Question bank

What qualities make a good doctor, and which do you think is the most important?

What do you think are the biggest downsides of a career in medicine, and how would you cope with them?

Where do you see yourself in ten to fifteen years, and what do you know about the path to get there?

Why do you want to be a doctor?

Why have you applied to this medical school?

If you want to care for patients, why not become a nurse or a physician assistant instead?

Tell me about your work experience. What did you learn from it?

What has your volunteering or caring experience taught you about yourself?

Tell me about a patient or person you met during your experience who has stayed with you.

You haven't been able to shadow doctors in a hospital. How can you be sure medicine is right for you?

Did you see anything during your work experience that you thought could have been done better?

Describe a time you showed leadership. Why is leadership important for doctors?

Tell me about a time you faced a significant setback. How did you deal with it?

Tell me about a time you worked in a team that faced a problem. What was your role, and what did you learn?

What is the difference between empathy and sympathy? Give an example of when you showed empathy.

What is your greatest weakness?

Tell me about a mistake you have made. What did you do about it?

Tell me about a time you disagreed with someone you were working with. How did you resolve it?

A fellow medical student posts a photo on Instagram from their hospital placement. A patient's name is visible on a whiteboard in the background. What would you do?

A 34-year-old woman who is a Jehovah's Witness has lost a lot of blood after childbirth. She is refusing a blood transfusion, which her doctors believe is necessary to save her life. What should the doctors do?

A patient recently diagnosed with epilepsy tells his GP that he is still driving to work every day because he can't afford to lose his job. What should the GP do?

Parents of a one-year-old tell the practice nurse they do not want their child to have the MMR vaccine because they have read it can cause autism. How should this be handled?

The UK now uses an 'opt-out' system for organ donation. Is this ethical?

You are a medical student on placement. You notice that a junior doctor you are working with smells strongly of alcohol at the start of a morning shift. What would you do?

A 15-year-old girl comes to see her GP alone asking for the contraceptive pill. She says she has a 16-year-old boyfriend and does not want her parents to know. What should the GP do?

An elderly woman has been diagnosed with advanced cancer. Her son asks the doctor not to tell her, saying the news would 'destroy her'. What should the doctor do?

One donor liver is available. Two patients need it: a 45-year-old with liver failure caused by alcohol, and a 45-year-old whose liver failure is caused by a genetic condition. Who should get it?

Should assisted dying be legal in the UK?

What are the values of the NHS, and which one do you think is most important?

Artificial intelligence is increasingly used in healthcare. Will AI replace doctors?

Should the government tax unhealthy food to tackle obesity?

What are health inequalities, and what can doctors do about them?

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the NHS at the moment?

Resident doctors in England have taken strike action over pay and training posts. Is it ever right for doctors to strike?

There has been a lot of debate about the role of physician associates in the NHS. What do you understand about this, and what is your view?

How do vaccines work, and what is herd immunity?

Roughly how many times will your heart beat in your lifetime?

We can live perfectly well with one kidney. So why do we have two?

Why are bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, and what can be done about it?

Why are most cells so small? Can you think of any exceptions, and how do they cope?

Why do we get a temperature when we have an infection? Is it a good thing?

A newspaper headline says 'Coffee drinkers more likely to get lung cancer'. What questions would you ask about the research behind it, and how would you design a study to find out the truth?

Is a virus alive?

Why do people become breathless when they climb a high mountain? How does the body adapt if they stay there?

Elephants have far more cells than humans, yet they don't seem to get cancer more often. Why might that be surprising, and how might you explain it?

Role-play: explain to a 10-year-old recently diagnosed with asthma what asthma is and how to use their two inhalers.

Role-play: a 7-year-old is frightened about having a blood test. Help them understand what will happen.

Role-play: a patient has stopped taking their blood pressure tablets. Find out why and discuss it with them.

Role-play: calm an angry relative in the Emergency Department.

Role-play: tell your friend that you have lost the laptop they lent you.

Role-play: your friend has seemed withdrawn and has stopped coming to lessons. Talk to them.

Calculate the dose and volume of medicine for a child, and check whether it is within the daily maximum.

Calculate the rate of an intravenous fluid infusion.

A drug advert claims it 'halves the risk of heart attack'. What does that actually mean for a patient?

Interpret this data on childhood vaccine uptake and discuss what it might mean.

A new screening test is 90% sensitive and 95% specific. If a person tests positive, how likely are they to have the disease?

How would your friends describe you — and what would they say is your most annoying habit?

Sell me this pen.

How would you describe the colour yellow to someone who has been blind from birth?

If you were Health Secretary for a day, what one change would you make to the NHS?

What do you think is the most important advance in the history of medicine?

Do you have any questions for us?

Prepare three good questions you could ask at the end of an interview, and explain why each is a good one.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us that we haven't asked about?