Clinical scenario: RMO and Registrar Interview Questions Australia
The post operative patient with chest pain and breathlessness, the collapse in emergency, the patient who triggers a clinical review call. The scenario is usually in two parts: the call, then what you find.
Updated 26 October 2026
How to answer
Go to see the patient, assess with ABCDE, treat what you can, escalate early with a clear ISBAR, and know what an RMO does alone and what they do not. A safe answer that asks for help early scores well.
Frameworks: SAFER, with ABCDE inside Assess and ISBAR for the handover at Escalate
- SAFER See the patient, Assess systematically with ABCDE, Fix what you can and decide, Escalate with a clear request in SBAR or ISBAR, Review: the patient told, the handover, the documentation and what you would do if the first plan failed. Full guide →
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.