Physician: Specialty Training Interview Questions Australia
The physician 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
- 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 →
- The What it is in a sentence, Why it matters with a fact, What it means for this organisation and specialty, What I would do at my level and how I would measure it. 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 →
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 head of department
Why do you want to do basic physician training, and why this network?
Evidence of the choice: the medical terms, the acute take, the audit, the exam started. Then the network: its hospitals, its rural sites, its teaching, its reputation, in terms that show homework. Avoid the answer that fits any network.
- Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the staff specialist colleague
What are the qualities of a good BPT, and what do you understand the role of a BPT to be?
The qualities: safe, organised, communicates well, leads the ward team, teaches, studies. The role: the medical registrar who runs the ward team, leads the acute take after hours, teaches juniors, talks to families and studies for two sets of examinations. Say which parts you are ready for and which you will find hard.
- Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the head of department
What do you have to offer our BPT programme?
Two or three concrete things: an audit skill, teaching experience, a language, rural experience, reliability on a roster. For each, say how the programme would benefit. This is a selection criterion; answer it like one.
- Often askedUsually asked by the staff specialist colleague
What do you know about the RACP basic training programme, the written and clinical examinations, and what will be required of you?
The structure, the written and clinical examinations and when they fall, the supervision and assessment requirements, the rural and subspecialty terms. Two accurate sentences, then how you would fit the examinations around a full roster.
- Often askedUsually asked by the head of department
This programme requires at least three months in a rural location. How do you feel about that?
What you would bring to the rural site and what you would learn there. Rural experience if you have it. Constraints handled honestly. The answer that fails is bare willingness.
- Often askedUsually asked by the staff specialist colleague
What are your longer term plans in physician training?
A specialty with reasons from what you have seen, with openness about how training may change it. The panel wants direction, not certainty.
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 are a first term BPT. Your supervisor is hard to approach, often unavailable, and makes decisions you do not always agree with. How do you manage this professionally?
Patient safety first: if a decision is unsafe you act on it regardless. Then a direct and respectful approach: ask for regular meetings, raise disagreements as questions, reflect on whether the problem is availability or clinical judgement. Then the channels: the supervisor of training and the director of physician education. Keep your own conduct impeccable throughout.
You are the registrar for a patient from a non English speaking background with end stage myeloma and severe pain. The family refuse opioids, fearing they will hasten death. How do you approach this?
The patient's wishes first through a professional interpreter and in private. Explore the family's fear without arguing, explain plainly that appropriate doses relieve pain without shortening life, bring in palliative care and a cultural or religious liaison, and find the option the family can accept. Say what you would do if they still refused and the patient wanted treatment.
A patient with capacity refuses treatment for a life threatening condition. How do you proceed?
Confirm capacity, make sure the refusal is informed, explore the reasons, offer alternatives, involve the consultant and the family if the patient wishes, document, and respect the decision while leaving the door open. Say what changes if capacity is in doubt.
An intern on your team made a prescribing error that reached the patient. How do you handle it, including open disclosure?
The patient first: assess and treat any harm. Then the intern told without blame, the incident reported, open disclosure with the patient led by your senior, and the intern supported. Say what you would change to stop it recurring.
A patient's family ask you not to tell them their diagnosis. What do you do?
The information is the patient's and the duty is to them. Explore the family's reasons, explain that you cannot withhold a diagnosis the patient wants to know, find out what the patient wants to know, and involve the consultant. Say what changes if the patient has said they do not want to know.
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 68 year old man on the ward has a temperature of 39, a heart rate of 120 and a blood pressure of 85 over 50. Talk us through your assessment and management.
- Follow-up: Hand this patient over to the consultant by phone. | SBAR
Sepsis: the sepsis bundle within the hour, cultures before antibiotics, fluids with reassessment, the lactate, the source sought, the consultant called. When the pressure does not respond, intensive care. Then the ISBAR phone call to the consultant with how unwell the patient is, what you have done and what you want.
A 24 year old with type 1 diabetes presents with vomiting, a glucose of 28 and ketones of 5. Walk us through your management and its complications.
Diabetic ketoacidosis: fluids first, a fixed rate insulin infusion, potassium replacement guided by the level, monitoring of glucose, ketones and gas, the cause sought, the consultant told. The complications: hypokalaemia, hypoglycaemia, cerebral oedema in the young, fluid overload in the old. Say how you would avoid each.
A patient on the ward has a potassium of 6.9. What do you do?
Treat the heart first: an ECG, calcium for the membrane, insulin and dextrose to shift the potassium, a nebulised beta agonist, then the cause and the removal, with cardiac monitoring and the consultant told. Say what would make you call the renal team.
A 75 year old woman presents with sudden left sided weakness that began 90 minutes ago. What do you do?
The stroke pathway: time of onset confirmed, the stroke team called, the CT now, the glucose, the thrombolysis decision within the window, and thrombectomy considered with transfer if the hospital cannot provide it. Say what would exclude thrombolysis.
A man with COPD is drowsy with a saturation of 94 on high flow oxygen. What are your concerns?
Hypercapnia from oxygen until proven otherwise: a gas now, controlled oxygen to target saturations, nebulisers and steroids, antibiotics if infected, and the consultant called because this patient may need non invasive ventilation. Say what would make you call intensive care.
A patient on the ward is acutely confused overnight. How do you assess and manage them?
Assess for the cause: infection, drugs, pain, retention, constipation, hypoxia, metabolic. Observations, examination, the drug chart, bloods, a glucose. Treat the cause, keep the patient safe without sedation if possible, involve the senior. Say what you would tell the nurses to watch for.
A 55 year old presents with chest pain and ST elevation. Talk us through management in a hospital without a cath lab.
ST elevation infarct without a cath lab: thrombolysis within the window unless contraindicated, aspirin and the second antiplatelet, analgesia, monitoring, the cardiology advisory line and the retrieval service for transfer. Say what would exclude thrombolysis and what you would do if it failed.
A patient with pneumonia has a creatinine that has doubled since admission. How do you approach this?
Acute kidney injury: the cause sought, nephrotoxins stopped, fluids guided by assessment, a bladder scan, bloods and urine checked, the consultant told. Say what would make you call the renal team.
System knowledge
Know the programme's requirements in detail. Name three current pressures and link each to your specialty. Be able to explain clinical governance and the standards most relevant to your work in a sentence each.
What is the role of the medical registrar after hours in this hospital, and who supports you?
The senior decision maker for the medical patients after hours: leads the take, reviews the sick, supports the juniors, decides on escalation and goals of care, and calls the consultant with a plan. Say who supports you: the consultant on call, intensive care, the medical emergency team.
What are the main pressures on general medicine in Australian public hospitals at the moment?
Three pressures linked to what you have seen: access block and the medical registrar after hours, the ageing population and chronic disease, workforce, the shift of care to the community. Say what a registrar can do about one.
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.
How would you teach interns and students on a busy medical unit?
On the ward round, at handover, in protected sessions, with feedback that is specific and timely. One example of teaching you have done and how you knew it worked.
Guides
How to answer what they actually ask
Basic physician training interview questions every panel asks
The questions that recur in RACP basic physician training selection across the networks, with the clinical scenario and situational judgement question most networks use, and what the panel scores.
BPT selection by network: structured panel or MMI, and how to prepare for each
Basic physician training selection differs by network. Which use a structured panel with a clinical scenario and situational judgement question, which use a multiple mini interview, and how the preparation changes.
The difficult supervisor and the family refusing opioids: answering the BPT situational questions
Two situational judgement scenarios appear in basic physician training interviews more than any other. How to structure each answer so it scores on professionalism, communication and patient safety.