RMO and Registrar Interview Questions Australia

Tell us about your experience and how it makes you a suitable candidate for this role.

Two minutes aimed at the role: the posts you have held, what you did in them, the acute experience, the procedures, and the skills that match this job. Newest first. Finish on why this role now.

What are your long term career goals, and why this hospital?

A credible path: the training programme you are aiming for, the exams, and what you want to have done in two years. Then this hospital: its services, its community, its training reputation, in terms that show you looked.

What strengths do you bring to this role, and what is one weakness you are working on?

A strength with an example that shows it, a real weakness with the step you are taking. Avoid the weakness that is a strength in disguise; panels have heard perfectionism before.

What qualities should a doctor at this level have? Which do you have, and which do you lack?

Name the qualities: safe, organised, communicates well, asks for help early, works with nurses, keeps learning, looks after themselves. Say which you can evidence and which you are still building. Honesty about the gap scores higher than claiming them all.

Why do you want to work in Australia, and why this health service?

Real reasons: the training structure, the breadth of experience, the system's values, the community, family. Then this hospital specifically: something you found out that fits you.

What do you know about this hospital and the community it serves?

Facts you checked: the hospital's size and services, the population it serves and its health needs, its role in the district. Then what that means for a resident here: the case mix, the rural referrals, the Aboriginal health services.

How will you adjust to working in the Australian health system?

Be honest that it takes effort, then show a plan: learning the systems and the vocabulary (ISBAR, the incident system, the escalation criteria), asking colleagues, using orientation, finding a mentor, and expecting to be slower at first.

Describe a situation where there was conflict between you and another member of the team.

STAR with your actions clear: what the conflict was about, what you did (early, in private, about the issue and the patient), the outcome and the relationship afterwards. Avoid conflicts where you were plainly right.

Describe a situation where you displayed leadership.

An example at your level where you took charge: a ward emergency before the senior arrived, a ward round, a project. What you decided, how you communicated it, and the outcome.

Describe a situation where you displayed teamwork.

A specific team, your role, what the team needed and what you provided, with the nurses or allied health staff named by role. A line on what you learned about teams.

A nurse complains that an intern is not attending calls and not doing their duties properly. What do you do?

Patient safety first: check the intern's patients and tasks are covered. Then find the intern, find out why, and help if they are overloaded or unwell. If it continues, tell the registrar or the term supervisor. Say what you would do if the intern was struggling personally.

How do you work with nursing and allied health staff?

With respect for their knowledge of the ward and the patients: ask their view, act on it, be reliable, thank them. One example of a nurse or physiotherapist who changed what you did.

Tell us about a time you supported a colleague who was struggling.

Noticed early, asked privately, found out what was going on, offered practical help, and involved the supervisor if needed. Say what happened.

Tell us about a time you noticed a problem on the ward and did something about it.

• Follow-up: Did the change last after you left the rotation?

A real problem, what you noticed, who you involved, what you changed and whether it lasted after you left the rotation. Small and real beats large and vague.

Describe a situation where you displayed effective communication skills.

One real conversation: what the person needed, how you adapted, what was hard, how it ended. Mention interpreter use and teach back if they applied.

How do you communicate with a patient or family who are upset with their care?

Listen first, acknowledge the feeling before the facts, apologise for the experience without prejudging what happened, explain what you are doing and what happens next, and involve a senior early. Know the complaints process.

How do you hand over patients at the end of a shift?

ISBAR for each patient, sickest first, face to face where possible, with the outstanding tasks and the triggers for calling back. Say that you use the hospital's handover tool and check the receiving doctor has understood.

A patient needs an interpreter and none is available right now. What do you do?

Use the telephone interpreting service while a face to face interpreter is arranged, simple words and gestures for anything urgent, never a family member for anything clinical, and document what was understood. Say what can wait until the interpreter arrives.

How would you break bad news to a patient?

SPIKES: the right setting, what they already know, what they want to know, the information in small pieces with a warning shot, the response to emotion, and the plan with a named contact. Say who you would want with you and that you would tell your senior first.

How do you make sure your documentation is clear and useful to the next person?

Structured, timed, legible, with the assessment and the plan clear, the outstanding tasks and who owns them, and the escalation triggers. Say why it matters: the next doctor, the night team, the discharge summary and the medicolegal record.

Describe an error you made in your practice and what you did to fix it.

Own a real error, say what you did at the time including telling the patient and your senior and reporting it, and what changed afterwards. The worst answer has no error in it.

Describe a situation where your consultant noticed you had made a mistake. How did you react?

How you felt, what you said, what you did about the mistake, and what you learned. Panels score the absence of defensiveness and the evidence of change. Thank the consultant in the story if it is true.

What does cultural safety mean to you, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients?

Define it as the patient's experience, not your intention: care the person feels is safe and respectful. Then your actions: asking about cultural needs, involving the Aboriginal liaison officer early, family involvement, flexibility about discharge and place of care. One example makes it real.

A nurse insists you give a medication to a patient you do not know, and you do not know the medication. What do you do?

Do not give it until you know what it is and have seen the patient. Look it up, check the indication and the dose, see the patient, ask the registrar if unsure. Explain the delay to the nurse respectfully; they are usually right that it is needed, and you are right to check.

A nurse tells you a patient was given antibiotics that were meant for another patient. What do you do?

Assess the patient for harm and treat it, tell your senior, report the incident, make sure the patient is told through open disclosure, and check the patient who was meant to receive the drug. Support the nurse. Say what you would do to stop it recurring.

What is open disclosure, and when is it needed?

An open discussion with the patient and family after an adverse event: what happened, an apology, what will be done. Required whenever there has been harm. Say who leads it, that your senior is involved, and that it is a process rather than one conversation.

What are this hospital's values, and how do you demonstrate them?

Name the values accurately, then one example per value from your own practice. Read them before the interview; getting them wrong costs more than not knowing them.

A nurse calls you about a patient two days after surgery who now has chest pain and is short of breath. What is your approach?

• Follow-up: On arrival they are tachycardic and hypoxic. What now?

Go now, ask for the observations on the way, ABCDE, oxygen, access, ECG, bloods and a gas, chest imaging, think of the embolus, the pneumonia and the infarct, treat what you find, and call the registrar early with ISBAR. When the patient is tachycardic and hypoxic, say what you would start before help arrives and what would make you call a rapid response.

You are the resident in emergency and a patient suddenly collapses. What do you do?

Call for help and the trolley, check responsiveness and breathing, start compressions if there is no pulse, follow the algorithm, allocate roles as the team arrives, and hand over to the team leader. Afterwards, the family, the documentation and the debrief.

When do you call for help, and how do you escalate?

Early: whenever the patient meets the escalation criteria, whenever you are unsure, whenever the plan is beyond your scope. By phone with ISBAR, stating what you want the senior to do, and a rapid response call if the patient is very unwell. Say you would rather call once too often.

A patient's observations trigger a clinical review call. Walk us through what you do when you arrive.

Arrive, ask for the observations and the chart, ABCDE, treat what you find, decide how unwell the patient is, and escalate with ISBAR to the registrar or call a rapid response if the criteria are met. Say what you would do while waiting and what you would document.

How do you prioritise when several wards are paging you at once?

Triage by acuity: ask each ward for the observations and the reason, see the sickest first, delegate what nurses can do, and escalate early for help with the rest. Say what you would tell the wards you cannot reach yet.

You are asked to do something outside your scope of practice. What do you do?

Say what the task is and that it is outside your scope, offer what you can safely do, and find the person who can do it. If the patient needs it now and no one else is available, do what is safe and escalate. Tell your senior either way.

A post operative patient has not passed urine for eight hours. What do you do?

Go and see the patient, check the catheter or bladder scan, assess fluid status and the observations, review the chart and the drugs, bloods, treat what you find, and escalate if the kidneys are at risk. Say what would make you worried about sepsis or bleeding.

What do you know about the Australian health system and how public hospitals work?

The structure in plain terms: Medicare and the public hospital system, the Commonwealth and the states, local health districts or networks, public and private hospitals, GPs as the front door. Mention AHPRA and the Medical Board as the regulators and the National Standards as the quality framework.

What is AHPRA, and what does your registration require of you?

The regulator for health practitioners, with the Medical Board setting the standards. Your registration requires you to practise within its conditions, meet CPD requirements, maintain professional conduct, and report as the mandatory notification rules require. Say what your current registration type is.

What is the role of a resident or registrar in this hospital, and who do you report to?

The resident manages the ward patients under the registrar, who leads the team under the consultant. Say who you report to clinically and for training, and when you would go straight to the consultant.

What are the main pressures on this hospital at the moment?

Three pressures you checked: access block and ramping, waiting lists, workforce, the funding dispute, the population's needs. Say how they would affect a resident on the wards.

What do you understand by clinical governance?

The system by which a hospital keeps care safe and improving: incident reporting and review, audit and M and M, open disclosure, credentialing and scope, accreditation against the National Standards. Give one example of each part you have taken part in.

Tell us about a quality improvement or audit activity you have taken part in.

The problem, the measure, what you changed, the result and whether it lasted. Be clear about your own part. However small, a real project with a number beats a large one you watched.

How would you report an incident, and what happens after you do?

Through the hospital's incident system, with the facts and no blame, as soon as possible. Then unit review, open disclosure if there was harm, and learning shared at M and M. Say that you would follow up what happened.

Tell us about a time you noticed a safety or quality problem and what you did about it.

A real example: what you noticed, who you told, what you did, and what changed. If nothing changed, say what you did about that.

How do you make sure handover is safe?

ISBAR, face to face, sickest first, the outstanding tasks and who owns them, the escalation triggers, and a check that the receiving doctor has understood. Say what you do about the patients you are worried about.

What teaching have you done, and how would you teach medical students and interns here?

What you taught, to whom, how you planned it, and how you knew it worked. Then how you would teach students and interns here: on the ward round, at handover, in small sessions. One example in depth.

What are your plans for college exams or training applications?

A specific plan: the college, the exam and when, the training application and its requirements, and what you are doing now to prepare. Panels want to see that you will progress.

Tell us about a time you learned from feedback.

The feedback, what you did with it, and the change. Say how you now seek feedback. Panels score the absence of defensiveness.