Cardiothoracic surgery: Registrar Interview Questions Australia
The cardiothoracic surgery questions that sit on top of the specialty training core: clinical scenarios, the system and governance questions specific to the specialty, and presentation titles.
Updated 7 November 2026
The structures these questions are marked on
- CAMP Clinical experience, Academic work including audit, research and teaching, Management and leadership roles, Personal: who you are as a colleague and what you will find hard. For the CV walkthrough. Full guide →
- ETHICS Establish the facts and capacity, Think through the four pillars and name the tension, Hear the other side fairly, Identify two or three options, Choose a patient centred action with the next step, Safeguard and document. Full guide →
- 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 →
Motivation
Evidence of commitment over enthusiasm: rotations, courses, audits, exams sat. Know the programme's stages, exams and rural requirements. Say what you would bring to a rural site, not just that you are willing to go.
Why Cardiothoracic, and what have you done to prepare for cardiothoracic SET?
Evidence over enthusiasm: the rotations, the cases, the courses, the research and audit, each with what it taught you. Say what you understand the work of a cardiothoracic surgeon to be, including the parts that are hard.
What do you know about the Cardiothoracic SET programme, its rotations, its examinations and what selection requires?
The length, the rotations including rural, the examinations, the logbook and research requirements, and the selection tools and their weightings. Two accurate sentences, then what will be hardest for you.
What would you do if you were not selected this year?
A calm plan that strengthens the next application: the unaccredited post, the research, the course, the referees. The question tests whether your commitment survives a setback.
Ethics and professionalism
For the supervisor, stay professional, use the supervisor of training and the college channels, and keep patients safe. Define cultural safety as the patient's experience and give your own actions. Know mandatory notification and open disclosure.
You see a consultant shout at and belittle a junior in theatre. What do you do?
Patient and junior safety in the moment, a calm intervention if needed, support for the junior afterwards, and the reporting route under the college's and the hospital's policies. Say what you would do if the consultant were your own supervisor.
How do you provide culturally safe surgical care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients?
Define it as the patient's experience, then your actions: the Aboriginal liaison officer early, family in consent and decisions, flexibility about discharge and follow up closer to home. One example if you have one.
Your unit's mortality is reported publicly. How do you feel about outcome reporting for individual surgeons?
A balanced view: transparency and patient trust against risk aversion and case mix. Say how risk adjustment and team based reporting address the concerns.
Clinical scenario
Systematic assessment, treat what you can, escalate early and clearly even when the consultant is distant, use retrieval and telehealth where they apply, and say what you would do afterwards. A safe answer that asks for help beats a clever one that does not.
A patient becomes hypotensive four hours after cardiac surgery with rising drain output. What do you do?
Bleeding or tamponade: the drain output and the trend, the clotting corrected, the echo, the consultant now, and the decision to return to theatre or reopen in the unit. Say the signs of tamponade.
A patient arrives with tearing chest pain radiating to the back and unequal arm pressures. What do you do?
Aortic dissection until proven otherwise: blood pressure and heart rate control, the CT angiogram, and for type A the cardiothoracic consultant and theatre now. Say what you would avoid giving.
A patient develops new atrial fibrillation with a rapid rate on day two after cardiac surgery. What is your approach?
Assess stability, correct electrolytes, rate or rhythm control, anticoagulation decided against bleeding risk, and the consultant informed. Unstable means cardioversion.
A patient has a large air leak and an expanding pneumothorax after a lung resection. What do you do?
The drain checked, a second drain or suction, the imaging, and the consultant. Consider a bronchopleural fistula and return to theatre.
A penetrating chest injury arrives with a blood pressure of 70 and distended neck veins. What do you do?
Tamponade or tension until proven otherwise: the primary survey, decompression or pericardial drainage, the trauma team, and the thoracotomy decision with the consultant.