Top 7 Wound Care Nurse Interview Questions to Ask

Wound care nurses are highly skilled and experienced healthcare professionals. They’re responsible for performing focused skin assessments, assisting with minor surgical procedures, and providing education on skin care products and medications. If you’re looking to hire one of these qualified RNs, asking the right wound care nurse interview questions can help you find a skilled and motivated professional.

In this article, we’ll review seven questions — and nurse responses to listen for — to help you choose a top-tier candidate. Before you prepare for interviews, however, you’ll want to research current information about the wound care nurse job market. Get started by searching for similar positions on our nurse job board. Next, you’ll want to craft a well-written wound care nurse job description to attract qualified candidates.

Once you’ve collected enough qualified applications, you can begin the interview process. The following candidate evaluation can help you keep track of each wound care nurse’s interview responses.

Wound Care Nurse Interview Questions and Answers

After conducting background research, you can begin developing your wound care nursing interview questions. Asking a variety of critical-thinking and behavioral questions can help you better understand a nurse’s passions, motivations, and clinical experience. Here are some example questions to get your team started.

1. Why do you want to be a wound care nurse at our facility?

Start out your interview with a few introductory wound care nurse questions to set a casual, lighthearted tone. While it might seem too generic, open-ended questions like this one can help hiring managers get a feel for a nurse’s communication style, personality, and bedside manner.

Listen for answers that show a candidate has done their homework and understands the basics about your facility. You’ll want to hire a nurse who is genuinely interested in the role and is committed to serving your organization.

After the interviewee responds, you can share a bit about your own personal journey with the company. Provide insight into the intricacies of the position that may not have been advertised directly in the job description, and be sure to answer questions they may have regarding employee benefits or scheduling requirements.

What to listen for:

• Communicates clearly in a warm, professional tone
• Demonstrates a genuine passion for serving your unique patient population

Potential follow-up questions:

• How do your professional goals align with our organization’s mission and values?
• What are the most challenging, and rewarding, aspects of being a wound care nurse?

2. How have your previous roles prepared you for this position?

You’ve probably already read about the candidate’s clinical experience and educational background in their resume. However, asking these questions directly in an interview can help you determine a nurse’s understanding of the duties and responsibilities of your open position.

While newly graduated RNs might not have the exact level of experience you’re looking for, they may have served as a CNA or medical assistant in a department similar to yours. It’s important to not immediately disqualify these applicants — they often have the passion and team-oriented mentality you need.

What to listen for:

• Understands the duties and responsibilities of wound care nurses
• Explains how they’ve worked to provide high-quality care at other institutions

Potential follow-up questions:

• Why are you looking to leave your current job?
• What are your professional goals for the next five years?

3. Imagine that you’ve been assigned to prepare a patient for a bedside wound debridement. Describe the steps you would take to get ready.

Now that you’ve gotten to know the candidate, it’s time to test their critical thinking skills. Start by asking scenario-based wound care nurse interview questions to see how well a nurse can think on their feet.

One of the primary responsibilities of wound care nurses is preparing for bedside procedures. Knowing how to appropriately set up supplies, tools, and dressings is essential to providing safe patient care. An experienced wound care nurse will be familiar with the products needed for complex wound debridement and will list the tasks they’d carry out without prompting.

What to listen for:

• Responds calmly and confidently under pressure
• Lists tasks like arranging the necessary cleansing products, setting up a sterile field, collecting vital signs, and medicating the patient with the appropriate analgesic medication

Potential follow-up questions:

• Which products would you expect a physician to order for a patient with third-degree chemical burns?
• Which type of dressing would you use for a patient with excess wound exudate?

4. How do you care for patients with painful pressure injuries?

Managing patient discomfort can be a challenging task for a wound care nurse. Interview questions that touch on pain management strategies can help you choose a candidate capable of providing exceptional care. After a nurse responds with their go-to pain relief strategies, you can outline any facility-specific products or practices your team uses to prevent and treat wounds.

What to listen for:

• Mentions using pillows, hydrocolloid dressings, and weight repositioning strategies to relieve pain
• Frequently assesses a patient’s comfort level using the appropriate pain scale

Potential follow-up questions:

• What advice would you give to a caregiver looking to help their loved one sleep while recovering from a sacral ulcer?
• Which team member would you reach out to for help when repositioning a bariatric patient?

5. What techniques do you use to optimize tissue viability?

Nurse interview questions like this one can help you gauge a candidate’s familiarity with current evidence-based guidelines. Preventing infection and promoting tissue growth are two of the biggest wound care challenges. Knowing a candidate has the knowledge and skill set to keep patients safe can help you improve patient outcomes and reduce readmission rates.

Take the opportunity to showcase any projects or quality-improvement initiatives your team may be working on. By discussing opportunities to attend nursing conferences or research fairs, you can get a candidate even more excited to join your team.

What to listen for:

• Assesses the status of a patient’s wounds frequently
• Understands the importance of documenting the stage of healing for each wound in the patient’s electronic health record (EHR)

Potential follow-up questions:

• Would you be interested in speaking at our evidence-based practice conference?
• How do you protect patient privacy and confidentiality when taking photographs of a wound?

6. How would you educate a patient who refuses to follow the recommended treatment plan?

It’s important to listen to a nurse’s tone and language when they answer this wound care nurse interview question. Some clinicians immediately get frustrated or angry when a patient doesn’t listen to their directions or guidelines.

A kind and compassionate nurse understands that there are many factors that affect a patient’s ability to care for themselves. They show respect and patience by asking individuals about their preferred method of learning and tailoring education to meet each patient’s needs.

What to listen for:

• Prioritizes the delivery of person-centered care over checking off tasks
• Demonstrates empathy and understanding when caring for those who may need extra teaching

Potential follow-up questions:

• What are three ways you work to provide culturally competent care to each of your patients?
• How would you provide discharge teaching to an elderly patient who was hard of hearing?

7. Have you previously served in any leadership positions?

Nurses who take on leadership roles are the clinicians who care about improving patient and staff engagement. Listen for answers that showcase a nurse’s ambition, drive, and dedication.

Candidates that have filled leadership roles may mention spearheading quality-improvement initiatives, mentoring new members of staff, or chairing hospital shared-governance meetings. These team players are the clinicians you need on your team.

What to listen for:

• Shows initiative at leading unit-based research projects
• Demonstrates excitement at the opportunity to climb the nursing clinical ladder in your organization

Potential follow-up questions:

• How do you stay up-to-date on the latest wound care nursing guidelines?
• What would you do to help a new graduate nurse feel comfortable asking questions?

Quickly Fill Your Vacancies With Qualified Nursing Professionals

Asking well-written wound care nurse interview questions can help you choose a great candidate, but sometimes finding nurses to interview is the toughest part of the hiring process. Posting your open position on our nursing job board can help you reach the largest nursing network in the nation.