10 Essential RN Interview Questions to Ask
Finding a qualified, reliable, and top-performing registered nurse (RN) is vital to your organization. As a part of the nurse management team, knowing which RN interview questions to ask is just as important as writing a great nurse job description. These questions will help you narrow your applicant pool down to your best candidates.
Like nursing, developing a successful interview strategy takes time and practice. Thankfully, there are ways to make this process less arduous. In this article, we’ll discuss 10 essential interview questions to ask a nurse to help you confidently find the best fit for your facility in record time.
Want more competitive insights for your interview process? Check out the latest RN postings on our job board to see what other organizations are offering to nursing candidates and discover more ways for your facility to stand out.
RN Interview Question Styles
Before choosing the questions you’re going to ask during the interview, it’s important to identify the details you’d like candidates to share. Here are a few well-known interview question types, along with the findings nurse answers may reveal:
| RN Interview Question Style | When You Should Ask This Type of Question |
|---|---|
| Critical-Thinking Questions | Critical-thinking and scenario-based questions help hiring managers determine how well a candidate can think on their toes.
Question content can be clinical in nature (“When would you expect metoprolol to be prescribed to a patient?”) or more situation based (“How would you manage the care of a patient who refused to take their medication?”). |
| Behavioral Questions | These questions are personality-specific and can give insight into an RN’s patience, composure, and moral strength.
One example question might be, “Describe a time when a patient was unhappy with their care. How did you handle the situation?” Nursing is a stressful and emotionally demanding profession. Knowing an RN can handle difficult situations fairly and efficiently gets you one step closer to choosing the best candidate. |
| Communication and Teamwork Questions | This type of question analyzes a nurse’s ability to work as part of a team. Effective communication is essential in the healthcare field and hiring managers are always looking for signs that a candidate is able to collaborate with their coworkers.
Example communication based RN interview questions include:
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Most interviews start off with one or two basic introductory questions to help the hiring manager get a feel for the nurse’s tone and conversational style. Then the interview will move into more challenging in-depth questions like the ones listed in the table above.
Make sure to structure your interview so that there are around the same number of questions from each category. Too many of one type of question can leave candidates feeling mentally exhausted or may leave hiring managers wanting more. Evenly spreading each type throughout the interview can keep the interview tone more conversational and can help nurses answer to the best of their abilities.
To help you streamline your interview process, here are 10 interview questions to use with candidates, as well as a downloadable evaluation form to help you assess their responses.
10 Example RN Interview Questions
Now that you have some ideas on how to structure and style your interview, here are 10 example questions to ask your RN candidates.
1. What about our facility and this position inspired you to apply?
Starting with a targeted introduction like this one gives you a bit more information about a candidate than the basic “Tell me something about yourself” nursing interview question. A candidate’s reply provides insight into why they want to join your organization.
Answers can reveal how well a nurse has researched your facility and patient population and whether their values complement yours. Questions like this one also shed light on how well the nurse understands the role and its responsibilities.
Tip: Someone who can describe your mission and values and explain how they can fulfill the role is engaged and invested in your organization.
2. What are your nursing strengths and weaknesses?
Their response helps you determine how this nurse will enhance your team and if your department has the resources to assist in their professional development. It’ll also likely reveal the nurse’s levels of confidence and accountability.
Tip: Someone personable and honest about needing extra training is better for your patient outcomes and team dynamic than someone with an overly strident demeanor that denies any weaknesses.
3. Describe a time your current facility implemented changes. How were you affected and how did you adjust?
A nurse’s adaptability is essential to remain current in their practice and keep up with a fluctuating work environment.Critical thinking nursing interview questions — and answers candidates may provide — can help demonstrate a nurse’s ability to adapt and persevere.
Tip: Being able to positively adjust to workplace changes is a necessary skill for nurses in all clinical environments. Is the nurse open to improving their workplace flexibility, or do they seem set in their ways? If they’re interested in developing their skills, on-the-job training and a supportive work environment can help improve these important capabilities. If not, they may not be well suited for the role.
4. How do you decide which tasks to delegate to licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and certified nurse assistants (CNAs)?
This will likely be one of the more straightforward RN interview questions for your candidate to answer. Delegation occurs when a RN transfers task responsibility but retains accountability for the outcome.
Tip: This is an excellent opportunity to evaluate the nurse’s knowledge and application of the 5 Rights of Nursing Delegation, leadership and communication skills, and the scope and standards of practice.
Also, take stock of how the nurse discusses delegating to LPNs and CNAs. If the RN only wants to transfer the least desirable tasks or demonstrates disrespect toward these roles, it can quickly sow discord among your staff.
5. Tell me about a time when you advocated for a patient or resident but received push-back from the medical team. How did you handle the situation, and what was the outcome?
Being a patient advocate is an essential nursing role. The American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics explains that the nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the patient’s rights, health, and safety. Often, the nurse’s intervention on behalf of their patient prevents serious harm or poor outcomes.
Tip: Some RN interview questions can provide excellent insight into who they are as a nurse. It demonstrates how well they follow the nursing process, safeguard their patients, deal with conflict, communicate with team members, and utilize their resources.
6. Have you ever made a medication or nursing error? Please explain what happened, how you handled the situation, and what the outcome was.
Medication errors in the U.S. alone cost $42 billion annually.The impact of a medication error can range from no harm to severe injury or even death to a patient or resident. Nurses are human, and they make mistakes. Unfortunately, when they do, they can have detrimental consequences.
Tip: This is one of the more difficult interview questions to ask a nurse. It’s important not to hold the error against them. Instead, factor in why the nurse made the error, what they did to ensure the patient’s safety, and whether they learned from the mistake. The nurse’s response will reflect their integrity, accountability, and professionalism.
7. What has been your proudest achievement as an RN?
This is the RN’s time to shine as they share their greatest career moment with you. Even if the nurse is shy or introverted, their nonverbal communication should signal increased enthusiasm or excitement as they recall this special event.
Tip: A lackluster response may warrant a follow-up question of why they became a nurse to assess their intrinsic motivation.
8. Have you ever held a nursing leadership position? Tell me about the experience.
Nurses who step up for leadership roles are often the same clinicians who are dedicated to improving patient outcomes and staff satisfaction scores. Finding a candidate with the skills and passion to lead can help unify your team and improve your facility’s metrics.
Tip: New graduate nurses who may not have had the opportunity to serve in leadership roles often have the ambition and drive you’re looking for. Leadership skills can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, so don’t disqualify candidates who might not have filled traditional leadership roles like charge nurse or team leader.
9. How would you handle an angry or upset patient/family member?
The healthcare environment can be stressful for patients and families to navigate. They may struggle with hearing about a poor diagnosis or decline in health and could respond to a nurse’s care attempts with frustration or disrespect.
Nurses are often responsible for calming and comforting these individuals and need to be able to stay respectful and assertive during difficult conversations. If the patient remains angry, or if safety of the patient or team is compromised, the nurse needs to know how to notify the appropriate chain of command.
Tip: After listening to a nurse’s response to this RN interview question, share the ways your facility is working to prevent violence against nurses. Our nursing trends survey suggests that 28% of nurses feel unsafe going to work — help alleviate a candidate’s potential concerns and show them how your organization keeps their safety a top priority.
10. How do you rest and recover from a difficult shift?
This is a great way to end your nursing scenario interview questions and answers. Example self-care interview questions like this one can reveal a nurse’s resilience — a key factor in preventing nurse burnout.
Tip: After hearing a nurse’s response, take the opportunity to showcase how your facility encourages work-life balance for its employees. Does the RN like to spend time outdoors? Mention your unit’s hiking club. Do they like to attend music events? Provide information on your team’s “Friday Night Concert” events. Sharing information like this can get a candidate even more excited to join your team.
RN Interview Preparation and Strategy
As a nurse leader, you’ll need to be strategic in the questions you ask your candidates. You only get a short time to obtain and evaluate information from your RN interview questions and answers. Identifying red flags that impact patient safety or disrupt your nursing team while you work to uncover a nurse’s best qualities is crucial.
There’s a delicate balance between asking challenging questions to assess safe and high-quality nursing practice and cultivating a good experience for your potential new hires. So, now that you know the right questions to ask, we’ll do a brief warm-up with some tips to make the interview process a positive journey.
Tone
Start and end the interview on a positive note. The nurse will get a sense of your organization’s culture and leadership style through your meeting. Create an environment they hope to return to.
Non-Verbal Cues
Be mindful of what your nonverbal cues are expressing. For example, frowning while concentrating may come across as anger and disapproval to the candidate, whereas a relaxed face and occasional smiling can help them feel welcomed and encouraged.
Support
When possible, help the candidate if they’re struggling with difficult questions. For example, you can break down a behavioral question into smaller components of the Situation-Task-Action-Results (STAR) method. They’ll still answer the question, and you may discover the nurse has excellent clinical skills that more than make up for lackluster interviewing skills.
Find and Interview Highly Qualified RNs Today
Asking the right RN interview questions is a great way to narrow down your list of candidates, but hiring and onboarding reliable and professional nursing staff can be a painstaking process. If you’re looking to quickly find the right candidates, consider posting your vacant positions on the nation’s top nursing job board.