1. MMI Prep session
Presented by:
Prepared by: Emily Leaman

2. Overview Structure of the MMIs & question types General tips
Approach to ethical questions
2015 example topics
Practice scenarios
Resources
Your questions

3. MMI basics Structure: Possible question types: Depends on the school
Usually 2 minutes to read the scenario, 8 minutes in the room
May be allowed to make notes outside
May interact with interviewer, actor, and/or other applicants
Possible question types:
Ethical dilemmas
Communication skills
Personal attributes
Healthcare policy/systems
Critical thinking/problem solving

4. MMI General tips
Reflect on your experiences & use key take-aways as examples when appropriate
Ensure you are answering the question at hand
Try to have 3 key messages/points for each station
Summarize your main argument at the end of your initial discussion
“Be yourself!”

5. Approach to ethical questions
Express the case simply but with pertinent details
What is the dilemma? What decision needs to be made?
What are the alternatives?
Apply 3 key considerations:
Autonomy: what are the patient’s capable wishes and values?
Beneficence: what is the best thing that can be done for the patient?
Justice: is the patient receiving what is fair?
Consider involving others (ex: experts, family members, etc.) and professional and cultural norms, legal precedents
Propose a resolution
Consider your choice critically. Would your colleagues support it? Your conscience? Under what circumstances would you change your recommendation?
Do the right thing – “all things considered.”

6. Possible 2015 MMI Topics Aboriginal health inequities
Student/medical voluntourism
LGBTQ accessibility to healthcare
Vaccination & public health policy
Conscientious objection & necessary medical services
Health human resources & rural medicine
Social media & professionalism
Hospital personnel policy
Qualities important for a physician
Role model
Collaboration with another applicant
Unemployment & disability
Student placements in Aboriginal communities
Reflect on personal mistakes, qualities, strengths/weaknesses
Acting station: citizen’s objection to new methadone clinic
Professionalism in personal life
Health resources policy – public vs. private health care

7. Practice Scenario 1
An 18 year old female arrives in the emergency room with a profound nose bleed. You are the physician, and you have stopped the bleeding. She is now in a coma from blood loss and will die without a transfusion. A nurse finds a recent signed card from Jehovah’s Witnesses Church in the patient’s purse refusing blood transfusions under any circumstance. What would you do?

8. Practice scenario 2
There is an outbreak of an incredibly contagious life-threatening disease. The disease is spreading across the country at a rapid rate and the survival rate is less than 50%. You are a senior health care administrator, and when the vaccine is developed, you have priority to receive the drug. Do you take the vaccine yourself or give it to another person? Why or why not?

9. Practice scenario 3
If the Prime Minister of Canada were to ask your advice on one change that could be applied to the healthcare system in Canada that would improve it enormously and have the greatest positive effect, how would you answer? Provide reasoning for your recommendation.

10. Practice scenario 4
What are some pros and cons to legalizing assisted suicide in Canada?
When is it appropriate to participate in the assisted suicide of a patient? Why or why not?

11. Resources
Doing Right: A Practical Guide to Ethics for Medical Trainees and Physicians by Philip C. Hébert
UBC Centre for Student Involvement and Careers MMI Sample Questions
Medical school websites
SFU Pre-med clubs/societies, career centre
SFU mock MMIs
UBC or SFU MMI practice groups
Practice questions from across the country will be posted on our blog:

12. Questions?
Thanks for coming!