7 Essential ER Nurse Interview Questions to Ask

Emergency Room (ER) nurses work in a facility’s emergency department (ED). They often see patients with severe or life-threatening conditions requiring urgent action. As one of the first responders of the ED, ER nurses must be able to work quickly and efficiently to make the right decisions under pressure. When hiring for this role, it’s important to ask targeted ER nurse interview questions to find candidates with these essential qualities.

To help you recruit the best nurses to join your emergency department, we’ll walk you through the top interview questions to ask and discuss ways to evaluate your candidates’ answers. If you’d like to make sure you’re bringing in the right candidates to interview, then take a look at our ER nurse job description template. Curious to see how other facilities are connecting with candidates? Check out the latest ER nurse job postings.

7 Interview Questions for ER Nurse Candidates

As you prepare to conduct your interview process, keep in mind that top ER nurse candidates can have varying levels of experience. Regardless of whether you’re interviewing a seasoned nurse or a new grad, ER nurse interview questions should assess how well candidates can handle the demands of this specialty. These seven questions will help you get a sense of how a candidate fits into the pace and environment of the ED.

1. What brought you to ER nursing?

This is a great question to open with because it allows the candidate to share a bit about their personal journey while hinting at their motivations for entering this specialty. The ED is a high stress environment that isn’t suited for everybody. It’s important that candidates demonstrate an understanding of this and hold a genuine interest to take on such fast-paced work.

2. What strategies do you use to prioritize care for multiple patients?

The ED is less predictable than many other types of units. Nurses must triage multiple patients at a time and be highly skilled in organizing care tasks under pressure.

This question allows you to assess skills in time management and prioritization, both of which are essential in this specialty. A candidate’s answer can clue you into how well they’ve developed a process for handling multiple tasks throughout their past clinical experience.

3. How would you handle an angry or upset patient/family member?

The ED can be a chaotic environment for both staff and patients. Because of this, it’s common for family members or patients to become upset or angry at staff. ER nurses must be adept at not only dealing with urgent care tasks, but also tending to interpersonal conflicts in a respectful and professional manner.

This question allows you to assess how a candidate may react to these situations. Listen for answers that indicate a nurse’s ability to remain calm but assertive in highly stressful situations.

4. What’s your process for keeping up with the latest evidence on ER care delivery?

ER nursing is a specialty that requires a strong handle on evidence-based practices. Many candidates may have learned how to apply these practices from nursing school or through past clinical experience. However, this question can help you identify candidates who go above and beyond in keeping up with the latest best practices.

5. Tell me about a time when you had to solve a crisis situation alongside a team.

As you draft ER nursing interview questions, it’s important to include at least one that can help you gauge a candidate’s ability to be a team player. Since the ED can be unpredictable, the entire care team must be able to effectively communicate and rely on one another.

This question allows you to assess a candidate’s ability to work collaboratively and hear a real-world example of how they apply teamwork into practice. Pay attention to how candidates describe their communication style and take input from their colleagues into account.

6. What would you do if you were given conflicting information about a patient who is in critical condition?

While the ED is built off of teamwork, there may also be urgent situations that require independent thinking. Due to the pace of the environment, ER nurses must know how and when to take agency over situations with minimal supervision.

This question allows you to assess how comfortable a candidate is in making independent decisions when necessary. Listen for answers that showcase a candidate’s ability to remain calm and confident while staying within their scope of practice.

7. As an ER nurse, you may be dealing with emotionally difficult situations on a daily basis. What strategies do you use to practice self-care and cope with these scenarios long-term?

Being an ER nurse takes a lot of grit. A candidate who takes on this role should also be prepared to face the emotional intensity of this environment. Not only does this question provide transparency about the role, but it also allows you to assess a candidate’s coping skills and openness to dealing with difficult situations on a daily basis.

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Whether you’re a health professional practicing ER nurse interview questions and answers or a facility leader looking to fill an open role, IntelyCare has you covered. Connect with us today and find out how we match vetted nursing professionals with high quality facilities.