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133 real interview questions for medical, PA, dental and other health programs, with sample answer outlines for 48 of them. Filter, open an answer, then practice it out loud.

133
questions: 48
sample answers: 3
formats: 11
programs

Ethical dilemma · MMI station · Patient safety8

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Competing duties with no perfect answer: consent, confidentiality, fairness.

EthicsIntermediateMMI station MD, DO, PA, Nursing, Residency
Before a shift, you notice your senior resident smells of alcohol. What do you do?
Professionalism · Patient safety
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Sample answer outline
1. State the priority: patient safety. If the resident may be impaired, they should not see patients until that is resolved.
2. Don't assume. Speak to them privately and calmly, say what you noticed, and ask how they are.
3. If the concern stands, tell the attending or supervisor before the shift starts. You don't need proof to raise a safety concern.
4. Show care for the colleague: impairment can signal illness or crisis. Point to physician health and support programs.
5. Acknowledge your position as a trainee and follow the hospital's reporting policy.
What makes it work
It balances safety, fairness and compassion instead of picking one.
Escalation is proportionate and quick, because patients are at stake.
Avoid
Saying nothing because they are senior.
Confronting them in front of the team.
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EthicsAdvancedMMI station MD, DO, PA, Nursing, Residency
A mother refuses a life-saving blood transfusion for her 4-year-old because of her religious beliefs. What do you do?
Autonomy and consent · Cultural humility · Patient safety
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Sample answer outline
1. The child's best interests come first. Parents' right to refuse has limits when a child's life is at risk.
2. Approach the mother with empathy, explore her beliefs and offer every acceptable alternative that is medically safe.
3. Involve the senior physician, ethics and the hospital's legal team early. Courts can authorize treatment.
4. In a true emergency, treat to save the child's life as the law allows.
5. Protect the relationship: this family will still care for the child afterward.
What makes it work
It shows exactly where autonomy ends: a parent deciding for a child.
It handles the family with compassion, not force alone.
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EthicsAdvancedMMI station MD, DO, PA
A 12-year-old asks you for birth control and begs you not to tell her parents. What do you do?
Confidentiality · Patient safety · Communication
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Sample answer outline
1. Notice the age. At 12, sexual activity is a safeguarding concern in most places, so the child's safety comes first.
2. Before she shares more, explain honestly what you can keep private and what you can't.
3. Talk gently and privately: who she is involved with, whether she feels safe, any signs of coercion or abuse.
4. Follow mandatory reporting duties where they apply, with your supervisor and child protection services.
5. Still meet her health needs: information, protection, and encouragement to involve a trusted adult.
What makes it work
It recognizes the safeguarding issue many applicants miss.
Being honest about the limits of confidentiality keeps her trust.
Avoid
Promising total secrecy.
Treating it like the same request from a 16-year-old.
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EthicsAdvancedMMI station MD, DO
A patient with severe depression and no terminal illness asks for medical assistance in dying. It's legal where you work. What do you do?
Autonomy and consent · Empathy · Patient safety
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Sample answer outline
1. Respond with compassion. Take the request seriously as an expression of suffering, and assess suicide risk now.
2. Assess capacity carefully: depression can affect decisions, but it does not automatically remove capacity.
3. Review treatment so far and offer the best available psychiatric care. Many jurisdictions require this before mental illness alone can qualify.
4. Follow the legal process: safeguards, independent assessments, waiting periods, multidisciplinary review.
5. Be open about your own values; if you object, refer without obstructing.
What makes it work
It treats the person, not just the request.
It shows you know the extra safeguards for mental illness.
Avoid
Dismissing the request outright, or approving it without assessment.
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EthicsIntermediateMMI station MD, DO, PA, Nursing, Residency
During rotations, you see one of your closest friends cover up a medical error they made with a patient. What do you do?
Integrity · Patient safety · Professionalism
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Sample answer outline
1. First check on the patient: are they at risk right now? If so, alert the team immediately.
2. Speak to your friend promptly and privately. Encourage them to disclose and offer to go with them.
3. If they won't, take it to your supervisor yourself. Patient safety outranks loyalty.
4. Acknowledge the pull of friendship and their fear, and point out that errors are reported to fix systems, not only to punish people.
What makes it work
It gives your friend the chance to do the right thing first.
Clear priorities: patient, honesty, then the friendship.
Avoid
Staying quiet to protect the friendship.
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EthicsAdvancedMMI station PA
As a PA, you notice your supervising physician seems impaired during a shift. What do you do?
Patient safety · Professionalism · Integrity
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How to approach ethical dilemma questions
1. Clarify the facts and what you would want to know before acting.
2. Name who is affected and the principles in tension: autonomy, doing good, avoiding harm, fairness, confidentiality.
3. Walk through realistic options, starting with the least drastic.
4. Choose a course of action, explain why, and say who you would involve.
We haven't written a sample answer for this one yet. Practice it out loud and the AI interviewer gives you feedback on your own answer.
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EthicsIntermediateMMI station Nursing, PA, MD, DO
A patient confides they stopped taking prescribed medications due to religious beliefs, but asks you not to tell the physician. Their condition is worsening. How do you respond?
Confidentiality · Autonomy and consent · Patient safety
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How to approach ethical dilemma questions
1. Clarify the facts and what you would want to know before acting.
2. Name who is affected and the principles in tension: autonomy, doing good, avoiding harm, fairness, confidentiality.
3. Walk through realistic options, starting with the least drastic.
4. Choose a course of action, explain why, and say who you would involve.
We haven't written a sample answer for this one yet. Practice it out loud and the AI interviewer gives you feedback on your own answer.
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EthicsAdvancedMMI station PT
A clinic owner tells you to let PTAs do most of your work so you can take on more evaluations. You know this is wrong. What do you do?
Integrity · Professionalism · Patient safety
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How to approach itHide
How to approach ethical dilemma questions
1. Clarify the facts and what you would want to know before acting.
2. Name who is affected and the principles in tension: autonomy, doing good, avoiding harm, fairness, confidentiality.
3. Walk through realistic options, starting with the least drastic.
4. Choose a course of action, explain why, and say who you would involve.
We haven't written a sample answer for this one yet. Practice it out loud and the AI interviewer gives you feedback on your own answer.
Open the question page