SJT Practice Questions with Explanations

SJT time is nearly here for DFT applications... so here is a couple of walk though questions to get you warmed up!

I have previously blogged about my top tips for SJTs and how they are marked... so lets get right into practising some questions.

Question one: ranking question

1. You have a patient booked in for veneer preparation in the afternoon. You have never done this treatment before but you have noticed that your Educational Supervisor (ES), who was due to assist you with this patient, is not in today due to sickness. How do you proceed?

A Reschedule the patient to another time when your ES is in

B Carry on with the treatment, you feel confident as you have discussed with your ES previously

C Seek advice from another associate in the practice

D Call your ES for advice

E See the patient but carry on any other treatments the patient requires

I have seen many variations of the theme of this question in SJTs. It is testing your scope of practice, competence and ability to ask for help to treat patients safely.

When a question like this comes up you should ask yourself 2 questions: is there something in the question that tells me how experienced I am and what harm is at stake for the treatment that is needed? For example, if the treatment is a scale and polish this is fairly low risk in terms of harm and should be a skill that a safe beginner should be able to perform

Applying those 2 questions to the above question: you have never done this procedure before and potentially doing a veneer prep although isn't a big procedure, is an irreversible one that I would expect a safe beginner to need some guidance.

So what is the answer....?

Answer: CEDAB

You need assistance because of the answers to the 2 questions above so C is a good option and therefore first, whereas B therefore is last. You are not given any further information about other treatments the patient might need, but instead of wasting their time if they have an appointment booked, E is a reasonable answer too, although doesn't address the reason why the patient is booked in with you. Rather than just rebooking the patient straightaway (A) there might be another solution, so although your ES is sick, D is slightly better.

What did you get out of 20?

Question two: best of three

2. You arrive earlier than normal to the practice in the morning to find one of the senior nurses scaling one of her friend's teeth. How would you manage this?

A Turn a blind eye, you don’t want to cause trouble

B Ask her to stop and offer to take over the treatment

C Speak to the practice manager

D Report the nurse to the GDC

E Call your indemnity for advice

F Examine the friend to ensure no harm been done

G Call the police

H Rebook the patient with yourself for a full examination and any treatment necessary

Another question where there are many variations in SJTs over the years - again about the theme of scope of practice but also raising concerns. It is important in SJTs to understand how to appropriately raise concerns, as in who to go to for what issue.

In this issue, your nurse is operating outside of her scope of practice and potentially causing harm to a patient. So what is the answer?

Answer: CFH

The most appropriate person to raise concerns to in this SJT is the practice manager, as they will be responsible for the training and management of nurses. You must also consider patients safety, so F and H address this as you immediately check their safety and follow up with a comprehensive examination. Reporting to the GDC is not proportionate, as you don't know if this nurse has done this before, or is aware that scaling is outside of her scope.

What did you get out of 12?

I hope these walk throughs have been useful!

If you'd like more practice for the upcoming SJT, check out this must have book I have co-authored or contact me for one-on-one coaching - for more information see here.

Please note that the above SJTs are not endorsed by COPDEND and are written from my experience of SJTs. When practising with SJTs, the best quality are ones which go through a panel of experts to ratify them and validate answers. All SJTs in the book linked have been through this process.

If you have any questions about SJTs? Please let me know in the comments.