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Interview Topics for LAN Positions
Whilst publishing the exact interview questions asked historically is impermissible, in reality, some people would be able to obtain them quietly anyway by speaking to any registrar already on the program. This would give a bit of an unfair advantage to those who may not work in sites where this is possible.
So in fairness to everyone and trying to abide by the rules, I’ve put together a list of general radiology interview topics that I can see merit in asking (which may or may not have been previously asked about).
Personal
– Greatest achievements (academic and non-academic), strengths/weaknesses and mistakes
– Mentors, inspiration, role models
– Leadership and teamwork experience
– Motivation for radiology as a career
– “Why pick me?”
Research & Quality Improvement
– Understanding how research is conducted
– Understanding QI in both radiology and overall patient care
Clinical Scenarios
– Triaging imaging referrals, multimodal communication, clinical escalation, time management
– Intravenous contrast reactions
– Radiation safety (the pregnant patient, radiation anxiety)
– Practicing out-of-scope, dealing with time pressures, managing expectations from referrers
– Inter- and intra- departmental difficulties, conflict resolution & bullying
– Understanding imaging guidelines and it’s application
– Disagreements or errors in radiodiagnosis made by consultant
The Role
– Understanding your role as a 1st-year registrar
– Similar experiences pertaining to this role
– Work (rotating & oncall roster)/Study/Life balance
– Understanding how the particular LAN is organised
– Working with Allied Health (radiographers, nurses, administrative staff & students)
The Profession
– Understanding the future of both Diagnostic and /interventional radiology
– The role of Artificial Intelligence
– Understanding the RANZCR training program & the curriculum
Interventional Radiology
– Understanding some basic tools and devices
– Understanding common procedures (such as biopsies)
Other
– Occasionally there is a curveball question. The panel is obviously assessing your strategy and technique in answering the question, rather than the accuracy of your response per se.
– Usually, if time permits, the interview concludes with an opportunity for the candidate to ask questions of their own
Feel free to submit your suggestions below and I’ll update this along the way
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6 Replies
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What is the best way to respond to the scenario of a consultant making an error in their report? I don’t exactly understand how the registrar gets caught in the middle of this situation. What actually happens in real life?
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Depends on how you define an error. At face value, it implies for every case there is only 1 correct diagnosis (which the radiologist did not provide). But of course, there are many situations where there is legitimate potential for differences in interpretation. Many disease processes manifest radiologically with non-specific or common features. So often it’s a matter of giving an opinion, which is influenced by individual factors like subconscious biases etc – rather than a definitive diagnosis. To move closer to the ‘truth’, aside from obtaining more clinical/lab evidence, clinicians can also gather more opinions by discussing the case at an MDT, usually with a subspecialty consultant.
Then you have other errors, like missed findings. Where the diagnosis is evident in retrospect, sometimes subtly… sometimes obviously. It happens. In this case, the original report author should be first approached to allow them to review the case and make an addendum as they see fit. Side note: all addendums should be notified to the referrer and communication of such should be documented on the report (definitely something worth mentioning in the interview especially because so many court cases arise due to failure of communication)
The interview scenario can get tricky, for example, the original report author is away and non-contactable. What do you do? It’s a case-by-case assessment. The original report author should still have the right to addendum their report first, so the referrers might need to wait for this with the caveat being that this doesn’t immediately impact patient care. In real life, this is usually the case. It is not common practice for consultants to give 2nd opinions on reports they didn’t report themselves (in an unofficial, undocumented manner, outside of an MDT) as it can add confusion and possibly even further discrepancy. Think about the legal ramifications too.
If the scenario is such that it is a clinically urgent circumstance such as a sudden change in the patient condition, well the patient should probably be re-imaged, rather than have an old scan with a potential error re-looked at. Things could’ve changed over the interval. The original report author should still be notified.
How does the registrar get caught in the middle of this? Fair question. I guess they’re usually the most accessible staff member in the department and so, therefore, the first point of call.
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Cheers @alvintan for the really clear explanation! I never really considered the difference between errors. Makes sense now ???????? Good point on the legalities of it all, I’ll look into it. I’m guessing that must be something radiologists consider all the time when reporting?
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Thanks for your insight, Alvin.
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Thanks for your invaluable post, Alvin.
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this is great thank you
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