Communication: RMO and Registrar Interview Questions Australia
Effective communication with a patient or family in a difficult situation, handover, interpreters and documentation.
Updated 26 October 2026
How to answer
One real conversation stepped through. Practise ISBAR until it is automatic. For interpreters, a professional service, never a family member for anything clinical. Say why documentation matters and how you keep it useful.
Frameworks: SPIKES for difficult conversations; ISBAR for handover
- SBAR Situation: who the patient is and the one line problem, Background: the relevant history, Assessment: what you think is going on and how unwell they are, Recommendation: what you want the senior to do and when. Full guide →
- STAR Situation in a sentence, Task: what you had to do, Action: what you did in the first person, Result: the outcome with a number where there is one. Add Reflection for STARR. Full guide →
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.
- Often askedUsually asked by the staff specialist colleagueSPIKES
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.