Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (MD) Medicine InterviewFormat, Questions & Prep Tips

Temple University Hospital serves one of the most socioeconomically challenged communities in the US. What draws you to training in that specific environment, and what do you think you will learn there that you could not learn at a suburban academic center?

High trauma volume, complex social determinants, undocumented patients, uncompensated care. Be specific about what the North Philadelphia patient population and clinical environment offers your training that a different setting would not.

Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood has one of the highest rates of opioid overdose deaths in the US. What is a physician's responsibility in a public health emergency of that scale?

Individual patient treatment (MAT, naloxone distribution, harm reduction) vs. systemic advocacy. The physician's role in the overdose prevention continuum: SBIRT, safe syringe programs, overdose education.

A patient in the ED waiting room has been waiting 4 hours and is threatening to leave. You have 8 minutes with them before you are called away.

AIDET communication framework. Validate the wait, explain what is happening (without HIPAA violations for other patients), negotiate a check-in timeline, and express genuine concern. Avoid defensive justification of the system.

Your attending physician uses a derogatory term for a patient group in the hallway after a frustrating encounter. How do you respond?

Microaggression and professional misconduct: in-the-moment vs. private conversation. The bystander effect in medicine, the effect on patient care, and the trainee's limited power but ethical obligation.

Many applicants want to train at Penn or Jefferson. Why Temple?

Avoid being defensive. Temple offers real advantages: level I trauma volume, complex social determinants exposure, lower-competition residency match environment, and a tight-knit class culture. Be honest about what you are choosing and why.

A patient is admitted for the third time in a month for decompensated heart failure. The root cause is medication non-adherence due to housing insecurity. The hospital social worker has done everything possible. What more can you do as a physician?

Chronic disease in the context of housing instability: SDOH documentation for quality metrics, the Medical-Legal Partnership model, and systemic advocacy beyond the individual encounter.

Tell me about a time your clinical experience challenged something you were taught in the classroom or read in a textbook.

Evidence-based medicine in real-world populations often diverges from trial populations. Show clinical epistemology: how do you reconcile textbook and bedside when they conflict?

A patient refuses a blood transfusion based on religious beliefs. Their haemoglobin is dangerously low. The family is pressuring you to override the patient's decision. How do you respond?

Patient autonomy in adults with decision-making capacity is near-absolute in US law. Jehovah's Witness context is not required — the principle applies broadly. Differentiate adults (strong autonomy) from minors (may require court intervention).

[Role-play] You are a medical student in Temple's emergency department. A patient who survived a gunshot wound is being discharged and is terrified about returning to the same neighborhood. They ask you what happens now. You have 8 minutes.

Acknowledge fear without false reassurance. Temple weights service orientation and urban-health awareness — discuss hospital-based violence-intervention resources, social-work linkage, and follow-up, while staying present with the patient's emotional state rather than rushing to logistics.

An interviewer shows you Philadelphia overdose-death data with Kensington far above every other neighborhood. What does the figure tell you, and what would you want to understand before proposing any response?

Read the data carefully; distinguish a geographic hotspot from its causes. Discuss supply factors (fentanyl), structural drivers (poverty, housing, the open-air drug market), and harm-reduction evidence. Avoid moralising and avoid over-claiming from a single chart.

Trials often under-represent the populations Temple serves. Tell me about a time you questioned whether a general claim actually applied to a specific person or group in front of you.

Clinical epistemology — generalisability versus the individual patient. Show you can hold evidence and context together, and that you think critically about who studies include rather than applying findings uncritically to safety-net populations.

A non-English-speaking patient arrives at the clinic and no in-person interpreter is available for 40 minutes. The patient is anxious and a bilingual family member offers to help. How do you proceed?

Title VI language-access rights, the risks of ad hoc family interpreters (accuracy, privacy, the patient's own concerns), telephone/video interpreter services, and communicating that the patient will not be abandoned while you arrange proper interpretation.

Tell me about a time you stayed engaged with a community or cause through real difficulty rather than leaving when it got hard. How does that connect to wanting to train in North Philadelphia?

Temple interviewers hear a lot of stated 'commitment to the underserved.' Ground your answer in a concrete, sustained experience and connect it specifically to Temple's safety-net mission rather than generic urban-health enthusiasm.

An undocumented patient at Temple needs ongoing dialysis but does not qualify for the coverage that would fund routine outpatient treatment. The team can treat acute crises in the ED but cannot easily arrange standing care. How do you think about your obligations here?

Engage the real US tension between emergency-only coverage (e.g. emergency Medicaid/EMTALA) and the absence of routine coverage for undocumented patients. Discuss the human cost of 'crisis-only' care, physician advocacy, and charity-care pathways without pretending there is an easy fix.

Many applicants to a school like Temple plan to enter competitive specialties. How do you reconcile your specialty ambitions, whatever they are, with Temple's safety-net, primary-care-heavy mission?

Be honest about your interests while showing genuine alignment with Temple's mission — high-acuity exposure benefits every specialty, and a commitment to underserved populations is not specialty-specific. Avoid pretending to a primary-care plan you do not hold; interviewers value authenticity over a strategic answer.