Answering Health Care Reform Questions in the Residency Interview

Health care reform has been a hot topic for some time now, and interviewers love to ask residency applicants questions about reform. With this being an election year, I wondered months ago whether applicants would be asked about reform more often. Feedback I have received from my mock interview clients early in this interview season seems to suggest just that, and you should certainly be prepared to field these questions.

 

Applicants are understandably concerned about their ability to answer these questions. The health care system is complex, and even seasoned practitioners of medicine may not have a firm grasp on all aspects of the system.

To answer these questions effectively, you obviously have to be well read on the topic. For many residency applicants, the last time they were asked about the health care system was at the time of the medical school admissions interview. Much has happened since then, and you may be feeling unprepared to engage in a conversation about these issues.

One useful resource to bring you up to speed is The Health Care Handbook written by Elisabeth Askin and Nathan Moore, medical students at the Washington University School of Medicine. “We wanted to write a book that would be like giving people little floaties to help them learn to swim through the vast and confusing ocean that is health care,” Ms. Askin said in a New York Times interview with Dr. Pauline Chen.