7 Nurse Interview Questions and Answers

Apr 18, 2018

7 Nurse Interview Questions and Answers

Whether you are preparing to interview a candidate or applying for a job, review our list of top Nurse interview questions and answers.

 


 

1. Why did you decide to become a nurse?

This question is an attempt to get to know the candidate better as an individual. Everyone has a reason for going into their chosen profession and this should this should be viewed as an opportunity to explain what one’s motivations are and why they chose to nurse. It would be a good idea to provide a personal example if applicable, but the answer should be honest and sincere.

A good example of an answer would be “I decided to become a nurse because I genuinely love working with people and caring for others. When I was a child, I had an appendectomy and was really apprehensive about it. The doctors were great, but only spent a limited amount of time with me. It was the nurses who spent time, answered questions, and helped put me and my family at ease. They were fantastic during my recovery and that has always stuck with me. That is a big reason I decided to become a nurse.”

 

2.Give us an example of a situation where you had to deal with a difficult and demanding patient and what you did.

Nursing is a field in which you work with many different people during difficult and stressful times. There will always be difficult patients and this question seeks to gauge one’s reaction to a common issue.

“I remember one particular patient who was in a lot of pain and did not want to be touched, was verbally abusive and constantly complaining about their pain. I reviewed his chart and spoke with the attending physician to ensure that we were doing everything we could to manage his pain. After doing so, I let him know that we were doing everything possible to make him comfortable. While what I could do for him was limited, I made sure that he felt listened to and that we weren’t dismissive.”

 

3. Why do you want to work at this hospital, office, etc.?

This is a question to determine what the candidate knows about the facility and if they did their homework. Before interviewing, it is important to research the office, hospital, or facility beforehand and to be able to ask or answer related questions. If a job applicant does not know anything about the office, hospital, or practice it shows a basic lack of preparation and casts serious doubt on whether or not they actually want to work there.

“I would like to work at this hospital because of its excellent reputation for emergency medicine. I started as an EMT and had the opportunity to transport patients to various emergency rooms throughout the city and I was always impressed at the thoroughness, professionalism, and skill of the doctors and nurses that I encountered here. I know that this particular facility gets a good number of advanced trauma patients and I am looking forward to applying what I have already learned while still having the opportunity to learn from a seasoned and professional staff.”
 

4. Why did you choose the particular field of nursing that you are in?

This question is another way to get to know the candidate. Different specialties require different personality types and each has their own unique challenges. The best answer to give is one that provides some insight as to what drives the decision-making process.

“I have always loved aviation and was naturally drawn to emergency medicine. I spent time in the Army as a combat medic and as such spent a lot of time around helicopters both for transportation and for medical evacuations. After I left the Army, I knew that a flight nurse was the best way to build upon my previous interests and experiences in the civilian world.”
 

5. What kinds of personality traits are most effective for nurses to have?

This question is great for gauging a candidate's understanding of the complexity and human side of nursing. Nurses require a number of skills, especially interpersonal skills in order to successfully work with doctors, patients, family members, and other staff.

“In my opinion, the personality traits that make nurses most effective are patience, compassion, and attention to detail.”

6. What are the biggest challenges or issues that nurses face today?

This is a great way to gauge whether a candidate is staying up to date on trends and news in the industry.

“In my opinion, the biggest challenges and issues facing nurses today are mandatory overtime, safe staffing levels, and workplace safety. The current nursing shortage has led to potentially dangerous practices like mandatory overtime and unsafe staffing levels. This increases the stress on nurses, decreases the quality of patient care, and increases the likelihood of medical errors. ”

7.  Why Do you feel you are qualified for the job?

This is an opportunity for the candidates to sell themselves and talk about past education and experiences.

“I feel that I am qualified for the job because I have my Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), I am a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), and have 6 years of practical experience as a nurse anesthetist. I also stay on top of industry news, studies, and attend seminars or symposiums at least twice a year. I genuinely enjoy what I do and put in extra effort to be the best that I possibly can.”

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Technological developments continue to improve well into the 21st century, bringing in advancements in surgical care. By extension, the responsibilities of the registered nurse that assists in patient care in the operating room/theater need to keep up with the times. Definition: These nurses who have more specialized duties in the OT/OR are called perioperative nurses. The word “peri-” is Greek for “about”, or “around”, “enclosing.” Just think of the word “perimeter. Hence, “perioperative nursing” means the care of a patient before, during, and after a surgical procedure. Duties: Typically, perioperative nurses fall into two categories: Scrub nurse - These nurses select and pass surgical instruments to the surgeon during the operation. He/she might also assist in the procedure. Circulating nurse - This kind of nurse manages the operating room. She ensures the place is safe for the patient and operating staff. Anaesthetic nurse - Provides support to the anaesthetist during or before the procedure. Duties include preparing the equipment, and administering anaesthesia to the patient in a safe manner. Holding bay nurse - this term might be called differently in other countries. The holding bay nurse is responsible to bring the patient up to speed in the pre-perioperative environment. She is also responsible for all the information to be correct prior to procedure, such as fasting status, reports, and medication. Post-surgery Recovery Nurse - As the name indicates, this nurse cares for the patient immediately after surgery. Tasks such as ensuring patient’s airways are open, recording results, are the norm. It is common for a single perioperative nurse to carry two or three of the aforementioned duties during a patient’s course of the surgery. Education: A post-basic certification is needed in order to qualify one to take up perioperative duties. The duration of the post-basic training might be within 1-2 years. Nurses undergoing training are exposed to surgical care, intensive care, and treatment of critically ill patients. Most post-basic programs require 3-4 years of work experience as a registered nurse beforehand. Workload and Working Conditions: Surgical procedures can be very long. Moreover, complications can sometimes occur, further delaying the endpoint of the surgery. Perioperative nurses are expected to be alert of the patients’ vitals during the post-surgical state to monitor any signs of abnormalities. Working hours may differ across institutions. A small clinic specializing in aesthetic surgery might have more regular hours, compared to a teaching hospital that has multiple wards. Work conditions and intensity also depend on the severity and complexity of the patient’s surgery. Opportunities in Perioperative Nursing Like most areas of nursing, job opportunities continue to grow. This specialization is expected to grow at a high rate as more institutions begin to provide surgical procedures. The additional training provided to nurses with perioperative backgrounds can open many career doors. In the future, they will be able to function as OT directors, handle fiscal matters, and other managerial aspects of the operating theater. With some more experience, nurses can proceed to becoming academicians or educators, as well as go into research. Read more on advancing your nursing career into nursing education HERE. Salary and income Nurses with specialization (such as perioperative nursing) stand to earn higher than the national average of nurses’ income. However, it is subject to location and healthcare institution facilities. For those in the public sector, you have a high chance of being put in a higher grade. Read more on how nurses can increase their income HERE. Source: https://healthtimes.com.au/hub/perioperative/46/guidance/nc1/perioperative-nursing/563/ http://www.mayo.edu/mayo-clinic-school-of-health-sciences/careers/perioperative-nursing Search for high-paying perioperative nursing jobs here at MIMS Career . Sign up and apply today with our safe, secure, and free site. MIMS Career is an extensive job portal for healthcare practitioners such as nurses, doctors, and dentists throught Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Browse through our vast directory of job vacancies by top healthcare employers. See any jobs you like? Apply with one click, or save it for later if you need some time to think about it. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Set up an email alert, and we’ll notify you when a job vacancy that meets your desired criteria becomes available.

Career Highlight: Perioperative Nursing

Technological developments continue to improve well into the 21st century, bringing in advancements in surgical care. By extension, the responsibilities of the registered nurse that assists in patient care in the operating room/theater need...

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A common question asked to academic counselors by prospective nursing students is: “So how’s the life of a nurse? What kind of hours to they work?” It depends. It really depends on your location, academic qualifications, experience, country of practice, working environment… Really, I could make a long list but then the article would be way too long. So our team at MIMS Career has sifted through the working hours of a lot of different types of nurses, so you can have an idea of what kind of career choices you’d have to make to go towards that kind of life. We’ve categorized it in five parts: a little, a bit, normal, a bit more, and a lot. A little (3-5 hours a day) Part-time nurse practitioners These nurses mostly work doing house calls, or are doing contract jobs with non-medical institutions like schools or companies. Their employers do not require their presence most of the time, so as little as 3-5 hours per work session is pretty common. Part-time nurse practitioners usually have another job other than their nursing one. Find out how to become a part-time nurse practitioner in our in-depth nursing career advancement guide HERE. A bit (5-8 hours a day) Locum nurses Locum nurses work part time shifts in clinics or hospitals or other medical-related institutions. They are not on the payroll of the institution they work with; as they are only meant to supplement the institution’s own workforce. On average a locum nurse’s shift is about 5-8 hours. It is more common to see nurses doing locum jobs to supplant their monthly income, but nurses who exclusively do locum jobs exist, albeit rare. Find out part-time locum jobs for nurses on our career portal HERE. Normal (8-10 hours a day) Nurse instructors, academicians, dialysis nurses These nurses work office hours. This is as normal as it gets. Dialysis centers and nursing schools all have regular, fixed schedules that don’t demand anything more than the usual office workday. Same goes for those who work in nursing schools as teachers, trainers, or professors. You can find out what it takes to be an academician in the nursing world in our article about lifelong learning HERE. These kinds of nurses don’t normally work weekends, and their schedules are mostly the same and predictable. A bit more (10-14 hours a day) Those involved in direct patient care, like emergency room nurses Most of the time, when nurses at the ER say they work a 12-hour shift from 7am to 7pm, they almost always never get to get out on time. There’s always something to do, someone else to cover, or some loose ends to tie up. This is made even worse by working in hospitals with a shortage of staff. Nurses would be brought in to do things that are not in their job scope, because they can do those tasks. But people who are not nurses do not do nursing tasks because they cannot do those tasks. How many times have you been to an ER, and see a nurse doing clerical work at the front desk because the hospital doesn’t have a secretary or clerk? A lot (14-24 hours a day) Paediatric intensive care, intensive care, surgical, labor and delivery. It is very common to see nurses doing double shifts in these wards. Their shifts might be 12 hours, but are sometimes to do two of those shifts back-to-back to reduce shift handovers, staffing overlap, and reduce costs. Moreover, the type of work that this category of nurses do are a bit on the lengthier side. Surgeries can go up to 24 hours, including perioperative care. Intensive care can be very demanding as patients hover around critical states. There is a variety of workloads for nurses. Each type of work suits different people who prioritize different things. With MIMS Career you have the opportunity of applying with ease to the jobs that you want to go into. Signup and apply with our easy, 1-click application process. Browse for jobs in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia. Save jobs for later if you’re still on the fence. Also, you can opt for job alerts if nothing fancies you. Signup and apply today! It’s fast, secure, and free.

How Many Hours do Nurses Work?

A common question asked to academic counselors by prospective nursing students is: “So how’s the life of a nurse? What kind of hours to they work?” It depends. It really depends on your location, academic qualifications, experience,...

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As productivity writer Benjamin Hardy puts it, survival mode is: “ your life being filled to the brim with nonessential and trivial things. You don’t have time to make anything meaningful. ” Do you often feel like this? Crazy shift hours, demanding patients, children to take care and worry about at home… It’s no wonder that nurses are falling sick because of their stress levels . Your busy life just gnaws at the corners of your mind. It’s difficult to sleep, hard to find time to eat, and care about yourself. As you fend off your exhaustion, you realize at the end of your day the worst thing about your predicament is that you have to face the same thing tomorrow. And the next day. And the next one. So you go through life on autopilot. There is a way to break this cycle, and return your sense of self. You will feel happier, healthier, and achieve your personal and professional goals with these simple daily practices. Re-orient your life Take charge of your life . Most importantly, be conscious of your decision to take charge of your life. Decide on a better way of looking at how you live, and decide to act on it. Intention is very important; actions only come after that. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. You have only one life; it would be a shame to live it miserably, because you won’t be getting any of your youth back. Get Good Sleep So many things can be attributed to the irregularity of sleep or the lack of it. Your concentration slips out frequently. Your memory is fuzzled. Your body feels tired, and has no energy. These are all detrimental to the patients under your care. Most importantly, it poses a real danger to your health. Those who sleep 7-9 hours a day are proven to be healthier, fitter, and less likely to be obese or suffer from any other health issues. “But wait…” you say. “I can’t do that! I work shifts.” Don’t worry. Remember that you can space out your sleeps into naps if a long period of rest is not available to you. There are so many benefits to getting enough sleep. Some of them are: Increased concentration Better cognitive abilities Less risk of cardiovascular diseases Reduced chances of depression And so on. Prayer, or meditation Gratitude upon waking up, or when facing a difficult time, is one of the best habits you can form. This mindset of abundance primes you to cope better with challenging situations or periods of your life. Because you are always grateful for the things that you currently have, it negates the negative impact of focusing on the things you don’t have, or would like to be better. Prayer and meditation helps you re-orient yourself to set your most important priorities. It also serves as a good “brain detox”. Your life might be busy and hectic. By devoting some time to honing your spiritual center, you will learn to make sense and derive meaning in a chaotic world. If you don’t know how to meditate, here’s the 5-minute meditation trick every nurse needs to know . Exercise in moderation At MIMS Career we all know most of you nurses are very tired. However, exercise is something that still should not be neglected. Take walks. Walking can also be a form of meditation. Just walk a few minutes, being mindful of your surroundings and focusing on your surroundings. Try and get into the habit of exercising, too. It has many benefits which I’m sure you’re aware of. If you want a healthy mind, it has to start with care of the body. No gym membership? Try some no-equipment home exercises. Eat Healthy Eat small, frequent meals as opposed to large meals in one sitting. Those working shifts have a tendency to grab whatever food is available, and that is unhealthy. Try to prepare healthy snacks that you can bring to workplace, like cut fruits. Pack food to work. Cooking packed lunches are a lot healthier because you are aware of what you put into your body. Experiment with simple 1-dish meals. They are light enough to bring in one container, and can simply be reheated in a microwave. If going home to eat, experiment with freezing your prepared meals, or slow-marinading meat that you can throw in the oven right when you get back home. YouTube channels like Tasty can give you many ideas. Consume Great Content Read, even if you can only do it for ten minutes a day. If done every day, you’ll eventually finish many books in a year. Podcasts and audiobooks are good to listen to on your commute. Here’s a helpful article also written by me about getting started with podcasts. The world’s most successful people all read at least one book a week. You don’t have to do that, but that goes to show how important the value of reading good content is. By “good”, I don’t mean Facebook posts or tweets. I mean real, thought-provoking forms of prose that teach you something new. Over time, just by doing 10 minutes a day, you’ll have more knowledge on different topics. It will make you a better writer, speaker, and you’ll develop a personality that future employers would absolutely love whenever you go for interviews. You will view the world in a different lens. Here’s a great reading list for you to get started if you like. Write down and review your goals every day What are your goals? Write them down. Both short and long term. Then do something that gets you closer to your long term goals every day. Getting out of the rut that is your daily grind can be difficult, but very rewarding when done right. The location and working environment you’re in can make or break your learning curve towards attaining your career goals. Which is why you should give MIMS Career a shot. Browse through our extensive directory of nursing jobs across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, and more countries coming soon. Upload your resume and be notified of jobs you might be interested in. Sign up for free, and discover the change of pace in life that you need to get out of autopilot today.

How Nurses Can Get Out of "Survival Mode"

As productivity writer Benjamin Hardy puts it, survival mode is: “ your life being filled to the brim with nonessential and trivial things. You don’t have time to make anything meaningful. ” Do you often feel like this?...

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How do we define a great nurse? Is it one that fully accomplishes his/her tasks? Completes her shifts well without any issues? Great nurses are those who alleviate suffering and heal the body, mind, and soul. Compassion Compassion is the feeling of concern and sympathy for others. The word compassion literally means to “suffer together.” It arises when a person sees another suffering, and feels a deep desire to relieve the said suffering. It is a central tenet of nursing; the very mature of the work originates from the compassion of individuals to relieve suffering and pain. A compassionate nurse will always do what is right for her patients. In times of fatigue, tiredness, or exhaustion, compassion for that patient will drive this nurse to trudge onwards and do her job. On developing compassion: Make it a daily practice: Think about it in the morning during rounds. At night during late shifts. When you talk to patients. It is a simple philosophy of kindness. If you’re finding it hard to develop compassion in your nursing life, remind yourself that everyone you meet is seeking happiness, avoiding suffering, has lost something, and is learning about what it means to be human. Think about a person you know who’s recently suffering. Imagine if the suffering happened to you. Now imagine if there is another person who realizes your situation and is trying her very best to make you feel better. You would appreciate that a lot. This helps you develop the feeling of wanting to relieve others’ suffering, which is the definition of compassion. Compassion has many benefits: it has been proven that compassionate people produce 23% less cortisol, the “stress” hormone. Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Understanding the feelings of patients is crucial to their recovery. It does not mean you completely understand what they are going through. It also does not mean you agree with everything they are feeling. It means that you are willing to make a voluntary effort to listen to them and understand their challenges. It is shown that patients are more receptive to treatments when they feel that their caregivers understand their situation. On developing empathy: It needs to be done without judgement. Everyone has a different set of values. Two similar patients can have completely different challenges. Understand what they are fighting against, and what they are fearful of. Use it to better develop a relationship with your patient, so he/she may continue to recover holistically. Selflessness The ability to think less about ourselves, and more about other people. Nurses need this trait, mostly for their own benefit over the patient’s. Being selfless means to give to others at the expense of their own selves. By being selfless, it makes working the stressful nursing life a lot better. Some nurses miss their lunches just to hold their patient’s hand. Some stay up the night to make sure their patient manages to live through it. The reason why these kind of nurses are great is that they would do it all over again. For many more years to come. They also have to. Selflessness prevents these nurses from burning out on their work by caring for others more. On developing selflessness: Take pleasure in the happiness of your patients. Don’t hurt another person for the sake of hurting them. Watch your selfish thoughts; like when a patient irritates you, threatens you, you get the idea. That kind of thinking gets in the way of compassion as well. Good communicator Not only will you be needing to administer IVs, triage patients in the ER, or carry out CPR, you will also need to be dealing with your patients as humans. There are instances where you will have to help patients and their relatives to understand their medical situation, in a comprehensible way. Moreover, you will need to deal with your superiors, and sometimes you might not agree with what they would have you do. Being a solid communicator allows you to express those feelings of disagreement, and come to a favorable conclusion. If deciding to go into teaching, being a great communicator is essential that you can impart your knowledge onto junior nurses effectively. On developing communication skills: Practice practice practice. Try to be as understandable as possible. It helps to realize what kind of patient or relative you’re talking to, their proficiency in the language you speak and their terminologies. Some states of malaysia have a different colloquial grammar compared to the standard Bahasa. It helps to understand these nuances in language. Mirror their way of speaking and you’ll come off as more approachable. Never EVER condescend someone else for not understanding what you were trying to tell them. More often than not it is the inability of the speaker to explain, not the inability of the listener to understand. Possess mental fortitude Some days are pleasant. Some are rewarding. But some are difficult. Some are downright devastating, like when you lose a patient you cared for. It is important not to let these things mentally incapacitate you, and compromise your ability to care for your patients. It is okay to feel sad, angry, frustrated, or even shattered. We are all human. Great nurses have the mental fortitude to weather these types of events. It might not be easy, but they still return to practise their art of healing. On developing mental fortitude: Identify the obstacle in your path. Is it a difficult patient? An angry relative? Death? Understand how your emotions are making you react. Are you upset? Why? Know that the obstacle can sometimes be the way. A difficult patient can teach you patience. An angry relative can teach you to deal with irrational people with stride. Death can teach you to be compassionate of other people’s loss. Focus on making the obstacle that’s disturbing you. Ask yourself, “If I can’t solve this for myself, how can I make this better for othe people?” Calm under pressure Great nurses remain calm and composed under great duress. Diamonds are forged under high pressure. Great nurses too, are like that; the do not cave under the load, they emerge stronger and better. Being calm under pressure-filled situations allows you to perceive problems with better accuracy. It leads to better decision making, which can mean life or death for your patients. Remain calm, and you will make better sense of things around you. On developing mental calm: The events that we see as negative all have a positive benefit that we can act on. A computer glitch that destroys your work in the hospital is now an opportunity to become two times better at your job because you’re going to do it twice. Having a terrible supervisor in the wards is now an opportunity to learn from his/her faults while you fill up your resume and look for better opportunities elsewhere. Being mentally calm is seeing through the negative, past its underside and through to the positive. Lifelong learner A carpenter is only as good as the tools he is given. Same thing applies to a nurse. However, in this case, the tools to a nurse are her knowledge and skillset. A diverse skillset will make you valuable at a lot of situations. A deep understanding of a certain skillset will make you highly valued at that field. Whatever it is, learning new things and constantly studying to make yourself better is always a good idea. On developing lifelong learning skills: Develop a passion for the latest advancements in nursing policy, technology, and laws. The changes in those areas will ultimately affect the future of your work. Have a career plan, and work towards getting the skills, certifications, or knowledge that you need to move on to the next stage of your career. Follow great medical podcasts to listen to on your commute. Subscribe to nursing-related journals and publications, and make it a point to read in your spare time. Conclusion It is said that in times that require greatness, we do not rise to the occasion but we fall back on our training. These habits may not be in you, but with deliberate and constant practice, you can cultivate these, and continue on your path of becoming not only a good nurse, but a great one. Great nurses are always on the lookout for new, exciting, and better opportunities to grow their career. Find out your next employment with MIMS Career, a fast, secure, and convenient portal to connect you to top-class healthcare employers in MY, SG, ID, and PH.

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