Mandatory retirement age for physicians
- Kind
- Policy and health systems
Prompt
Should physicians be required to retire at a certain age?
Practice this question
After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Critical thinking
- Health systems and advocacy
- Professionalism and integrity
How to approach this question
This panel question tests whether you can weigh patient safety against fairness to individual physicians who age very differently from one another. Lay out the case for a mandatory retirement age, such as concerns about declining skills and the difficulty of spotting them, and the case against, including age discrimination and the loss of experienced doctors. Consider alternatives like regular competence reviews for physicians at every age. Weigh public trust and patient safety against individual rights and the workforce a region needs. Take a clear position, and explain how your approach protects both patients and physicians.
More on colleague conduct and patient safety
All 8 questions on this topicMock interviews
If you want to practice with a person, we run mock MMI and panel interviews with feedback on every answer.
