Plastic and reconstructive surgery: Specialty Training Interview Questions Australia
The plastic and reconstructive 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 28 October 2026
The structures these questions are marked on
- 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 →
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 plastic and reconstructive surgery, and what have you done to prepare for SET?
Evidence: the plastics terms, the trauma and burns and reconstruction experience, the microsurgery course, the examination, the research, the audit. Say what each taught you and which area draws you.
- Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the head of department
What do you know about the plastic surgery SET programme, its examinations, the rotations and the research requirement?
The length, the rural rotations, the examinations, the logbook, the research requirement, the burns and hand and head and neck and microsurgery exposure. Two accurate sentences, then what will be hardest.
- Often askedUsually asked by the staff specialist colleague
Plastic surgery has a large private cosmetic sector. What is your view of it and where do you see yourself practising?
A measured answer: the reconstructive work as the specialty's core, the place of cosmetic practice, the college's position on standards, and your own intention with honesty. The panel selects for reconstructive commitment.
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 presents with a burn covering the chest and both arms after a house fire. Talk us through your management.
The trauma call and the primary survey with the airway assessed for inhalation injury, the burn area estimated, the fluids by the formula with the catheter and the urine output, the analgesia, the escharotomy considered for circumferential burns, the wound care, and the burns unit referral and transfer by the criteria. Say what would make you intubate early.
A patient presents with an open tibial fracture with a large soft tissue defect. What is the plastic surgeon's role?
The combined orthoplastic approach: the assessment of the defect and the vascularity, the debridement with the orthopaedic team, the timing of coverage within the standard, the flap options, and the photographs and the documentation. Say what you would do in a regional hospital.
A patient after a free flap reconstruction has a flap that is dusky and congested on the ward. What do you do?
A flap emergency: the flap assessed with the checks the unit uses, the dressings and the position addressed, the consultant now, and theatre for exploration without delay because the flap's survival is measured in hours. Say what you would tell the patient.
A patient presents with a hand laceration from a knife with loss of finger flexion. What do you do?
The examination documented for each tendon and nerve and the vascular status, the X ray for foreign body, the wound cleaned and dressed, the antibiotics and tetanus, and the exploration and repair in theatre under the right conditions with the hand team. Say what you would tell the patient about recovery.
A child presents with a dog bite to the face. What do you do?
The wound assessed and photographed, the irrigation and the debridement, the antibiotics and the tetanus and the rabies consideration if relevant, the repair under the right anaesthetic for a child, the facial nerve and the duct checked, and the conversation with the parents about scarring and the follow up. The child protection question if the account does not fit.
A patient presents with a rapidly spreading cellulitis of the leg with pain out of proportion. What do you do?
Necrotising soft tissue infection until proven otherwise: the sepsis bundle, antibiotics, the surgeons now, and theatre for debridement without delay for imaging. Say what you would tell the patient and the family.
A patient presents with a melanoma on the back and a palpable axillary node. What do you do?
The staging, the biopsy of the node, the multidisciplinary team, the wide excision and the node dissection decision by the staging, the medical oncology involvement, and the honest conversation. Say what you would tell the patient about the prognosis.
A patient with a pressure injury on the sacrum in a spinal unit is referred for reconstruction. How do you approach it?
The whole patient: the nutrition, the pressure relief, the infection and the osteomyelitis, the continence, the social situation, and the honesty that reconstruction fails without the rest addressed. The flap chosen by the defect and the patient's future. The multidisciplinary 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 are the biggest challenges facing plastic surgery in Australian public hospitals, and how do they affect training?
The public reconstructive waiting lists against the private cosmetic sector, the burns units and their distribution, the trauma load in regional hospitals, the skin cancer burden, the workforce, and the effect on training. Link each to what you have seen.