Interview Questions

Question 1

Please provide an example of a positive impact of a change process you have implemented.

Answer 1

• Patient reminders
• Cross-training of nursing staff between Cardiology and DI Procedures,
• Separation of cold and hot patient areas in NucMed
• Scope
• Integration of Cardioresp into the DI

Question 2

Please share with me an example of how you helped coach or mentor someone. What improvements did you see in the person’s knowledge or skills?

Answer 2

Provided a lot of coaching

1) Coached one of the the members after I have heard concerns from several staff members about them raising the voice and acting out (Cindy)
2) coached an acting sr technologist on the expectations and the patient flow processes (Everaldo)
3) coaching of MHA students of UoO (NYGH)
4) coaching of UoT engineering students (Amin)

Question 3

Where do you see yourself five or 10 years from now?

Answer 3

Working hard to implement the MGH vision and mission via growing and making our DI department stronger.

VISION

Create Health. Build Community.

MISSION

Our community inspires us to deliver exemplary care, develop innovative partnerships and mentor the next generation of healthcare providers. Together we will make a difference and change the face of health in East Toronto and beyond.

Question 4

Provide us a brief overview of your work history

Answer 4

Keep it shorter

1) values
2) skills
3) knowledge of the department processes, key stakeholders, operational awareness

I see it as layers, or different facets of my skills as a leader. Also, worked hard to add value.

1) background
- IMG
- front line nurse experience
- medical industry
2) decision support
- learned about the hospital operations
- developed tools on how to grow operations
- built relationships with physician and admin leaders
- value:
3) DI business development
- learned the details of DI operations
- learned about the DI teams and customers
Value added:
- working together with the DI management team, made DI more referring physician and patient oriented via a suite of changes
- increased revenue
- launched Scope as a leader of the primary care group
4) pandemic - leading DI teams, focusing on developing leadership skills and improving day-to-day operations from the quality perspective
Value added:
- successful accreditation, especially with regards to the unmet standards from the previous accreditation
- integrated Cardioresp into DI, with the focus on staff cross-training, eg RNs supporting both DI and Catdio
- found ways to support the teams during the pandemic via safety and process improvements
5) post-pandemic - starting on big projects to transform and grow DI
- a suite of projects to increase CT capacity, both for scans and procedures,
- community cancer screening
- community referring physician engagement

Question 5

How has your work experience prepared you for this position?

Answer 5

Lead wisely
- team support and nurturing

Be excellent
- processes, projects, changes

Build community
- partnerships with the community physicians and NPs, enhancement of the OBSP screening program,

Question 6

What specific skills and competencies do you possess that would make you successful?

Answer 6

Leadership.
- specifically in DI and Cardioresp

Management
- thorough knowledge of all DI processes

Finance and business development

Question 7

How would you describe your leadership style and experiences in leading a team?
Please provide an example.

Answer 7

1) based on key values - Compassion. Integrity. Courage. Accountability.
2) very collaborative, including staff in decision making
3) growing and supporting staff

IHI’s framework for joy at work

Wait Times for CT biopsies are in a red zone. Developed a plan to increase the number of biopsies using the existing resources. After approval of my leaders, initiated work on engagement of key stakeholders such as nurses and technologists, together with the supervisor

Question 8

Sometimes, we have to implement a process that not everyone agrees with. Can you tell us of a specific time when this occurred and what you did as a leader to get them on board?

Answer 8

Separation of cold and hot patient waiting areas in NucMed

Explained the need
Brainstormed options
Suggested to run a pilot
Created SOP and trained staff

Question 9

We’ve all had to work with someone who is very difficult to get along with. Can you tell us about a situation when this happened to you and how you handled the situation?
• Why was the person difficult?
• How did you handle that person?

Answer 9

(RT Tracey)

Very difficult to communicate, described as very resistant, sending very long and emotional emails
Had to implement new technology

• patient focus
• listen to concerns
• take action: additional training, replacement of the unit

Question 10

In this role strong communication is essential.

Describe your communication style and provide an example of your ability to communicate effectively.

Answer 10

Communication is critical.

• define key stakeholders
• develop a communication plan
• have a pre-run if time allows
• execute and adjust based on feedback

Communicating about a quick change

(CT embolism)
An incident in CT lead to the development of a new process for some of the CT scans
- staff meeting
- email
- handover and printed posted emails for night shifts

Code Grey - the situation was changing quickly. Daily updates for staff and management.

Question 11

What is your experience in supporting continuous staff training and regular competency assessment? What was the biggest challenge and how did you handle it?

Question 12

Please provide an example of a time that you lead/or were involved in a process improvement?
Discuss your strategies.
What worked? What didn’t?

Question 13

Can you tell us about a time when you had to work with unmotivated staff? What did you do to get them more engaged?

Answer 13

(Richardo)

Communicate
Set clear expectations and priorities
Provided training plan and checklist
Assigned a more senior staff member (Natasa) to provide at-work support
Identified policy gaps and developed a new SOP on triaging urgent cases to close this gap
Listen to concerns
Quantified issues (# of voicemails)

Question 14

Sometimes in manager roles we have to implement a change that we may not personally agree with, how would you handle it?

Answer 14

I have a lot of trust into the decisions of the organization and my leaders.
Therefore, I would commit to learning about the change itself and about the reasons for the decision.

Example - upgrade from Imagevault to Viewpoint

Question 15

What does the term ‘Just culture‘ mean to you?

Can you provide an example of when this applied?

Answer 15

Take accountability as a manager. Assess and review processes. Do not put blame on individuals. Identify gaps and take action to close those to avoid from repeating.

Example:
Code Blue in one of the testing areas.
Unrelated to the diagnostic test but provided an opportunity to have a thorough review with the ordering dept about the TOA for inpatients coming for their test or procedure

(Code blue in echo)

Question 16

If you were offered this role, what strategies would you use to facilitate improvements in /out of the Dept.?

Answer 16

1) use the system of dept goals developed based on MGH strategic directions
2) support, grow, and nurture staff as no success could be achieved without a motivated team
3) continuously work with key stakeholders - clinical programs such as ED, Surgery, Medicine, and Oncology to ensure the needs are met

Question 17

In your first several weeks in the role, who do you think it would be important to meet and introduce yourself to? Can you share some strategies of how to achieve this?

Question 18

Have you been involved into a formal accreditation process in healthcare services settings? Please describe your role and achievements.

Question 19

What does Quality Management mean to you?

Question 20

What are 3 area of improvement for our Dept.?

Answer 20

Aligned with the org. goals and values. Dept plan, which I was a part of creating.

Top 3:

1) staff support and safety
2) capacity and wait times - esp. CT
3) partnerships with the community and growth, especially in cancer screening

Question 21

Please provide an example of a safety initiative you championed/or were involved in? What was the biggest challenge and how did you handle it?

Answer 21

Code Blue preparedness at C2 - crush card quantity and location, code blue buttons.
Engaged all key stakeholders, internal and external. Immediate action taken and a more comprehensive change plan with training.
Another code blue - very seamless and effective response.

Question 22

What can the MGH diagnostic Imaging department do to increase safety for patients and staff?
Please suggest 1-3 specific action items.

Question 23

Is there anything else that you could have not covered that you would like to add?

Answer 23

Reliable, passionate, loyal to the DI department, MGH, and the East York community.
Know the teams and the business, have a strong plan, and will hit the ground running without any delay.
This is my dream job, and I will be working hard to achieve the goals for years to come

Question 24

Do you have any questions?

Answer 24

• How does the success look like for this role and how is it measured?
• what is the top challenge you foresee for Ontario and MGH DI services for the next 3 years?

Question 25

How you managed a crisis

Answer 25

CT nurse not available
No US tech on duty

Remain calm
Innovative thinking

Question 26

What do you dislike about management and leadership

Answer 26

Not something you have control over

Plus, add strategy how I learned to effectively deal with this over the years

Unions

Question 27

What is the first thing you would do

Answer 27

I already got a plan

Brief with my new leader
5 items from the cover letter
Start communicating with the team to start inspiring them towards the goals

Question 28

What’s my emotional state for the interview?

Answer 28

Confidence and energy

Very positive
Very excited to be here

“I can do this!”
“I have to do this!”
“It was a driving feeling”

Question 29

How do you inspire and motivate staff to achieve goals? Provide an example.

Answer 29

I have a developed strategy to inspire and motivate staff. It has three major components;

1) ensure that staff feel safe and supported
2) include in making decisions and change
3) carefully capture and act in staff concerns, proposals, and ideas

Examples:

1) staff concerns regarding exercising PUI for Cardiolites, chest Centre wondering patient concern
2) full PFTs with Minibox - training, trouble shooting
- final sign-off on Viewpoint
3) echo stretchers change

Question 30

Coming years will likely require strong financial management. How will you achieve it?

Answer 30

• Cost/benefit realization:
- Effective business planning: development of the future state and an action plan to achieve it via a system of capacity utilization targets;
- Effective, consistent goal-based analytics;
- Ongoing cost control:
- Minimization of Overtime expense via continuous assessment and adjustment of the staffing models;
- Minimization of all types of waste that have negative financial impact: patient no-shows, rejected OHIP claims, medical supplies;
• Revenue generating opportunities:
- Further positioning of MGH as a provider of choice for outpatient community referrals for Ultrasound, Mammography, Nuclear Medicine, and Vascular tests via to improved communication and ease of access for referring physicians and patients;
Expansion of business cases with a sound model for expected OHIP Technical Fees surpassing the cost of the shift
- Assessing the opportunity for off-site satellites to bring diagnostic testing (including screening such as OBSP Mammography) closer to the community.

Question 31

Why are you interested at this point in your career? Please provide us with your rationale for considering the opportunity.

Answer 31

1) I am a loyal and devoted member of the MGH family:

MGH values greatly resonates with my personal and my family’s values.

2) Ready to move to the next step in my career and feeling confident that I can add value:
a. With almost 10 years in hospital administration and over 5 years of DI management experience in particular, I strongly feel that I am ready to move to the Director’s level to further learn, grow, and improve hospital operations and teams;
b. With my clinical, business, and hospital management experience (both across DI and Decision Support) and the great passion for the change that I’ve always had, I strongly believe I can make a positive impact and advance the continued growth of the QCH’s Diagnostic Imaging portfolio.

Question 32

MGH is seeking a candidate who, ideally, possesses demonstrable expertise as a strategic leader, a business leader, and a technologist. In what areas would you rate yourself strongest and weakest? Why?

Answer 32

Strongest area: a business leader and a strategic leader
o Throughout my career at the hospital and previously in the industry, I was laser focused on building my capacity to develop and execute strategy, as well as on building my business acumen to develop financially sustainable operations.
• Weakest area: a technologist
o I have no formal MRT training. However, I feel confident that the following aspects of my profile will ensure successful leadership in the questions specifically requiring the knowledge of the DI technologies and processes:
▪ My educational background:
• Being a medical graduate provided me with thorough, comprehensive background and context in all areas of Diagnostic Imaging;
▪ My experience:
• Early in my career, I had an opportunity to work as frontline hospital staff (nurse), which provided me with a first-hand experience in challenges, opportunities, and needs of frontline teams;
• My experience in medical device industry allowed me to be well versed in the medical imaging technology across key modalities such as X-Ray, CT, and MRI.
▪ I possess and continue to further cultivate strong ability in building partnerships and engaging frontline leadership into the decision making.

Question 33

How would people have described your leadership ten years ago versus how they would describe it today? Where have you developed the most and where do you need to continue to develop?

Answer 33

•	10 years ago:
o	Goal-oriented;
o	Analytical and business savvy;
o	Energetic and passionate;
•	Today:
o	A team-focused leader;
o	Actively seeking input from all key stakeholders and acting on it;
o	Nurturing partnerships;
o	Advocate of growth and financial sustainability.

• Aspects that I developed the most:
o Leading and supporting unionized frontline staff;
o Thorough understanding of the Ontario health system;
o Effective budget management;
• Area that I need to continue to develop:
o Developing the joy at work as the foundational factor of success.

Question 34

How would you describe your personal and professional values? Are there particular maxims or tenets that you live by?

Answer 34

My key personal and professional values are:
• Collaboration: Making decisions and taking action must be based on input from key stakeholders and teams. I strongly believe that only the goals developed with input from the teams, referring physicians, and patients will allow us to create a positive, lasting change;
• Team focus: we need team buy-in, support, and participation to achieve the excellence in operations;
• Importance of data and analytics: I always assess our high-level goals from the perspective of key internal and external processes, metrics, and KPIs. I widely use modelling and analysis to support strategic planning, operations, and decision-making.

• Favourite maxims:
o ‘There’re no failures, there are only results’
o ‘Our patients may know nothing about our processes, technology, and quality of diagnostics. They will only remember how we made them feel’
o ‘We will find the way’

Question 35

What is Your Greatest Strength

Answer 35

• Leadership
• – Ability to use my knowledge of the hospital processes to support and grow DI for the benefit of clinical programs and patients
• – strong desire to learn and grow as a leader
• – positive energy