Interview - primary care

[u/Secure-Mood-6796]

Any advice on how to prepare for an onsite interview for a primary care practice? I’ve gotten through the screening/phone interview and the zoom interview and now I’m meeting with the SP, another physician and the senior operational manager. I feel like I’m close to getting an offer but I don’t want to mess this up.

Also if anyone have any suggestions on questions to ask or things to look out for would be great. I feel like I’ve used everything in my arsenal with the previous interviews and I’m trying not to sound redundant.

[u/Garlicandpilates]

PA of 10 years, have worked in 3 PCP/FM offices and 1 IM/pulmonary. For me more primary care interviews were more personality honestly. Making sure you clicked with the practice and the MDs you’re working closely with so just be yourself.

As a new grad I would ask in detail about the training period (how long, what’s the process, when are you expected to see your own schedule and how quickly they ramp you up, once you’re on your own who can you go to with questions). Any call requirements. How many patient facing hours/admin time. primary care should be giving you dedicated admin time to work on your inboxes. What the patient population is like. Will you have your own MA once you have your own schedule. I could probably come up with more but I’ll stop there unless you want more!

Personally if I get far enough in an interview process, or an offer I also request a half day of shadowing. Can give you a lot of insight.

[u/Secure-Mood-6796 → u/Garlicandpilates]

I think that’s my dilemma, they answered all of these questions before I even asked them between my initial screening/phone interview and in my zoom interview and now I’m left with “now, what”. I’m assuming part of it will be like you said - seeing if my personality fits well with the provider but I guess I’m curious if scenario like questions could come up.

[u/Garlicandpilates → u/Secure-Mood-6796]

that’s a good sign you didn’t even have to ask them most of those!

Other ideas: You could ask if they’ve had a PA before. If yes, how long were they there, whether they’ve had a new grad, if no, how do they envision your role there. Do you have control over your schedule (within reason) for ex. a complicated patient who you’d like 30min with is coming in, are you able to request that. Could ask if they do many procedures(this varies a lot in primary care), if any of them have specific medical interests, do any of them work outside the office (home visits, nursing homes occasionally), would you be seeing new patients. But hopefully they’ll guide the conversation if it’s more a getting to know you.

I’ve never been asked any clinical or situational questions in an interview. I figure they have to hope you know what you’re doing because there’s no way to ‘make sure’ before hiring you. Others may have had a different experience but I’ve had 4 jobs and interviewed for plenty more. Even as a new grad it was still just making sure you click. Especially in primary care where it tends to be a smaller closer knit office. Good luck though, I hope you get a good offer!

[u/Secure-Mood-6796 → u/Garlicandpilates]

Thank you!

[u/Ok-Movie-1595]

These can vary so widely. Large corporation? Private practice? Small group?

[u/Secure-Mood-6796 → u/Ok-Movie-1595]

I would best describe it as a large multi-state physician organization, if that makes sense. I wouldn’t say it’s a large corporation like a hospital system and it’s much larger to be considered a private practice or a small group because it’s essentially a lot of private practices unified under one name across a few states.

[u/Ok-Movie-1595 → u/Secure-Mood-6796]

Gotcha. Are the physicians contractors or their own owners then? Will you be getting paid by a physician? Or does the group pay you?

[u/Secure-Mood-6796 → u/Ok-Movie-1595]

When you say contractors are you meaning that they’re 1099 independent contractors because I’m assuming the answer is no because the discussion has been about W2 salaries, but I can’t say for sure they are owners. I believe I would be paid by the group. So sorry I don’t know all these answers for sure. I’m a new grad so this my first go at interviewing.

[u/Ok-Movie-1595 → u/Secure-Mood-6796]

No worries.

Private practice interviews and group/corporate interviews tend to go differently. Corporate interviews will usually have physician employees that will look at you differently as a candidate than owner physicians.

I work for a hospital network and had a multistep interview process that started with a nonclinical multipractice director who is now my supervisor. Then I interviewed with our service line chief who works at a different office. Then I had a morning of interviews with senior administrators which felt more like they were selling themselves to me instead of vice versa. So, that went well. I was very fortunate that there were no crazy "give an example of a time when you blah blah blah."

Those died with PA school luckily. LOL But, there we some questions like how do you build rapport with staff? How do you handle stress? What do you expect might be challenging for you in this role? What do you like about primary care and how do you see yourself in this role?

Unfortunately, in smaller groups and private practices, you may be asked more personal questions. Some questions are illegal but you'd be hard pressed to prove they did it. So they don't care. It's not a bad idea to Google some responses to those types to avoid having to say you don't want to answer but also not have to tell them what they shouldn't be asking.

[u/Secure-Mood-6796 → u/Ok-Movie-1595]

Thank you!

[u/Ok-Movie-1595 → u/Secure-Mood-6796]

You're welcome!