Psychiatrist Interview Preparation Guide

This question helps you evaluate whether the candidate would be a team player. You'll learn how he or she might interact with other members of staff and whether the candidate has the capacity to prevent and resolve conflicts respectfully, effectively and independently. You'll be able to determine much about the applicant's work ethic, attitude and professionalism and decide if the psychiatrist would be a match with your existing team. What to look for in an answer:

Appropriate knowledge of conflict resolution strategies
Ability to work well within your team
Ability to admit mistakes and collaborate effectively

Psychiatry is a very challenging and yet very rewarding medical profession. Challenging is because most of time you are not handling a concrete disease entity like in IM. You deal with emotions, moods and abstract thoughts. Rewarding is because I love to listen to personal stories and become my patients' real friends, and eventually helps them to deal with their psychiatric illness.

Suicide is a very controversial topic because different cultures and different religions have different viewpoints. For example, atheists may think suicide is the final release from pain and suffering but Christians may think it's a moral sin. No matter what, as a psychiatrist- a trained medical professional, we should hold the opinion that the outcome doesn't justify the action. So for every psychiatric patient we encounter, we should bear the minds of possible suicide and intensely probe the patient. Early detection and every visit detection is the key. If suicidal thoughts were detected, intense counseling and/or medical treatment is warranted.

Working with patients that have moderate to severe mental illness can require some creative thinking at times to help treat them. Unlike a Cardiologist that can pinpoint a problem and then diagnose and treat with the use of sophisticated technology, life for a Psychiatrist is often not that advanced. The interviewer is looking for your ability to treat a patient as an individual and see your ability to think creatively when treating a patient. Try to be specific with your answer.

Sometimes you cannot help but getting emotionally involved with patients' treatment. If the progress is very slow and full of ups and downs, you need to have great patience. also often you couldn't find a definite diagnosis for a mentally ill patient, and this can cause frustration. so how to avoid burnt-out is the hardest thing.

Still an essential part of psychiatric practice. Personally I think it's a great way to establish long term patient-physician relationships and prevent social issues such as suicide, homicide, substance abuse.

The best way to ensure that patients will work with you to adhere to their care plan is to educate them. When people know exactly what is going on in their body or mind, and why you are prescribing a specific type of treatment, they are more interested in following your instructions. People like to know why they are being asked to do things, so education goes a long way in making sure everyone is on the same page.

Psychiatrists are trained to work in a wide range of areas, so they don't need to stick to just one area of practice. For example, a hospital psychiatrist might decide that he wants to switch his field of practice to provide treatment to people suffering from addictions and so he might apply for a position at an in-patient substance abuse facility. Or a psychiatrist who has worked in private practice for many years might long for more contact with colleagues out of a desire for professional growth and development and seek employment in mental health clinics or universities. A psychiatrist's answer to this application question shows his motivation and suitability for the job.

Fear of the marketplace literally; taken now to be a fear of public of public places associated with panic disorder.

An incorrect belief which is out of keeping with the person's cultural context, intelligence and social background and which is held with unshakeable conviction.