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IMT · Both stations

Communication in the IMT interview

The latest detailed guidance gives communication its own mark in each station. Clarity, listening and an appropriate audience matter as much as fluent delivery.

Last verified: 6 October 2026Parent guide: IMT

Two separately weighted communication marks appear in the current 2027 scoring table. The interviewer may assess both your answer to the panel and how you would speak with patients or colleagues. 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

Station 1: make evidence understandable

A two-minute presentation and an unfamiliar ethics discussion leave little room for an unstructured monologue.

  • Start with the point, then one concrete example and its relevance.
  • Answer the actual follow-up before adding background.
  • In a professional dilemma, distinguish a patient conversation from a private escalation to a supervisor.

Station 2: communicate while decisions change

The clinical scenario can add new data. Explain why it alters urgency, investigation or management without reciting a fixed script.

  • Use plain language with a patient; check understanding and preferences.
  • Give the clinical team an explicit task, urgency and escalation trigger.
  • Acknowledge uncertainty honestly and state when you would seek senior help.

Adapt to audience and interruption

A safe answer may need a different level of detail for a patient, an FY colleague, the registrar and the interview panel.

  • Pause and respond to new information or a direct question.
  • Use a brief signpost only when it helps the listener follow the plan.
  • Close the loop: confirm who will act, what will be recorded and when to review.

Explain the decision the patient faces

Organise the conversation around what is known, what remains uncertain, why the proposed next step matters and what choices are available. The patient needs a usable explanation of the decision.

  • Find out what concerns the patient and what would help them participate. Use appropriate communication support; do not interpret difficulty hearing, understanding a language or expressing themselves as a refusal.
  • Check understanding of the important choice in the patient's own words and invite questions. Record relevant preferences and the agreed plan rather than treating agreement as proof of understanding.

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. Explain an evolving acute plan to a worried patient without promising a diagnosis you have not confirmed.
  2. An interviewer interrupts your achievement example to ask what you personally did. Respond concisely.
  3. You need urgent registrar advice while the patient's family is asking for an update. How do you communicate with each?
  4. A colleague appears to misunderstand your handover. How do you check and repair the transfer of responsibility?

Common mistakes

Where otherwise good answers lose clarity

  • Treating communication as polished speech rather than listening and adapting.
  • Using clinical shorthand with a patient.
  • Giving a vague escalation without who, urgency or required decision.
  • Delivering a memorised answer through a new finding or interruption.

Preparation plan

How to practise this deliberately

  • Record one Station 1 answer and one changing clinical case; listen for unexplained jargon.
  • Practise the same decision once for a patient and once for a registrar.
  • Ask a colleague to interrupt with a relevant new result.
  • Finish with the one-minute handover guide and compare how the audience changes the content.

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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