- Tell me about a time when you showed your leadership ability.
- Define a good team player. …
- Define a good leader. …
- Do you have the qualities of a good leader?
- Tell me about a time when your team succeeded despite the odds being against it.
Healthcare Administration Interview Tips
6 Medical Director Interview Questions and Answers
How do you ensure communications successfully reach board members, physicians and patient families?
Once your candidate moves from a physician or lead physician role into a director role, they will take on more of a facilitating position within the organization, rather than a front-line, patient-facing role. Your candidate will need to balance the needs of a diverse number of stakeholders to ensure that they are all able to receive important information about the medical services offered by your institution.
What to look for in an answer:
- Cites past experiences in facilitating communications
- Enjoys working in a fast-paced environment
- Strong communication skills
Limiting our supplier network to local suppliers is more expensive than alternatives in the short term. However, is this a more viable and holistic strategy in the long term than sourcing our critically important equipment from geographically remote locations? Please explain.
Many healthcare institutions use offshore suppliers to cut costs, but this can be counterproductive in relation to supply availability, supplier regulation, ecological costs and costs on the local economy. You can use this question to understand a candidate’s awareness of industry issues, strategy skills and problem-solving skills. An ideal medical director candidate would demonstrate a suitable skill set with their response.
A candidate’s answer should emphasize:
- Awareness of industry trends
- Strategy and problem-solving skills
- Ability to develop innovative solutions
An example answer to this question can look like this:
How do you learn about the newest medical developments in the field?
Although your medical director will be in charge of a large array of tasks, including administrative work, team meetings, communications and projects that need significant medical knowledge, it is important that the candidate is able to stay abreast of new developments in the field. New developments might include changes to regulations and the development of new machinery that can streamline certain processes and checkups. Your prospective medical director should be able to incorporate these developments into your organization’s strategy going forward.
What to look for in an answer:
- Direct response to how they learn of new medical developments
- Identifies important contacts that they can leverage
- Interest in improving organizational strategy
How do you think the growing number of retirees will affect how our establishment provides services?
Many developed countries in the world, including the United States, are seeing their Baby Boomer generation exit the workforce. These individuals, along with lengthening life expectancies, mean that medical establishments are seeing an increasing need for their services. The additional consideration of increasing medical costs means that medical establishments will need to adjust the services offered, which means changing relationships with staff and supporting organizations, including government and insurance agencies.
What to look for in an answer:
- Recognizes the effect of elderly patients on medical services
- Strong understanding of medical fundamentals
- Business and communications acumen
What would you do if the city has just experienced a terrorist crisis and patients are being brought over to your organization for treatment?
While no medical director wants to be put in a situation of enormous stress in the face of external crises, there is a chance they will need to be prepared to respond to unexpected circumstances, such as a terrorist attack. Your medical director and staff will need to be adequately prepared to support first responders to the situation and to provide top-notch care to survivors of the crisis.
What to look for in an answer:
- Provides a clear strategy for responding to crisis situations
- Detail-oriented approach to running medical teams
- Calm, collected disposition
What are your past experiences leading teams of physicians in a medical establishment?
Since your medical director will be leading the operations and strategy for a healthcare-focused organization, it is imperative that they have experience in the medical field themselves. Your prospective medical director will likely be working across many disciplines in the medical field rather than focusing on a single department like pediatrics or oncology. It is important to gauge the candidate’s level of experience working with teams of medical professionals and to gain an understanding of their leadership style.
What to look for in an answer:
- Clear leadership capabilities
- Identifies examples of leading other physicians
- Past experience as a team leader
Which medical experiences have best prepared you for the chief medical officer role?
Candidates should attempt to marry the two roles of physician and administrator by citing past experiences that have prepared them for the position. Showing good listening skills to help better diagnose a patient could serve as an example. As mentors, they will now train their physicians to have better listening skills.
Describe a time when you erred as a physician. How did you overcome your mistake?
Mistakes are common in the life of a medical doctor. It is important that candidates acknowledge the potential severity of their mistake and describe the lesson they have learned from it.
Chief Medical Officer Interview Questions:
Candidates should note that administrative responsibility takes precedence over being a doctor and that they will implement a working schedule that ensures both aspects of the job are being managed.
Give An Example Of A Time You Worked In A Team And It Was Successful.
Briefly set the scene: what type of team, what were you doing, what was the goal, and what was the outcome?
After this has been established, talk about your role. They want to find out what you contributed, so be specific. You need to say not just what you did, but how you did it.
Example answer: If you contributed to smooth communication within the team, maybe it was because you set up a group chat, addressed each member directly and checked up on their individual progress, encouraging everyone to post their progress and striving to keep everyone in the loop.
Have a set example of a time you showed good teamwork. Ideally, it should include a resolution to showcase your problem solving skills.
Then conclude by stating what you learnt about the qualities of a successful team. This shows that you are reflective. You can go a step further by relating it to Medicine and how the learning points can be applied in the future, at Medical School and beyond.
“It’s critical that our clients turn to us for strategic input and direction, and it’s our firm belief that the source of this input should come from having direct experience across the major touchpoints of healthcare delivery and payment. But that doesn’t stop once you join [our company] since all of our senior leaders remain actively involved in industry organizations that help shape the healthcare landscape, not just react to it. This is why I love to hear from job seekers how they go about this, how they remain actively involved in the industry, and how they infuse their client work with this information, all to ensure medical innovations can reach patients regardless of marketplace barriers.”
“Given healthcare is influenced by myriad dynamics-demographics, the economy, policy and regulation, consumer/patient expectations, medical and technology innovation, benefit designs, healthcare workforce, etc.- there are always interesting potential sources of enhanced healthcare value to analyze, discuss, and possibly implement.”
Managed Healthcare Executive asked healthcare executives about their interview techniques, how they approach job interviews, and the one doozy of a question that they like to ask job candidates. Here’s what they said.
“This question is so open-ended that it can lead to a discussion about many different aspects of the healthcare system and give me insight into how the candidate thinks both operationally and philosophically.”
“This question provides a view of how the interviewee handles challenges and their ability to seek a creative solution.”
Common mistakes:
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FAQ
What questions are asked in a leadership interview?
- Tell me/us about the time you demonstrated leadership skills at work? …
- What is your leadership style? …
- Which supporting skills do you think are more important for a leader? …
- How do you manage a conflict situation? …
- What was the hardest decision you have taken as a leader?
How do you prepare for a leadership interview?
- Prepare your ‘situations’ for STAR in advance. …
- Understand leadership qualities. …
- Be specific. …
- Try not to waffle. …
- Remember to talk about how you took on a leadership role or demonstrated leadership qualities.
- Don’t badmouth your former co-workers. …
- Don’t talk about failures where you are unable to redeem yourself.
What are the attributes of a good team leader medicine?
- demonstrating personal qualities – developing self-awareness, managing yourself, continuing personal development and acting with integrity.
- working with others – developing networks, building and maintaining relationships, encouraging contribution and working within teams.
What questions should I ask at a medical director interview?
- What actions would you take with a member of staff who took an action that conflicted with the facility’s policies? …
- What improvements have you suggested to hospital policies and how were they received?
