General surgery: Specialty Training Interview Questions Australia
The general 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 24 October 2026
The structures these questions are marked on
- 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 →
- 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.
- Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the staff specialist colleague
Why general surgery, and what have you done to prepare yourself for SET?
Why general surgery in terms of the work, with evidence: the surgical terms, the theatre time, the courses, the generic surgical sciences examination if sat, the research. Then what you have done on purpose to prepare for SET, each with what it taught you.
- Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the head of department
What do you understand by the RACS competencies, and which do you find hardest to demonstrate?
Name them: medical expertise, judgement and clinical decision making, technical expertise, professionalism, communication, collaboration, management and leadership, health advocacy, scholarship and teaching, cultural competence and safety. Say which you find hardest to demonstrate honestly and what you are doing about it.
- Often askedUsually asked by the staff specialist colleague
What do you know about the SET programme, its examinations and the rotations you will do?
The length, the examinations and when they fall, the rotations including rural, the logbook and the assessments. Two accurate sentences, then how you would fit the examinations around a surgical roster.
- Often askedUsually asked by the head of department
What would you bring to a rural surgical rotation, and what would you get from it?
What you would bring to a rural rotation and what you would learn there: the breadth, the autonomy, the relationship with the rural generalists. Rural experience if you have it. Constraints handled honestly.
Leadership and teamwork
One specific example per question, your actions and the outcome clear, a line of reflection. Include what the nurses or allied health staff contributed. Show you can follow as well as lead.
You are the surgical registrar. The theatre list is overbooked, the consultant is in clinic, and the anaesthetist is refusing to start a case they think is unsafe. What do you do?
Patient safety means you do not pressure the anaesthetist. Find out the concern, address what can be addressed, phone the consultant with the situation and a proposal, and reorganise the list: which cases must happen today, which can be rescheduled, who tells the patients. Say that you would speak to the cancelled patients yourself.
Tell us about a time you led a team through a difficult situation on the ward or in theatre.
A real example where you led: an emergency before the senior arrived, a ward in chaos, a theatre list reorganised. What you decided, how you communicated it, the outcome, and what you would do differently.
A junior doctor on your team is not coping and patients are being affected. What do you do?
Patient safety first: cover what is outstanding. Then speak to the junior privately and early, find out what is going on, help with the workload, and involve their supervisor if it continues or there is a wellbeing concern. Say how you would make them feel supported.
Describe a conflict with a senior surgeon and how you handled it.
A real disagreement, how you raised it respectfully, what the outcome was and how the relationship was afterwards. Avoid conflicts where you were plainly right; the panel wants to see how you handle disagreement with someone who outranks you.
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 witness a consultant surgeon shouting at and belittling a trainee in theatre. What do you do?
In the moment, if the patient or the trainee is at risk, something calm that lowers the temperature. Afterwards, the trainee supported, and the reporting route, because this is bullying under the college's and the hospital's policies. Say what you would do if the consultant were your own supervisor.
A patient's wound dehisced after an operation you assisted on and you believe a technical error was made. What do you do, including open disclosure?
The patient's care first. Then honesty: tell the consultant what you observed, take part in open disclosure, present at morbidity and mortality. Do not speculate to the family about blame. The panel is testing whether you will speak up about a senior's error.
A patient with capacity refuses an operation you believe they need. How do you proceed?
Confirm capacity, make sure the refusal is informed, explore the reasons, offer alternatives, involve the consultant, document, and respect the decision while leaving the door open. Say what changes if the operation is life saving and capacity is in doubt.
You are asked to consent a patient for a procedure you have never seen. What do you do?
You do not. Consent requires understanding the procedure, its risks and its alternatives. Explain why to whoever asked, find someone who can, and say how you would learn the procedure for next time.
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: asking about cultural needs, involving the Aboriginal liaison officer early, family involvement in consent and decisions, flexibility about discharge, interpreters, and awareness that hospitals have been unsafe places for many Aboriginal people. One example makes it real.
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 70 year old presents with abdominal distension, vomiting and no bowel motion for three days. Talk us through your assessment and management.
- Follow-up: The CT shows a closed loop obstruction. What now?
Resuscitate, nasogastric tube, catheter, bloods and a gas for the lactate, the CT, and the consultant called with the question of theatre tonight. When the CT shows a closed loop, it is theatre now: the consultant, the anaesthetist, the consent with the patient. Say what you would tell the patient and the family.
A 45 year old woman presents with right upper quadrant pain, fever and jaundice. What is your approach?
- Follow-up: She becomes hypotensive on the ward overnight. What do you do?
Biliary sepsis: resuscitate, antibiotics, bloods including liver function and clotting, the ultrasound, and the question of cholangitis needing urgent decompression. When she is hypotensive overnight, it is septic shock: the sepsis bundle, intensive care, the consultant, and the decision about urgent drainage or theatre.
A 25 year old is brought in after a stabbing to the left chest with a blood pressure of 80. Lead the primary survey and management.
The trauma call, the primary survey, two large bore cannulas and blood, the massive transfusion protocol, a chest drain if there is a haemothorax, the cardiothoracic or general surgical consultant now, and the theatre or thoracotomy decision. Say what would make you call for the thoracotomy.
A patient three days after a right hemicolectomy has a heart rate of 130, a temperature of 38.5 and abdominal pain. What do you do?
Sepsis until proven otherwise: the sepsis bundle, the thought of the anastomotic leak, the CT, and the early call because this patient may need theatre or intensive care. Say what you would do if the consultant were two hours away.
A 30 year old woman at 20 weeks pregnant presents with right iliac fossa pain. How do you assess and manage her?
Appendicitis until proven otherwise, with the obstetric team involved from the start. The ultrasound first, the discussion about further imaging and theatre with the consultant, and the recognition that delay harms both patient and baby. Say what you would tell her.
An 80 year old with dementia from a nursing home presents with a perforated viscus. How do you approach the decision to operate, and who do you involve?
The decision to operate is a conversation: the patient's baseline and frailty, what they would have wanted, the family and the nursing home, the consultant and the anaesthetist, and whether an operation is in the patient's interests. Say that you would be comfortable with palliation if that is the decision and how you would deliver it.
A patient has a massive upper GI bleed and the endoscopist cannot control it. What do you do?
Resuscitate, the massive transfusion protocol, the Sengstaken or Minnesota tube if variceal, interventional radiology for embolisation, and theatre with the consultant if neither controls it. Say what you would tell the family and that the decision is time critical.
Governance, safety and quality
The problem, the measure, the change, the result and whether it lasted, with your own contribution clear. Know your hospital's incident system and what happens after a report.
Tell us about a surgical audit or QI project you have done and what changed as a result.
The problem, the standard, the measure, what you changed, the result and whether it lasted. Be clear about your own part. Numbers make this answer.
How should a wrong site surgery be handled from theatre to the executive?
Stop, treat the patient, open disclosure, the incident reported as a sentinel event, support the staff, the review and the learning: the time out, the site marking, the checklist. Say the registrar's role at each step and that the executive hears about every sentinel event.
Teaching and research
One teaching example with evidence it worked. Be honest about research. Have a credible plan for exam preparation that fits a full time roster.
Tell us about your research and how it relates to surgery.
Your role, the question, what it found, and what you learned about the process. Honesty about your contribution. If it was small, say what it taught you and what you would do next.