Interview Question Answer

[Schweet]

I have been pondering an interview question I had last year and I wonder your thoughts on what the correct answer would be.

The question was:

If your preceptor were to yell at you in your patient's room, with the patient present, how would you respond?

I answered something like, I would do the procedure as she asked and discuss it further with her at a later time.

Looking back I am wondering if that is what they were asking. The question was so vague. If I got the question again I think I would answer that it depends on what she was upset about. I would certainly not respond with anger. If I was doing something wrong I would correct it. If she was upset about something that I knew was wrong then I would ask if she would discuss it with me in the break room.

What do you guys think?

[blackhundred]

Number one, your preceptor should never yell at you, period. Number two, doing so in a patient's room is even more unacceptable. As a new hire, you're going to be somewhat timid, and that's understood. Everyone is. But the bottom line is that that patient will now have lost confidence in the team managing his or her care. Personally, I would have bit my tongue and addressed the issue outside of the patient's room. If it was a first occurrence, and we had a good conversation about it, I'd move on. But any recurrence would warrant going up the chain to deal with the preceptors inappropriate behavior.

Really, I think the manager wanted to see if you would try to handle it at the lowest level, or bring it up top immediately. The question alone makes me wonder the interviewers genuine motivation for the question at all. Just my thoughts.