Staff Nurse Interview Questions: Over 100 Questions to Prepare

Are you preparing for a staff nurse interview? Below is an AMAZING list of 110 questions to help you prepare. This list of staff nurse interview questions was given to me during nursing school and has been absolutely invaluable. I have literally never walked into an interview feeling unprepared.

Still not there yet and just trying to get into nursing school? You can definitely use this list even if you’re still applying. You can also check out this post on nursing school interview questions, which contains a few tips on how to answer common interview questions.  Indeed also has a great article containing some sample answers. 

Please feel free to contact me if you need some ideas on how to answer the questions below. If you are located in Southern California, I also have several hospital-specific questions to help you succeed.

You got this!

Personal

1. Why did you choose nursing?
2. If you had to live your life over again, what one thing would you change?
3. Tell me about a time when you misjudged a person.
4. What is one attribute that you bring to this unit?
5. What qualities do you possess that will benefit this organization?
6. What is your greatest strength? Weakness?
7. What type of person do you find difficult to get along with?
8. What coping mechanisms do you have to deal with stress?
9. Why didn’t you become a doctor?
10. Tell me about a time when you showed initiative and took the lead.
11. What lessons have you learned from your “failures” or mistakes?
12. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
13. How can you contribute to this unit?
14. Why should I hire you for our unit?
15. Give us three words or characteristics to describe you as the perfect candidate for this floor.
16. How would you show your patients the ‘Sharp Experience’?
17. Tell me about yourself and why you want this position.
18. Tell me about a time when your personal plans conflicted with a work schedule. What did you do to rectify the situation?
19. Why are you the best person for this position? Sell yourself.
20. Give us three words/characteristics that will make you a good candidate for this position.
21. What was the most useful criticism you have received, and why?
22. Tell me about a time you were able to step into a situation, take charge, muster support, and achieve good results.
23. What do you think would be the most challenging aspect of this position?
24. Do you work better independently, or as a part of a team?
25. Tell me about something you have done outside of the hospital setting that would enhance your ability to perform in the position here.
26. What do you think would be the most challenging part of joining a new unit?
27. What have you done recently where you used customer service skills?
28. What will one of your references say about you?
29. How do you handle disagreements?
30. How would you rate your communication style on a scale of 0-10?
31. How would you rate your critical thinking on a scale of 0-10?
32. What superhero would you be?

School

1. Explain the MEPN (Masters Entry in Nursing) program.
2. What courses did you like the best/least?
3. What activities were you involved in during your while a nursing student?
4. How would your professors describe you?
5. How do you think your program has prepared you to be a nurse in today’s world?
6. Are you grades fair reflections of your academic abilities and intellectual potential?
7. What academic achievement are you most proud of, and why?
8. How did your nursing program prepare you to participate in EBP?
9. You got one A minus on your transcript. Are you upset about this grade?

Clinical

1. How will you deal with difficult patients/families?
2. Describe a difficult patient and give an example of how you handled the situation.
3. How do you know if your patient is satisfied?
4. Describe a situation in which you had a conflict with a co-worker and how did you resolve it.
5. Walk me through an example of when you implemented the nursing process from beginning to end, and what was the outcome.
6. Tell us about a time when you received, or gave a hand off report and the nurse wasn’t happy.
7. How do you handle unexpected circumstances such as having to perform a treatment you have not done before?
8. How do you react under stress in the clinical setting?
9. Why do you want a job on this floor? Or, what area would you prefer to work?
10. Tell me about a positive patient experience you have recently experienced.
11. You have just received report from last shift and your patient assignment includes a patient receiving blood transfusion, one with an episode of seizure, one that has fallen late the last shift, and another patient who is screaming for help to go to the bathroom. Tell me how you will go about your plan of care for this patient population.
12. You are working on a busy Med/Surg floor, when you enter the room you think your patient looks “hypoglycemic”. Tell me how you made this conclusion just from observation. What are the next ten things you will need to do?
13. You are gowning to enter an isolation room when an older, very well respected surgeon begins to enter without a gown. What would you do and why?
14. While in the new grad program, you are taking care of a terminally ill cancer patient. When you ask your patient. “How are you doing today?” the patient responds, “I don’t think I can do this anymore, I don’t want to live.” Discuss your response, and why.
15. You have one patient who needs to get up to the bathroom- and wants to go now. In the meantime, your patient in the next room has pulled out her central line. What would you do first & why?
16. Tell me about a time when you had too many things to do and had to prioritize your required tasks.
17. Have you dealt with an angry patient or family member? How did you handle it?
18. Describe a situation in which you were able to develop rapport with someone who had been labeled “difficult to deal with”.
19. When you ask for assistance and you can’t get it at the time, tell me what your next step is?
20. Give me an example of a patient who experienced a change in status. Walk me through how you handled this.
21. Describe the skills you bring to the ________ floor if you were selected for this position.
22. Describe an EBP project you would like to explore in your nursing career at ____________hospital on the _____ floor.
23. In evaluating your nursing skills to-date, what do you feel you need to improve upon? How do you intend to accomplish this?
24. How do you plan your care based on the Nursing Process?
25. How will you deal with a difficult doctor?
26. How do you deal with a difficult patient assignment?
27. What experience do you have working with the pediatric population?
28. Describe a situation where you were given a task without much direction.
29. Have you ever made a medication error? If no, what would you do if you made a medication error?
30. What would you do if another nurse would not do a 2^nd check on a medication?
31. Your patient is prescribed Clopidogrel 75 mg q day. Is this the normal dose? What is the common name your patients will use for this medication?
32. Your patient is prescribed Furosemide. What is the common name your patient might use when referring to this medication?
33. What are some examples of interpersonal skills, and how do you use these skills in the clinical setting?
34. Tell us about a time when you had a change in the patient’s status and how did you handle it?
35. Give an example of a postpartum hemorrhage and the necessary nursing implications.
36. What would you do if the MD didn’t share your concern about a patient?
37. When experiencing an unfamiliar clinical or leadership situation, what resources do you typically use or seek?
38. How do you handle rapidly changing patient situations?
39. Tell us what you would do if you had to explain a disease process to a patient but you were unfamiliar with the disease process.

Professional

1. What is your personal philosophy of nursing?
2. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you to nursing?
3. When making clinical decision, do you use a particular framework to guide your practice? (Think: Benner’s Novice to expert, Think: NANA nursing diagnosis)
4. How will you be able to incorporate the mission of this hospital into your clinical practice?
5. What is the scope of practice of the RN, and how do you use it in the clinical setting.
6. Give an example of when you used ADPIE in the clinical setting. . (FYI- Assessment, Diagnosis, Plan, Intervention, Evaluation – aka the nursing process)
7. Describe an example of change in patient status and what you did to fix the problem.
8. Describe your ideal nursing career.
9. What is your definition of leadership? Tell me about a time when you were a leader.
10. Describe your goals as you begin your professional career.
11. What is your greatest accomplishment?
12. Where do you see yourself in 3 years, 5 years, from now?
13. Tell me about working in a setting with persons from different generations.
14. Tell me about a conflict you encountered and what you did to resolve it.
15. What qualities do you feel a successful manager should have?
16. Are you interviewing at any other hospital?
17. Why do you want to work for us?
18. How would you describe your skills as a team player?
19. Can you share an example of when you may have had a conflict with a colleague, physician, or fellow student? How did you handle it?
20. How do you view the role of the professional nurse related to; delegation, supervision, continuing education & advanced degrees?
21. What research projects have you found most rewarding, and why?
22. What do you think it takes to succeed in the position you are being interviewed for?
23. What concerns do you have with regard to this position or working at this hospital?
24. How would you describe this opportunity to family and friends?
25. Tell me how you use your downtime effectively? Provide us with an example.
26. What else do you want us to know about you?
27. What has been your biggest challenge you have faced to get you to where you are today?
28. What are you most proud of? Why?
29. Why are you interested a position here?
30. Has anyone ever given you a hard time during the change of shift report? What did you do?

I hope this list of staff nurse interview questions makes you feel confident, prepared, and ready to get that new job!