:48 PM, camoman1234 said:

Let's here the question...

Next time we are hiring, you apply and you can hear the question. ?

[camoman1234]

19 hours ago, greenmood said:

Next time we are hiring, you apply and you can hear the question. ?

Haha...I am happy at my position, but thanks anyways. 

[DontBeTachy]

I'm a new grad and have gone to several interviews these past few months for positions in Urgent Care, EM, FM, and Gen Surg in a metropolitan area and have yet to be asked a specific medical question like which medication/imaging is indicated