Sample CDA-Structured Interview Question & Answer

Sample CDA-Structured Interview Question + Expert Response:

"You are a third year dental student on clinical duties. You are working with another dental student, a senior student, and a staff clinician, Dr. Kerry. During rounds, Dr. Kerry and the senior student make several demeaning comments to the dental assistance. After rounds in the doctor’s lounge the conversation continues. Dr. Kerry and the senior student said several condescending comments about the patient management suggestions made by the dental assistant. You are bothered by the comments. You know that Dr. Kerry and the senior student will be doing your evaluation at the end of the clinical period. Other students tell you that you will get a better evaluation if you just fit in. However, you decide that it is necessary to do something in this situation. What will you do?”

So, as you are given the prompt by the interviewer, and prior to delivering an appropriate and strong response, you will need to remind yourself of the key steps and strategies that were discussed earlier in this video when it comes to dealing with situational based questions. Note that, the steps and strategies that were discussed in the earlier parts of this course are to be considered rapidly and simultaneously as you hear the question, so that you can develop talking points for your response.

Here is an example of an appropriate and strong response:

“First and foremost, I do not want to jump to any conclusions or make any assumptions about the reasons and intentions behind Dr. Kerry's and the senior student's actions. It could very well be the case that they simply did not realize that their comments were unprofessional and disrespectful, or alternatively, it could be the fact that Dr. Kerry is having an off day and is acting out of character. In either case, the first thing I would do in this situation is to approach our colleague (the dental assistant) and speak to her directly in a private manner in order to get her perspective on the situation. If after speaking to my colleague I realize that she has been offended by the comments made, then I would encourage her to either speak to Dr. Kerry directly about her concerns, or reach out to a neutral third party to discuss the matter.

Furthermore, I would also be inclined to approach Dr. Kerry and discuss my concerns as well regarding the situation because I feel it is important that we create a respectful and professional work environment in which everyone feels accepted and respected. I would schedule a time when Dr. Kerry and I could speak in private. Without being confrontational and/or accusatory, in a very professional and diplomatic manner, I would simply state that, I felt the comments made during clinical hours toward our colleague were rather unprofessional and, from my perspective, seemed disrespectful. That is why I set up this meeting so that I could get your perspective on the matter. After bringing the matter up to Dr. Kerry, I would first allow her to fully express her views and share her perspective on the matter. It may turn out that perhaps there was something I didn't understand and as a result of my own lack of insight, I mistakenly assumed Dr. Kerry was being unprofessional. Alternatively, it could turn out that Dr. Kerry was simply unaware of the nature of her comments and did not realize that she was being disrespectful to our colleague, and now that I have brought it up to her attention, she sees the shortcoming in her actions and will seek to rectify the situation.

Lastly, it could turn out that Dr. Kerry simply dismisses my concerns and continues to behave similarly in the future. If that is the case, then I would be forced to discuss the matter with our clinical supervisor and allow them to intervene at this point.”

Notice that in the answer provided, we did not jump to any conclusions or approach the situation judgmentally, specifically when it came to the intentions of Dr. Kerry and why she had behaved in the way that she had. We also did further investigation prior to arriving at a decision, for instance, by having a private conversation with Dr. Kerry in order to understand the issue from her perspective. And of course, the decisions that we made by the end were all rationale, ethical, and mindful of how they would impact others, keeping in mind that we want to minimize harm to all those directly and indirectly involved while doing the right thing.

At times, this scenario is followed up by another prompt questions:

What if after intervening and speaking to Dr. Kerry and Clinical supervisors, you receive your clinical evaluations back and realize that you have scored way lower than anticipated and your marks are much lower than your peers. What will you do?

To your success,

Your friends at BeMo

BeMo Academic Consulting