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IMT · Clinical station

IMT clinical station and one-minute handover

The IMT clinical station rewards organised clinical reasoning and a concise handover. Your plan should become clearer as information arrives, not longer.

Last verified: 6 October 2026Parent guide: IMT

The current 2027 station page says the scenario is read on entry, may evolve with new data and ends with a protected one-minute handover. Follow your invitation for joining details. Teaching additions: sources checked on 14 October 2026; the inherited article retains its existing verification date.

ContentsHow to approach it

How to approach it

What a strong answer needs to show

Clinical reasoning should be progressive

Start with the information you have, identify immediate threats and update your differential as new findings appear.

  • State what you need to know next and why.
  • Avoid ordering every investigation without prioritising the useful ones.
  • Link management to your working diagnosis and the patient's stability.

Communication is assessed throughout

A technically correct plan can still be hard to follow. Make the structure visible to the interviewer.

  • Signpost assessment, differential, investigations and management.
  • Explain uncertainty without sounding indecisive.
  • Use clear escalation thresholds.

The handover is a compression task

The final minute should transmit the problem, current risk and required next action rather than repeat the whole case.

  • Identify the patient and immediate problem.
  • Give only the background that changes management.
  • End with what you need the receiving clinician to do or know next.

A brief handover should transfer a live problem

Short fictional handover: ‘Dr Shah, I'm the IMT1 on Ward 4. Alex Green, 68, admitted with breathlessness, is now drowsier. I'm at the bedside reassessing ABCDE with the nurse and need urgent senior review. Can you attend now or identify who will? I will use our local emergency escalation pathway if deterioration or delayed help requires it.’ This illustrates compression, not a complete case or official model answer.

  • The receiver gets identity, location, the change and a specific request. Include relevant observations, treatment and background when provided; the illustration does not supply or invent them.
  • An accepted task matters more than saying ‘I would inform the registrar’. Confirm the response and use the appropriate escalation route for current risk if help is unavailable.
  • Practise within the published one-minute handover window, then check what the listener could act on. Do not fill the minute with the history at the expense of present risk.

Original practice questions

Questions worth practising aloud

These are original preparation prompts written around published domains and entry-level expectations. They are not recalled interview questions.

  1. A patient with pneumonia becomes hypotensive and confused. Talk through your assessment, investigations and immediate management.
  2. A patient has chest pain with an initially non-diagnostic ECG. How would your differential and next steps evolve?
  3. You are given a patient with progressive weakness and abnormal electrolytes. Explain your priorities and then give a one-minute handover.
  4. A patient with decompensated liver disease develops increasing drowsiness. Talk through the likely causes and immediate management.

Common mistakes

Where otherwise good answers lose clarity

  • Giving a long differential before dealing with instability.
  • Listing investigations without explaining what decision they will influence.
  • Using the handover to repeat the entire answer.
  • Forgetting to communicate what needs escalation or review next.

Preparation plan

How to practise this deliberately

  • Practise common acute medical presentations with timed verbal answers.
  • Force yourself to state the top three differentials rather than an exhaustive list.
  • Finish every practice case with a one-minute SBAR-style handover.
  • Review the current IMT interview structure before interview day.

Continue into practice

Practise the answer, not just the reading

Spoken IMT practice is launching soon. At launch, choose a Question bank prompt, work on your answer and use structured feedback to improve it. Explore the practice experience while you prepare with these free questions.

Explore IMT practice

Official source

Check the live recruitment guidance

Interview formats can change between cycles. This focused guide should be used alongside the official source below and the full IMT guide.

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