Communication: Specialty Training Interview Questions
Communication is scored inside clinical scenarios and asked directly through a difficult conversation or a handover. The handover is often a separate scored item.
Updated 26 October 2026
How to answer
Describe one real conversation and step through it. Practise a handover in SBAR until it is automatic: situation, background, assessment, recommendation, with what you want the senior to do stated plainly.
Frameworks: SPIKES for difficult conversations; SBAR 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 →
- Asked in most interviewsUsually asked by the consultant colleague in the specialtySPIKES
Tell us about a difficult conversation you have had with a patient or relative.
One real conversation stepped through with SPIKES: the setting, what they already knew, what they wanted to know, how you gave the information, how you responded to the emotion, and the plan. Say what you would do differently.
How do you hand over a sick patient to a senior colleague?
SBAR in about forty seconds: who the patient is and the one line problem, the relevant background, your assessment of how unwell they are, and what you want the senior to do, stated plainly. Practise it until it is automatic.
Tell us about a time your communication prevented a problem.
An example where structured communication avoided harm: a handover that caught a missed result, a read back on a drug dose, a conversation that defused a complaint. Say what you did differently from the norm.
How do you adapt your communication for a frightened patient, or one who does not speak English?
Slow down, sit down, plain words, small pieces, check understanding with teach back. For a patient who does not speak English, a professional interpreter and never a family member for anything clinical. One example makes it real.
Tell us about a time you had to give difficult feedback or raise a concern with someone senior.
A real example where you raised a concern upwards, how you prepared, what you said, and the outcome. Panels score the courage and the method: private, factual, patient focused, and escalated if ignored.