HIV Consultant Interview Questions And Answers

No. There is no vaccine to prevent HIV infection. Researchers are working to develop a vaccine. Vaccines in development are being tested to ind out if they work.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posts statistics about HIV and AIDS in the United States on its website: www.cdc.gov. The CDC website is also available in Spanish at www.cdc.gov/spanish. Or you can call the CDC toll-free at 1-800-342-2437 (English) or 1-800-344-7432 (Spanish) to request information.

Global HIV/AIDS statistics are available from UNAIDS at www.unaids.org and from the World Health Organization at www.who.int/hiv.

Statistics about HIV and AIDS in New York State are listed on the State Department of Health website: www.health.state.ny.us.

Any time you share injection equipment with someone who has HIV or whose HIV status you do not know, there is a high risk that you will get HIV. Small amounts of blood from a person infected with HIV may stay in the needles, syringes, or drug “works” (spoons, bottle caps, and cotton) and can be injected into the bloodstream of the next person who uses the equipment

Although oral sex is less risky than anal or vaginal sex, it is possible to get HIV by performing oral sex on an HIV-infected partner. HIV transmission could potentially occur if blood, pre-ejaculation luid, semen, or vaginal luids enter open sores

or cuts in or around the mouth, such as those caused by canker sores or blisters, vigorous teeth brushing or lossing, or some form of trauma. Using a latex barrier, like a condom or dental dam, reduces your risk of HIV infection

Woman-to-woman sexual transmission of HIV is rare, but it is possible. Women who have sex with women are at risk for HIV infection if they share needles to inject drugs or if they have unprotected sexual contact that results in blood-to-blood exposure. Women who have sex with women can reduce their risk of getting HIV by:

• not injecting drugs, or by not sharing needles, syringes, or works if they do use drugs; and

• using a dental dam (a thin, square piece of latex), a non-lubricated condom that is cut open, or a plastic wrap as a barrier during oral sex. HIV transmission could potentially occur if vaginal secretions or menstrual blood enters open sores or cuts in or around the mouth, such as those caused by canker sores or blisters, vigorous teeth brushing or lossing, or some form of trauma. This could allow for the exchange of potentially infected blood or body luids.

No one has ever gotten HIV through casual kissing, such as between parents and children. It is possible, but extremely unlikely, for HIV to be passed during “deep kissing.” There has been just one reported case of this kind: a woman became infected through deep kissing with a man with AIDS whose gums often bled after brushing and lossing his teeth; after this activity, the couple often engaged in deep kissing and protected sex. Although HIV transmission most likely occurred during deep kissing, it was probably the blood in the man’s mouth, not his saliva, which transmitted HIV. Both the man and the woman had gum disease that may also have contributed to the woman becoming infected. It is important to note that in this situation, HIV is not passed through saliva, but rather through direct blood-to-blood contact.

Yes. There are a number of tests that detect either antibodies to HIV or HIV itself.

Your body produces antibodies to ight germs. People who are infected with HIV have HIV antibodies in their body luids. There are two kinds of HIV antibody tests available in New York State: a blood test and an oral test.

For adults and children age 18 months or older, both types of HIV antibody test are more than 99% accurate in determining whether a person is infected.

No. If you think that you may have been exposed to HIV, you should get tested as soon as possible. You may have HIV and have no symptoms for many years. The sooner that HIV infection is detected, the sooner medical care can begin, which helps people with HIV stay healthier and live longer. In most cases, the immune system will stay healthier for a longer period of time if treatment starts before a person has symptoms.

The interviewer isn’t going to be impressed with false promises. Highlight what you are good at without sounding overly boastful. Possible answer: “I would bring a solid work ethic to the practice, a desire to be part of the team and the ability to provide quality care.”

Think of this question in terms of what the interviewer wants to hear. Try to phrase your goals and objectives to be in alignment with the position for which you are interviewing. Possible answer: “I want to build a solid practice, provide consistent quality care for my patients and be part of the team.”

The inside of a woman's vagina is a natural incubator for HIV and is a much larger area than a man's penis. Therefore, the risk of infection for a woman is much higher than a man. Also, women have been denied sexual rights in many cultures in our country. Many women are therefore disempowered and this is why they are afraid to make their partners wear condoms and practice safer sex. ('Know AIDS', Metropolitan publication).

There is not one scientific reason. What is known, however, is that with some people it's genetic, while, with others, it's a will to live. Each person is different and some people have a strong immune system that helps keep the HIV under control, and they become what is called a long-term non-progressor. Researchers are studying these people to find out how they're able to keep the effects of HIV under control. Also, the people who have lived longer have made specific choices - sometimes unconsciously, which have ensured a longer life. These choices are all about reasons to live and seeing purpose and pleasure in their future.

When a child is born, it has the mother's immune system for the first 12 - 18 months of life. In that same period, the child's own immune system activates and this is when the child can go from HIV+ to HIV-.

HIV (Human Immunodeiciency Virus) is a virus. You may hear that someone is HIV infected, has HIV infection, or has HIV disease. These are all terms that mean the person has HIV in his or her body and can pass the virus to other people.

HIV attacks the body’s immune system. The immune system protects the body from infections and disease, but has no clear way to protect it from HIV. Without treatment, most people infected with HIV become less able to ight off the germs that we are exposed to every day. Many of these germs do not usually make a healthy person sick, but they can cause life-threatening infections and cancers in a person whose immune system has been weakened by HIV. HIV treatments can slow this process and allow people with HIV to live longer, healthier lives (see question 66).

People infected with HIV may have no symptoms for ten or more years. They may not know they are infected. An HIV test is the only way to ind out if you have HIV.

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deiciency Syndrome) is a late stage of HIV disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a person with HIV infection has AIDS when he or she:

• has a CD4 cell count (a way to measure the strength of the immune system) that falls below 200. A normal CD4 cell count is 500 or higher.

OR

• develops any of the speciic, serious conditions – also called AIDS-deining illnesses – that are linked with HIV infection (see Appendix for a list of these conditions).

According to the United Nations organization UNAIDS, as of 2003 there were an estimated 40 million persons living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. Of these, 37 million were adults, and 2.5 million were under age 15. The overwhelming majority of persons with HIV live in resource-poor countries.

As of December 2002, 517,000 persons were known to be living with HIV and AIDS in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 170,000 more Americans are infected with HIV but do not know it.
Additionally, CDC estimates that 501,669 persons had died from AIDS in the U.S. as of December 2002.

HIV is spread when infected blood, semen, vaginal luids, or breast milk gets into the bloodstream of another person through:

• direct entry into a blood vessel;
• mucous linings, such as the vagina, rectum, penis, mouth, eyes, or nose; or
• a break in the skin.

HIV is not spread through saliva (spit).

HIV is spread in the following ways:

You can only get HIV if infected blood, semen, vaginal luids, or breast milk gets into your body.

• Having vaginal, anal, or oral sex without using a condom.
• Sharing needles, syringes, or works to inject drugs, vitamins, hormones, steroids, or medicines.
• Women with HIV infection can pass HIV to their babies during pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding.
• People who are exposed to blood and/or body luids at work, like health care workers, may be exposed to HIV through needle-sticks or other on-the-job exposures.

HIV is spread during vaginal sex when HIV-infected semen, vaginal luid, or menstrual blood comes into contact with the mucous membranes of the vagina or penis. In general, since there is more mucous membrane area in the vagina, and a greater possibility of small cuts in the vagina, women are more likely than men to get infected with HIV through unprotected vaginal sex. Teenagers and women entering menopause are at especially high risk for getting HIV (and other sexually transmitted diseases) because the tissue lining the vagina is more fragile at these ages. Cuts or sores on the penis or vagina raise the risk of HIV infection during vaginal sex for both men and women. Using a male latex condom or a female condom lowers your risk of getting HIV through vaginal sex

Yes. A viral load test measures the amount of HIV in a person’s blood. An undetectable viral load means that the amount of virus in a person’s blood is too low for the test to measure. It does not mean that there is no HIV in the person’s body. A person who has a low or undetectable viral load can pass HIV to someone else, although the risk is probably lower than if he or she had a high viral load. Risk reduction measures, like using condoms and not sharing needles, still need to be taken

Your health care provider is required to offer HIV testing to all persons between the ages of 13 and 64, regardless of apparent risk. You are strongly encouraged to accept testing; it may provide you with important information about your health and staying healthy. These are important points to know about HIV testing:

• HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. It can be spread through unprotected sex
(vaginal, anal, or oral sex) with someone who has HIV; contact with HIV-infected blood by sharing needles (piercing, tattooing, drug equipment, including needles); by HIV-infected pregnant women to their infants during pregnancy or delivery, or by breastfeeding.

• There are treatments for HIV/AIDS that can help a person stay healthy.

• People with HIV/AIDS can use safe practices to protect others from becoming infected. Safe practices also protect people with HIV/AIDS from being infected with different strains of HIV.

• Testing is voluntary and can be done without giving your name at a public testing center (anonymous testing).

• By law, HIV test results and other related information are kept conidential
(private).

• Discrimination based on a person’s HIV status is illegal. People who are discriminated against can get help.

• Consent for HIV-related testing remains in effect until it is withdrawn verbally or in writing. If the consent was given for a speciic period of time, the consent applies to that time period only. Persons may withdraw their consent at any time.

Yes. Studies suggest that female condoms offer the same level of protection against HIV as male condoms and may be more effective against some STDs. Female condoms are made of polyurethane, which is an effective barrier to HIV. Male and female condoms should not be used at the same time. Female condoms, like latex male condoms, are available in drug stores, some community health centers, and some AIDS service organizations.

☛ How would you describe your communication skills?
☛ What makes you a good communicator?
☛ What is more important: good communication or good clinical skills?
☛ Give an example of a situation where you failed to communicate appropriately.
☛ Give an example of a non-clinical situation where your communication skills made a difference to the outcome of a project.
☛ How can you show empathy through an interpreter?
☛ What makes you a good team player?
☛ Give an example of a situation where you made a difference to a team.
☛ Give an example of a dysfunctional team in which you worked. How did you deal with it and what did you learn from that experience?
☛ Tell us about your management experience.
☛ What is the difference between management & leadership?
☛ Can you learn management by going to management courses?
☛ Do doctors need management skills?
☛ What does leadership mean to you and when do you exercise it?
☛ What makes you a good leader?
☛ Give an example of a situation where you showed leadership.
☛ Are leaders born leaders or can you learn to become a leader?
☛ What type of leader are you?
☛ Are you a leader or a follower?
☛ What makes a good team?
☛ How do you deal with stress?
☛ Give an example of a situation where you showed initiative.
☛ If you get this post, what ideas would you like to develop?
☛ How do you implement change in a unit?
☛ How do you go about fighting resistance from others when you want to change something? Give an example.
☛ As a consultant, how will you make sure that your team is up to scratch?
☛ In what circumstances have you had to influence others and how did you achieve your objectives?
☛ How possible is it to motivate and develop junior doctors in the current climate?
☛ How will you make sure that your team is up to scratch?
☛ How do you motivate others?
☛ How would your boss motivate you?
☛ How do you go about resolving a conflict?
☛ When is the last time you argued with a colleague?
☛ Tell us about a conflict which you had with a colleague?
☛ Tell us about a time when you had to deal with a conflict within your team or an MDT?
☛ What skills have you got which make you a good consultant?
☛ Would you be happy being an average consultant?
☛ What skills do you feel you need to improve the most?
☛ What are your strengths?
☛ What is your main weakness?
☛ How would your colleagues describe you?
☛ How would your patients describe you?
☛ How do you know that your colleagues trust you?
☛ How do you respond to criticism?

☛ Give an example of a situation when you enhanced the efficiency of your department.
☛ How would you develop better links with other departments? or Primary Care?
☛ How will this specialty be affected by current NHS changes?
☛ How do you feel that the Trust should react to current changes in the NHS?
☛ Should we be worried about polyclinics?
☛ How can we make this specialty more community centred?
☛ What do you think about giving patients the choice?
☛ Do you think it is fair to link the PBR tariff to quality of service? How do you think that quality should be measured?
☛ How do you think that the Darzi report influences the future of this specialty?
☛ How can we best present data on quality to patients?
☛ Darzi's proposed approach is to link quality payments to patient feedback. What are the pros and cons of this?
☛ What would be the effect of having a clinical dashboard in the waiting room?
☛ How can patient feedback be measured in a meaningful way?
☛ Do you think that encouraging competition through patient choice is the best way to achieve good quality of care?
☛ How can we optimise the efficiency of our department?
☛ If the tariff for procedure X is £1000 and, after full optimisation, the best we can do is an actual cost of £1,050, what should we do about it?
☛ What is your opinion on the new revalidation proposal of relicensing + recertification?
☛ What do you think would be the best way to assess if a doctor is safe?
☛ How do you assess surgical competence in a trainee?
☛ Do you think that appraisals are useful or just a paperwork exercise?
☛ What do you think are the issues caused by the introduction of revalidation as proposed?
☛ How possible is it to maintain good teaching and training in the context of the EWTD?
☛ Do you think the increasing role of nurses / the introduction of physicians' assistants is a solution to the NHS's problems?
☛ The Tooke report talks about destigmatising staff grade. What did he mean by that and what role can you play in achieving this?
☛ Both Tooke and Darzi talk about doctors needing more management and leadership skills. What is wrong with the status quo? What role can you play in helping juniors gain more experience in both?
☛ What is the best way to assess if someone is fit to enter this specialty at ST1/ST3 level?
☛ Our aim is to develop a new service on xxx. How do you think we can about doing this? What hurdles do you foresee?
☛ When you visited me (Chief Exec), I told you about the direction the Trust was taking. What can you tell me about it and how can you contribute?
☛ Do we have anything to fear from ISTCs?
☛ When you make a patient information leaflet using patient groups, do you think they self-select and are therefore not necessarily unbiased? What level do you pitch your information at? Which side do you lean towards: explaining in very simple terms or more detailed? How do you stop yourself from using medical parlance?

☛ Tell me about your CV
☛ Tell me about your orthopaedic anaesthesia experience
☛ Tell me about the GIC course you attended; did you find it useful?
☛ How do you evaluate your teaching sessions?
☛ How would you advise me to collect my CPD points in line with the new GMC revalidation process/RCOA matrix?
☛ What is the best intervention that affected anaesthesia in your lifetime?
☛ The hospital covers a huge geographical area - how would you most effectively staff a pre-op assessment clinic attached to an outreach orthopaedic OPD clinic?
☛ Why are anaesthetists involved in pre-op assessment?
☛ In which ways would you improve productivity without spending more money ?
☛ Tell me about an audit youve done, relevant to this hospital, that has led to improvements.
☛ Why are you competitive?
☛ Patient in recovery in fast AF. How would you manage it?
☛ Patient in pre-op for elective hip replacement, 9 months after insertion of drug eluting stent - what would you advise?
☛ How would you introduce a new idea when you start as a consultant?
☛ We are a small department and have to work together. Tell me about teamwork
☛ How much blood loss per hour is there from a revision hip replacement?

☛ Tell us 3 skills you have acquired in your training which make you different.
☛ Is the role of psychology important in pain?
☛ What are the new requirements in the curriculum by the Faculty of Pain Medicine for training?
☛ What is the difference between a consultant and a trainee?
☛ Tell us about your research experience?
☛ Tell us about your MSc?
☛ Do you read any subspeciality journals?
☛ What have you read which changed your practice?
☛ What is the future of pain services in 5 to 10 years?
☛ Tell me about a memorable patient encounter?
☛ How do you measure quality in chronic pain?
☛ How do you now chronic pain services are value for money?
☛ What is the point of integrating King's, Guy's and St Thomas and KCL?
☛ What initiatives do you know for infection control in the wards?
☛ Should we ask GPs how we are doing?
☛ How will GP consortia change pain management?
☛ How do you increase patient satisfaction on the wards with regards to pain?
☛ How do you get nurses to improve pain scoring and assessment of pain on ward?
☛ What are King's values and which one of them do you identify with?

☛ Take us through your CV.
☛ How will the white paper alter local health economy.
☛ What would you do if one of your consultant colleagues was drunk in theatre?
☛ What important information do you think the Trust should put on its website.
☛ What new service could we introduce and would you go about it?
☛ Why do you want to work in a DGH with such an academic CV?
☛ Tell us about a serious complication you had and how you dealt with it.