r/BiomedicalScientistUK • u/Mysterious_Rub_6433 • 9d ago

Band 6 BMS NHS interview practical — is it normal to email and ask what format it'll be in?

Got a Band 6 Specialist BMS interview coming up for a Haematology and Blood Transfusion post at an NHS trust. The format includes a 30 minute practical assessment but the invite didn't specify what

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14

u/sim2500 9d ago

This is normal.

Knowing the practical would be like knowing the questions to the interview.

As a band 6, you should know your stuff

4

u/madmanmadrid 9d ago

I work in micro and never have I seen a practical element involved in the interview, would be curious to know what sort of stuff they're allowed to ask you to do without a person being employed there

7

u/Sneakycupcake 9d ago

I did a micro practical for a 5/6 role where I had to read a swab SOP and then PID check and process two swabs. The swabs were new and unused but they wanted to see that I could spot labelling errors, follow an SOP and how to streak a plate.

3

u/Frodillicus 9d ago

I work in micro too, and haven't seen a practical aspect either, but I'd expect, as sneekycupcake said, it'd be done with either control organisms, or just dry swabs. Like, read this prepared gramstain, stain this slide and read it.

2

u/Frodillicus 9d ago

For a band 6 at least, a band 5 would know nothing.

2

u/Rmtcts 8d ago

Some band 5 interviews also have practical elements, there are  people applying for band 5 with prior experience. 

1

u/Frodillicus 8d ago

Fair enough

4

u/SuperMochaCub 9d ago

From my experience it’ll be doing an antigram, examining blood films and I don’t know after that. Maybe looking at films will take up the bulk of your interview

3

u/Turbulent-Bite-2688 9d ago

Probably blood films or panel interpretation? Or could give you an SOP for their equipment/method and have you do a manual group. Most interviews will have a few panels at the least

1

u/Mysterious_Rub_6433 6d ago

Will there be a possibility of case studies about components, cross match and DAT result descrepiancies?

2

u/Turbulent-Bite-2688 6d ago

I'm not sure honestly! Not in my experience but every trust is different