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.”

Other Articles

Our team got to know about this privately-run nursing in a cozy neighborhood of Petaling Jaya. Impresif Home Care is run by a total of 3 nurses, 7 workers and their supervisor. We had the chance to speak to the supervisor, Raja. Raja is a wonderful guy, and based on just a few conversations with him you can really tell that he cares a lot about what goes on in the nursing home and its occupants. Impresif Care Home is looking to hire staff nurses with minimal experience to help with their workload. Visit their job listing page to apply. What is the vision behind your nursing home? How did it come about? The home was a house bought by our founders, En. Mohd Faizal and his wife Pn Zainab. Pn. Zainab was a matron for a big hospital. There she realized that a lot of patients still require care, but since they can’t stay admitted for too long they are discharged. It was disheartening to see that, so she and her husband founded this home. We have been privately funded ever since, and do not rely on donations. We have about 30 occupants, with the age range being from 55 to 90 years old. Some of them have children who are not able to take care of them; it is cheaper to send the parents here for nursing care compared to hiring a nurse who comes to the house, which can be very expensive. Some of the occupants here just do not have anywhere to go… but we are grateful we can still support them here. How is the home culture like? A lot of people come here to visit, thinking it to be depressed and lonely for the elderly to be here. But it’s actually a lot of fun! Everyone tries their best to be happy. I myself have never been happier in my life, now that I’m working here looking after other people. It’s a relatively slow working lifestyle. We wake the occupants up at 630am, then prepare breakfast, wash, clean them, and take them out for exercise. Those who need parenteral feeding will be fed by our nurses. We have lunch around noon, and then it’s some TV time followed by an afternoon nap. Dinner is at 7, then it’s free and easy. Weekends are a bit busier. Relatives and children come over to visit, and will ask the staff questions like “What medication is he/she on?”, or “How has my father been this week?”, things like that. This is a suitable place for nurses out of nursing school to gain some experience before going on to do their Degrees or Post-Basics. The occupants here are all low-dependency type of patients. What do you do to make your staff happy and enjoy working here? It helps that the elderly are all funny and exciting in their own way. I always get “invited” to any one of the uncles or aunties houses. I’ve worked here for 8 years and I still don’t know where their “houses” are. laughs The location of the home is very nice and quiet. It has easy access to the Federal Highway and the New Pantai Expressway, so staff can easily get here from all over. It can be tiring at times but not as busy as hospital work, and they get paid well too. What cool pieces of tech do you have in your clinic? Everyone has their own wheelchair! So they can decorate or personalize it to fit their own characters. Some carry small tokens on their wheelchairs to remind them of people or places they used to meet. We have fully adjustable beds like the ones in hospitals for our more needy occupants. Our dispensary is always kept fully-stocked. What kind of people are you looking to hire as your staff? We’re looking for nurses who are patient, hardworking, and with a soft heart for the elderly. Applicant must also be willing to work six days a week, especially on weekends. That’s when we’re the most busy. How does your staff get hired? Our nurses gets hired by Pn. Zainab. She talks to the nurses that is going to work here. It’s not much of a screening; it’s just to get to know who you are as a person and how you’ll do your work. We take our staff from maid agencies, so they’re mostly Indonesian. What does the future of this nursing home look like? We want to keep doing what we do for a long time. We’re looking to increase the number of nurses that we employ to help the current workforce cope better with the workload. At the moment we are looking to hire any qualified nurses, even ones with minimal work experience. We’ll help to guide you in the right direction. Our Most Popular Articles Think About These 5 Things Before You Decide On A Specialization 5 Things Nurses Need To Know To Be Paid More 10 Ways Malaysian Nurses Can Increase Their Income

Institution Highlight: Impresif Care Nursing Home

Our team got to know about this privately-run nursing in a cozy neighborhood of Petaling Jaya. Impresif Home Care is run by a total of 3 nurses, 7 workers and their supervisor. We had the chance to speak to the supervisor, Raja. Raja is a...

Read More
Résumé’s (also known as CVs) are great. They sumarize your experiences onto a few pages so your employer can quickly get a sense of who you are before hiring you. However, employers have to go through a lot of résumés in their search for a potential hire, so making a great résumé can result in a good first impression. Traditionally, résumés have been blocky, information-dense pieces of paper that you send out to employers you’re checking out. With the advancements in personal computing, software and printing, people have been more and more creative with how they craft their résumé’s. The more traditional approach can look more professional and neat, but a creative approach can often help you stand out from the crowd. Choose a method that best presents you in a positive light. Before you write your résumé Before you write down your résumé, sit down and take note of what you’ve done. Any interesting projects taken? Achievements? List it down. Also verify the dates of your education background. It can be easy to forget, especially if you’ve left your academic studies for a long time. Also try and find out the full course or programme names of your certificates, degrees, doctorates. Doing great things lead to a great résumé. Take up as many opportunities as possible that can be put on a résumé, like volunteer work, teaching, skills training, etc. The traditional approach Easy way: Use a predefined template from Word, Pages, or Docs. Tools needed: A PC, tablet, or smartphone. This is as simple as it gets: Open the word processor, and select from the list of templates given. You can add, remove, or move around certain sections which do not pertain to you. For example, for a fresh graduate, your education background would come above your work experience because the former is more important at that stage of life. Vice versa for those already working. Want more templates? Check out https://r ésumégenius.com/résumé-templates . Normal way: Build it from scratch. Tools needed: PC, tablet, smartphone. Word editing software needed. Building your résumé from scratch allows you to customize every single aspect of that you can present to your future employer. Start by writing down your info. Be concise, truthful, and accurate. Then add your work experience , or educational background. As previously mentioned, this depends on whether you’re still studying or have already worked. Put it in reverse-chonological order; meaning the latest job first, and the first job last. Same with education. Add in your skills. It helps employers a lot if you could put in the degree of proficiency. To keep it simple, just rate it from 1-5. For example, ANSYS = ⅘ , SolidWorks = ⅗, verbal communication ⅗, and so on. Some skills to add include software (ANSYS, SPSS), or equipment handling (telemetry, ECG, cardiographs). Don’t forget to add in your language ability. When working in sectors like healthcare, where you deal with a diverse set of people (especially in multi-cultural Malaysia!) it helps to be bi- or trilingual. Employers love that. Now that you’ve added all you have to add, start by styling the text appropriately. A good rule to follow is to enlarge each point by a few titles, then bold it, so the reader can quickly skim through your résumé. Ensure there is enough spacing. Think of whitespace as breathing room. You want your text to be able to breathe in order to be legible. A cramped document is not fun to read. Add in the headers and footers. A good use of headers would be your name and contact number , in 9-pt font. Employers often put your résumé in a stack, and putting something to identify you there would help a great deal. You can put a page number on the footer for continuity purposes. View over the entire document. Ensure the margins are properly aligned. Is the font legible? Clear? Then head over to save and print it out. You’re done! The creative approach With easy application processes from job portals like MIMS Career, employers now are as equally likely to read your résumé in a digital format, on a screen. This allows for some creativity, as current screens can now reproduce millions of colors, in different shapes and sizes. Remember not to overdo a creative design; keep it subtle, keep it clean, and keep the information legible. Easy way: Use an online résumé builder. Tools needed: PC, with keyboard and mouse recommended. An internet connection is important. My favorite résumé builder is, by far, Novorésumé . Very intuitive controls. A good degree of customization available. Their presets are killer design. They’ve matched out complementary colors in each of their templates so you don’t have to. They’re all subtle, yet sophisticated. Clean, yet intricate. It’s also multi-lingual, so you can craft your Bahasa Malaysia résumé in it as well. Have a look at Elon Musk’s résumé, generated by Novorésumé. It’s simple, packed, and most importantly, eye-catching. It already looks superior compared to a lot of the résumés we have seen. It also proves that you don’t need many pages to list down your info, despite being one of the world’s most successful visionaries. There are also other résumé builders online: Reed is one of them. Just do a Google search, you’ll eventually find out with layouts or usability that you really like. The Normal way: Design it yourself! Tools: PC, Keyboard + Mouse, Drawing tablets optional, PhotoShop/Illustrator/Any online sketching tool. To do this, you might need some additional skills with illustration software. The idea is to create a layout that draws attention but doesn’t compromise on information legibility. You can have a look at great designs from dribbble.com, a site where great designers like to post their work. Have a look at the ones you like, and determine what you like about them and incorporate them into your design. It’s good inspiration. You need to keep in mind 4 things: Typography Use 15-25px only. A too large text-size can look goofy and awkward. Like a kids book. Use a big font for headlines, and employ a low font weight. Like Helvetica or Lato. Since you’re sending this over the web, and it will be read on screen, go for a sans-serif font for easier legibility. Colors Use only one base color. A résumé with too many colors will make it look amateur and is a pain to see. In the end, your résumé is an official document used to represent you in a good light. Never choose black for your base color. Black never appears in the real world. It is sombre, demure, and lacks energy. It is always a bad idea to use black for anything that is to be displayed on-screen, other than text. Icons Icons can help increase aesthetic features and help you stand out. Use icons that are recognizable, like a suitcase for work experience, a graduation hat for education, etc. I recommend the use of icon fonts. They are scalable at various dpi on-screen. Whitespace layout Whitespace is space where there’s no stuff. Use it to define hierarchy by putting some space between your education, work, skills, and information sections. Use that whitespace to build flow for the résumé reader. Conclusion That’s it! It all depends on how much time and effort you can put in to your résumé. Remember to keep it simple, accurate info, and not too long; 2 pages should be the absolute maximum. You what would be a great use of that résumé? Use it when applying for jobs in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia with our job portal, MIMS Career .. A lot of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare practitioners have been using the service, and many of them have landed the jobs at the location they’ve always wanted. Signup and apply now using our 1-click application feature. It’s fast, safe, and free. Any problems? Email us at mycareer@mims.com for more inquiries.

How to Write a Great Resumé

Résumé’s (also known as CVs) are great. They sumarize your experiences onto a few pages so your employer can quickly get a sense of who you are before hiring you. However, employers have to go through a lot of...

Read More
Recently there’s been talk about the Malaysian Nursing Board phasing out the Diploma in Nursing programme. As a result, soon all future nursing students that want to practice the profession in the country has to complete a four-year degree (Bachelor of Science in Nursing). Many parties have been very vocal about this, citing that many nurses cannot afford the extra costs it takes to study for four years instead of the usual two for a diploma. Some students get into nursing for that reason; it offers a quick pathway to work in a respectable profession, without the added burden of a pre-university programme after completion of secondary school. While I understand that some nurses have to support their families ASAP, I’m here to argue that there is a hidden benefit to all nurses being required to do their degree in order to be registered practitioners. That benefit is the extra 2-4 years of age that nurses have upon graduation. Older… Wiser? A few days ago there was news of a 19-year old girl who will become the youngest medical doctor in Malaysia this year. The prodigy completed her secondary education at the age of 14, enrolling straight into an Australian pre-U programme, followed by medical school. While I applaud her achievements (it is nothing to make light of), for the rest of us entering the healthcare workforce at 19 is not the best of ideas. A doctor fresh out of medical school at the age of 25 is six years older than 19, and will have six years of extra life experiences that will make him or her relate better to patients. The healthcare line, as we all know, is riddled with a lot of challenges and difficulties that are difficult to teach in training colleges. There are unexpected obstacles from patients, their relatives, and colleagues that are difficult to circumnavigate without emotional maturity. When these are not handled well they lead to burnouts and depression. Forcing the degree programme for nurses rather than diploma grants student nurses extra time to prepare themselves. Most of the time, maturity comes with age. Being a nurse (or a doctor for that matter) is an arduous endeavor in itself. There will be times when you have to react to difficult situations requiring you to make a choice. Maturity grants the wisdom to make the right ones. The healthcare line, as we all know, is riddled with a lot of challenges and difficulties that are difficult to teach in training colleges. Being sure about oneself As a patient, you would want nurses or doctors who are sure of themselves for your treatment. You want those who believe in what they do and believe in the importance of their work. Not the reluctant ones. It is common for healthcare practitioners to leave the profession within the first 5 years of working. An extra few years of study provides the extra time to contemplate on whether this career path is really for them or not. This creates better rounded nurses and doctors. Better clinicians Better rounded nurses and doctors, who can find the balance between their personal growth and career, make for better clinicians. They are more likely to innovate and push medicine forward. This is why countries like the US and Sweden require prospective medical school students to have a Bachelor’s degree beforehand. These countries have the most number of medical innovations in history. Removal of bad habits Better rounded nurses and doctors make for better clinicians. For nurses, making BSN degrees mandatory in order to be registered means an addition 4-5 years of study; 1-2 years for a pre-university course (like STPM) and another 4 years for the degree. Contrast this with immediately hopping on the diploma programme for two years after school. The work involved to obtain a degree is very hard. It can only be done by being mentally sound, organized, and effective. These habits are not necessarily attained in school. An older nursing graduate has more time to become a better, organized person; to know her strong points, faults, breaking points, things she cannot do, and learn how to deal with them knowing that a harder road lies ahead.

Making The Case For Longer Studies

Recently there’s been talk about the Malaysian Nursing Board phasing out the Diploma in Nursing programme. As a result, soon all future nursing students that want to practice the profession in the country has to complete a four-year...

Read More