Rheumatology 17th April 2024

Rheumatology ST4: Interview 2024

Do you need help with the Rheumatology ST4 application process? To support you through the recruitment process and the interview, we’ve created this Rheumatology ST4 interview guide. The guide covers all the key dates you need to be aware of, as well as the different interview stations and how your performance will be scored.

To give you an insight into how competitive Rheumatology ST4 can be, we’ve put together the latest competition ratio. In round 2 of 2023, there were 193 applications for 44 posts, giving a competition ratio of 4.39. This means more than four people applied for each post!

Rheumatology ST4 Application

The Rheumatology ST4 application window is open from 16 November and runs until 7 December 2023. The registration and application process is estimated to take around ten hours, so you should give yourself plenty of time to complete all the sections in the application form well before the deadline.

To be eligible for Rheumatology ST4, you must have completed the internal medicine training (IMT) stage 1 programme or equivalent, as well as MRCP(UK). To be eligible, applicants must have completed MRCP Part 1 at the time of application and MRCP Part 2 by the offer date.

As part of the application form, you will be required to answer a series of self assessment questions about your career so far, with a particular focus on your experience and achievements. You must be honest about the information you provide, as you’ll be required to upload evidence to support your claims later in the process. The Rheumatology ST4 self assessment scoring section below covers the process in more detail.

You can find more information about the eligibility criteria In the 2024 Rheumatology ST4 Person Specification.

Rheumatology ST4 Key Dates

The Rheumatology ST4 recruitment process takes place twice a year. The application window for round 1 of 2024 is now open, with posts starting in August 2024.

The key 2024 Rheumatology ST4 recruitment dates are as follows:

Rheumatology ST4 Self-Assessment Scoring

Part of the 2024 Rheumatology ST4 application form requires you to self assess your experiences and qualifications. For each domain, you’ll be trusted to choose the most relevant option from a list of statements. This will give you a score for each section, reflecting your level of experience.

There are a total of 48 points up for grabs across the following domains:

In addition to this, you’ll also be scored on your commitment to specialty during the shortlisting process. You can find more information about how you will be scored for commitment to specialty on the Physician Higher Specialty Training Recruitment website.

The information you contribute must be accurate and the achievements you choose should relate to the field of medicine. You will need to provide evidence to support your claims, highlighting your contribution to the achievement.

The assessors will consider your evidence when verifying your scores, with a further 2 marks available for well-presented documents. Because of this, you must make sure your documents are organised and easy to read.

Boost your Rheumatology ST4 application by Training in Teaching

Teaching allows you to score Rheumatology ST3 points in two separate areas, with up to 6 points available for ‘teaching experience.’ You can also gain up to 3 points by ‘training in teaching’. For maximum points, you need a master’s qualification in teaching. You might find this challenging to do before you submit your application. So, for an easy alternative, you can go on a course like the Medibuddy Teach the Teacher course for 1 extra point.

Teach the Teacher Course by Medibuddy

This two-day CPD-accredited online course will earn you 12 CPD points on completion. It’s entirely flexible, so you can complete it in two days or multiple sessions over a longer period. On completion of the course, you’ll receive a certificate for your portfolio that is accredited for CCT, interviews and appraisals.

Find out more

Rheumatology ST4 Interview Format

The Rheumatology ST4 interview is split across three stations, with four questions in total. Each question lasts for 5-10 minutes, and when you consider the time between the stations, you can expect the interview to take somewhere between 40-45 minutes.

Station 1 Question 1 – Clinical Scenario

This question requires you to review and then answer questions on a clinical scenario. The scenario will only be a couple of sentences long, describing a hypothetical situation that you’ve become involved in.

To ensure you’re prepared for the discussion, you should think about the following points when reviewing the scenario:

• Your next steps
• The potential treatments
• Any further information you would collect
• How you would communicate with patients, family members and colleagues in the scenario
• Any other factors you deem appropriate based on your experience

The Rheumatology ST4 interview scoring section below outlines how you will be scored for this and the following stations. You can expect this question to last approximately 10 minutes.

Station 2 Question 1 – Medical registrar suitability

This question will explore the non-clinical aspects of being a medical registrar, with a focus on two of the Capabilities in Practice (CiPs) from the Internal Medicine Stage 1 Curriculum. These are:

• Managing an acute unselected team
• Managing a multi-disciplinary team including effective discharge planning

Once the previous part of the interview has finished, the interviewers will prompt the discussion by asking a short question. The line of questioning that follows will revolve around your experience of managing a team caring for acute medical admissions. You will also have to give examples of your experience, providing further weight to your answers. Again, this question will last approximately 10 minutes.

Station 3 Question 1 – Ethical Scenario

For this question, you’ll have to review an ethical scenario. As with the clinical scenario, the ethical scenario will be a couple of sentences in length, and you’ll have a small amount of time to review it before a 5-minute discussion relating to the scenario.

Again, this will be a hypothetical situation; however, this scenario focuses more on the moral, ethical and legal side of a situation, rather than the clinical aspect. During the five-minute discussion, the interviewers will take note of your responses to the ethical scenario and the different considerations you put forward.

Station 3 Question 2 – Suitability & Commitment

This part of the interview focuses on your suitability and commitment to Rheumatology. With only five minutes allocated to this question, this is your opportunity to build on the information you provided in the application form.

Rheumatology ST4 Interview Scoring

You’ll be scored by two separate assessors throughout each stage of the interview. A score of 3/5 means you performed at the expected level, while a 4 or 5 puts you above average. However, receiving a mark of 1 or 2 means the assessors have concerns about your performance for that part of the interview.

On top of the four questions, each interviewer will mark you on your communication skills. This includes how you interact with them at each station, as well as how you communicate with the other people in the clinical scenario. With this, you’ll receive 10 scores, resulting in a raw interview score (RIS) of between 10 to 50.

Rheumatology ST4 Offers

Before you can move on and receive offers, your results must meet the following criteria:

• None of your ten interview scores can be 1/5
• A maximum of two of your ten scores can be 2/5
• Your RIS must be 30 or higher

Failing to meet any of the points means your application won’t progress any further in that round of recruitment. However, if your application is considered appointable, a weighting will be applied to your interview scores, as well as your application score. These are then combined to give your total score, which will provide you with your ranking position, determining the order in which offers are made.

If you receive an offer, you’ll have the option to accept, reject or hold. Once you accept an offer, you won’t be eligible to receive any more offers. But, should you reject an offer, it will be recycled to candidates further down the ranking order.

Good luck with your application!