7 Key PICU Nurse Interview Questions to Ask

Two PICU nurses check on an infant.

Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nurses provide complex care to infants and children. Like adult ICU nurses, PICU RNs need to know how to manage ventilators, program cardiac monitors, and infuse IV medications. Additionally, they must provide age-appropriate care to keep patients calm and comfortable. If you’re hiring one of these specialized clinicians, asking tailored PICU nurse interview questions can help you select a great candidate.

In this article, we’ll review seven PICU nursing interview questions that can help you identify the right nurse for your team. We’ll also list follow-up questions you can ask to learn more about a candidate’s background and clinical experience.

Before crafting your interview questions, you’ll want to create an enticing job description to attract competitive candidates to your vacant position. Browse other PICU nurse job postings to ensure your facility’s salary, benefits, and scheduling options are competitive.

Once you collect applications and identify your top candidates, you’ll be ready to begin the interview process. Use the following candidate evaluation form to keep track of each nurse’s responses.

PICU Nurse Interview Questions and Answers

PICU nurses traditionally work in acute care hospitals, but can also work in settings like:

  • Rapid response teams
  • Organ transplant facilities
  • Patient transport units
  • Pediatric emergency departments
  • Children’s hospitals

You’ll want to ensure that the interview questions you ask will help you identify the nurses who are best equipped to meet your facility’s needs. Are you looking for an experienced PICU nurse or are you open to hiring new graduates? Do your clinicians require any unique skills or qualifications to keep patients safe? These are the questions you should ask yourself as you plan the interview process.

Be sure to identify your team’s needs early on to ensure that the nurse you hire is qualified and prepared for the job. The following questions will help you determine the best fit for your facility.

1. What made you interested in becoming a PICU nurse?

Start out with introductory PICU nurse interview questions to set a friendly, conversational tone. Your goal is to encourage nurses to share a bit about their own background and share what motivates and inspires them to perform their best every day.

Answers to this question can also reveal how serious a candidate is about your organization. Most well-prepared nurses will answer this question calmly and confidently. However, if a candidate is nervous or struggling to answer, you can break the ice by introducing yourself and explaining how you first got involved with the organization.

What to listen for:

  • Demonstrates a genuine passion for PICU nursing
  • Communicates clearly and with a warm, professional tone

Potential follow-up questions:

  • How has your previous experience prepared you for this role?
  • Why do you want to work at our facility?

2. Why do you think you’re the best nurse for this position?

Asking this question allows nurses the opportunity to boast about their qualifications and professional achievements. While you’ve probably read about previous roles on their resume and cover letter, directly asking a candidate about their relevant skills and clinical experience can help determine whether they fully understand the duties and responsibilities of the position.

What to listen for:

  • Understands what it takes to be a PICU nurse and is excited for the opportunity to learn from your team
  • Explains how their professional goals align with your team’s mission, vision, and values

Potential follow-up questions:

  • What special skills and abilities can you bring to our PICU team?
  • Why are you looking to leave your current position?

3. How would you provide comfort to parents who just received bad news?

Caring for critically-ill children can be difficult, especially when prognoses or health outcomes aren’t what their caregivers were hoping for. In these situations, PICU nurses need to be able to help patients and their families through tough times while providing hope and support for the challenges ahead.

What to listen for:

  • Shows compassion, empathy, and respect during stressful moments
  • Demonstrates active listening and person-centered care

Potential follow-up questions:

  • How do you find peace during a difficult shift?
  • Have you ever had to advocate for a patient or family member? Describe the situation and explain how you got involved.

4. Why would a PICU patient need an epinephrine infusion?

Now that you’ve learned a bit about a candidate’s qualifications, it’s time to get into some critical-thinking PICU nurse interview questions. Epinephrine is a commonly infused medication in the PICU, so it’s important that nurses interviewing for your position are familiar with epinephrine and know when and why it is prescribed.

What to listen for:

  • Understands that epinephrine is used as an inotrope to increase blood pressure and cardiac contractility
  • Lists some of the common conditions that would require a PICU patient to be placed on an epinephrine drip

Potential follow-up questions:

  • Imagine that a patient’s monitor alarms with an SpO2 of 86%. The patient is currently on room air. What would you do first?
  • What would you do if your 10-year-old patient complained of newfound nausea and itching during a penicillin infusion?

5. How would you identify postoperative pain in a 10-month old infant?

Because many infants and young children aren’t able to communicate their pain and discomfort, it’s important that PICU nurses know how to efficiently assess and treat pain in this specialized population. If an interviewee can’t answer PICU nurse interview questions like this one, they may not have the level of pediatric experience you’re looking for.

What to listen for:

  • Mentions using pain management tools like the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Scale and the FLACC scale
  • Familiar with non-pharmacological pain management interventions like distraction, repositioning, and play

Potential follow-up questions:

  • Describe the steps you would take when preparing a 5-year-old patient for surgery.
  • How would you provide discharge teaching to the parents of a child with a new tracheostomy?

6. Pediatric care guidelines are regularly updated to meet new clinical recommendations. How comfortable are you with change in the workplace?

When policies and protocols are updated, PICU nurses need to be able to adapt quickly to ensure their patients receive high-quality care. Some seasoned nurses may be set in their ways and feel uncomfortable with changes in their care routines.

When developing nursing interview questions for PICU RNs, it’s important to ask each candidate how they perform in dynamic care environments. This can ensure that the nurse you hire has the flexibility and resilience required to keep your patients safe.

What to listen for:

  • Shows a willingness to adapt current practices to meet updated standards
  • Demonstrates an interest in leading quality improvement projects or research trials

Potential follow-up questions:

  • What are your professional goals for the next five years?
  • Do you have any interest in joining one of our shared governance councils?

7. PICU nursing can be stressful. How do you plan to avoid burnout while working in our unit?

Critical care nursing is known to be emotionally and physically exhausting. When asking your PICU nurse interview questions, you’ll want to make sure that the clinician you hire is familiar with the challenges and has what it takes to push through tough days.

What to listen for:

  • Understands the importance of achieving work-life balance to prevent nurse burnout
  • Knows how to balance personal and professional priorities to be able to perform their best every day

Potential follow-up questions:

  • What do you find most challenging about being a PICU nurse?
  • How would you support a colleague who was having a difficult shift?

Fill Your Vacancies With Industry-Leading Clinicians

Asking the right PICU nurse interview questions is key to hiring a great employee. If you’re still building your applicant pool, you’ll want to make sure your position is advertised to the right candidates. Post your vacancies to IntelyCare’s healthcare hiring board and start matching with qualified professionals today.


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