Prompt
Your close friend from high school, Jordan, is now a second-year surgical resident in your city. He comes to your birthday party, and at 1 a.m. you realize he has had at least eight drinks. He mentions that he starts a shift at 7 a.m. at a hospital 40 minutes away, and that he plans to sleep for a few hours and then drive there. When you tell him you are worried, he laughs. He says this is how everyone in his program gets through the week, that he has done it before without any problems, and that calling in sick would put him in serious trouble with his program director. What would you do?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Ethical reasoning
- Communication
- Empathy and compassion
How to approach this question
This MMI station tests whether you'll act on a serious risk your friend is dismissing, even if it strains the friendship and his standing in his training program. Separate tonight from the bigger problem. Tonight, the risks are Jordan driving and Jordan working impaired, so consider what you can realistically do about each before morning. Name everyone involved: Jordan, his patients, other people on the road, his colleagues and his program. Weigh his fear of his program director against the harm if he drives or works impaired, and say what you'd do if he refuses your help. If the station reveals a problem with the program itself, consider what you could do afterward about physician wellbeing, both to support him and to raise the wider issue, without losing sight of tonight.
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