When I was on the CaRMS interview tour there was one question that every program, regardless of specialty or geography, would always ask me.
It was a simple question. One that revealed a lot about your personality and character and I believe how you answered this question would could determine whether you would be a good fit for a residency.
Was it why you wanted to do their specialty? What do you see yourself doing in the future? An ethical situation?
Surprisingly, the question was “How do you handle stress?”
At first, I found it surprising that every interview I did, whether it was an MMI or a panel interview, open or closed file, would ask this simple question. Classmates who had applied to different specialties too confirmed the ubiquity of this question.
The question was even more common than standards questions of why this specialty, what are your strengths and weaknesses, etc.
How do you Handle Stress?
The more I think about it, the more I realize how good this question really is. With just one question, the interviewer can assess your inter and intrapersonal skills. They can determine what types of adversities you have overcome and whether you have a healthy response to stress that is conducive to residency. They can see if you’re a well rounded person who has appropriate stress outlets or whether you’re a person who knows how to seek help when needed.
Furthermore, it was a question where each person would have a unique take. Everyone responds to stress differently and there is no one right way of doing it.
Residency programs want happy and productive residents. Unfortunately, being a resident is often stressful and tiring. By identifying people who can cope well to the rigors of residency, program directors will hopefully deal with less burnouts and leave of absences.
How to Answer the Question
In order to answer this question successfully, you should understand what stress is and that there are appropriate and inappropriate responses to stress. Furthermore, there is such thing as good and bad stress. Just like a musician with some butterflies, often times a little pressure in our work makes us perform best.
Acknowledge that residency will be a stressful time with a lot of pressure from your staff, patients and families. You want to convince your interviewer that you will survive and thrive during residency.
The best way is to have an example of a time when you were stressed and how you managed the situation. It’s important to have a personalized and memorable story on hand that can make a lasting impression. Good examples could be the first time you called or code or being in a situation that was above your comfort level. Be descriptive.
Next, tell them how you handled the stressful situation. You should be sincere in your answer and realize that everyone handles stress differently. Take the example further and talk about how you release some of the pressures of work in your personal life. Some people find outlets in their friends and families. Some prefer to have some time by themselves. Others like to get it out of their system with physical activity or artistic endeavors. Whatever your method(s), you should tie them back your example.
My Response
“I believe I am a person who handles stress appropriately and thrives when I’m in a situation with a lot of pressure. I know residency can be difficult and stressful but I believe I have the right mindset and social supports outside to be an excellent resident. One of the most stressful situations I have been in was being on call as a new clerk and assessing a patient who was actively crashing on the ward. It was a terrifying experience but I was able to maintain my composure and approach the situation rationally. I was able to fall back to my basic training of assessing ABC’s and vital signs. Furthermore, I realized my own limitations quickly and immediately asked for more help. With extra support, we were able to stabilize the patient and transfer him to the ICU. I learned a lot from that experience about being level-headed and taking a step back to look at the whole picture.
Similarly, I have a lot of outlets outside of work. I like to run, play basketball and journal. My family and friends keep me down to earth and are always there for me. They help recharge my energy. I have also been very lucky to have found some mentors who I can share my experiences with and receive feedback from. Overall, I am a person who does well under pressures of treating sick patients and I know how important it is to have a balanced life outside of medicine.
That’s my basic approach to this question. Would you approach this question differently? How would you respond to stress?
I think your response was fantastic. You covered all of the bases of what might be considered a discrepancy. As in, you left no opportunity for your responses to appear ambiguous. I am going to work on that because the last thing I want is to have a vague response.
I always have difficulty mentioning family or friends as “support” only because I feel like it is personal and perhaps irrelevant. I am not sure if that makes me impersonal or just private? Also, do you mention that you run a blog for pre-med and medical students? I feel like what you do is great but I am worried about mentioning my blog in case it could be perceived as bad or inappropriate.
I did not mention that I run a medical blog during my residency interviews. I would like to think I keep my online self and my offline self quite separate. I think if you’re an open blogger who reveals their identity and picture, it might be ok to refer back to your blog. It also has to do with what kind of a blog it is.
What an interesting question!
I think your answer addresses a lot of what they are looking for as well, emphasizing the importance of support from family and friends.
I actually do remember being asked this at one of my med school interviews as well! I said something similar to the effect of having outlets through running, music and close relationships. On top of that, though, I talked a lot about being a very goal-oriented person; so, it helped me to diminish stresses by chunking up my long-term goals into small, realistic goals to see myself make accomplishments in a shorter timespan. But also trying to make time to look back at long-term goals to see where I’ve come.
I, too, am curious about mentioning writing a blog. It certainly does help with stresses, but if I’ve ever brought it up to someone, I just say that I keep a personal reflective journal…
Great post. I remember being asked this question for my med school interviews too. To expand on what Idiopathic Medicine stated, have you been asked about social media in medicine? Have you thought about blogging openly? I am blogging semi-openly, but the one thing in the back of my mind that keeps me from putting my last name on my blog is that residency programs might deem it poor policy to have blogging residents. What are your thoughts on this?
We actually had a whole lecture on social media in medicine. I think blogging openly has its pro in it that you lend credibility and help build connections with readers. I think it really depends on what you blog about. Everyone is always concerned with patient privacy or inappropriate posts by people in the medical community. That’s why I’ve shifted away from personal patient stories and more to posts that can help premeds, medical students, and other audiences. It’s definitely a tricky situation but I think you can find success in both being open about your identity or having a hidden identity.
Wow, thanks so much for posting this.
Also, I hope you dont ‘openly’ blog or talk about too ‘personal’ details of your work. So many blogs, though they were interesting are becoming closed or private when people find out who they are.
The anonymity is preferred.
How do I handle stress?
By posting obscenities on random blogs.
Fuck CaRMS.