u/egg_waffles_is_snacc

Essentially had an interview where I was asked a test box vs REM question, where the interviewer asked me to talk about relationships between REUG REIG and REAG etc... I have been practicing for a long time and admittedly you start to just follow procedures without thinking about the basic theory behind it. I blanked out and really should have admitted that I am rusty on the topic (probably wouldn't look good but sure would look better than making stuff up).

GAH

I have been searching for a new job for a while now. A couple of weeks ago I was finally able to land an interview at a clinic that I really liked (this job would give me plenty of opportunities to grow as an aud, after an entire career in just adult rehab).

The interview was setup with only a few hours of notice to me. At that point I had been out of clinical practice for a few months but unfortunately had pretty much zero time to prepare for the interview.

SO I MADE IT TO THE INTERVIEW. The clinic was nice, the auds who worked there seemed really professional. I was interviewed by three. The initial part went smoothly, they asked straightforward questions. I thought it was going well, until they brought out two audiograms for me to interpret and make recommendations for.

Then the rusty cogs in my brain had to start turning. First one was an audiogram accompanied by a set of AB word scores. PTA was all within normal limits. I looked at the AB word scores. I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING ON THE GRAPH. All three interviewers started saying to themselves this is a very interesting case. I look back at the results. I panic. I start questioning myself ("Did I seriously forget how to read an audiogram?"). I start answering that the thresholds are within normal range. They wait for me in silence. I stumble and ask what the case history is. They say the patient just can't hear very well. I looked back at the results some more.

THEN I SAW IT.

A blue cross marking 100% at 45dB. A red circle marking 70% at the same level.

And then the rest was history as I finally came to the conclusion that this meant there's potentially underlying retrocochlear pathology, ENT referral, so-on and so-fourth. The interviewers all nodded with finality and then they told me that this guy had an acoustic neuroma.

And then I don't know how I made it out of that interview, how I went back to my car, how I drove home. I just remember that this bit kept playing in my head for a whole week and wanting to die a little inside ;o; had I been in active clinical practice, I would have been able to answer it with confidence and correctly in one go. How did I even fail to read something so basic? This was my bread and butter ;o;

Welp, I didn't get the role of course. The feedback I got was that I presented well in the interview but lacked confidence in the audiogram interpretation. It's all a learning experience, I suppose. Nevertheless, I gotta go back to my daily revision routine...