Advice & Insight From Nursing Interview Specialists
Below are five Nursing University Interview Scenarios which are based on Interview cases that have been used at Nursing Universities as part of the interview selection process. We would recommend that you practice the scenarios before reviewing the answers, comparing your performance with that of an ‘average’ and ‘excellent’ Nursing applicant.
What are the 6Cs of nursing, and which would you regard to be the most important?
Average Candidate Response:
The 6Cs of nursing are care, compassion, courage, communication and competence. I believe that they are all important in there own setting and a good nurse requires all of these qualities.
Excellent Candidate Response:
The 6Cs of nursing are care, compassion, courage, communication and competence. I regard each of these values as being extremely important in the nursing profession; however, I would regard ‘care’ as being the most important, and one that forms the basis of these other principles. By definition, a nurse is “a person trained to care for the sick or infirm”, and thus has a duty to look after and ‘care’ for patients. The basis of treating patients is making sure they are restored to good health – to achieve this we must care for and protect them from harm.
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You are a third year nursing student on a paediatric rotation. After the ward round, one of your long-term patients (Alison, 9 years old) confides in you that Dr Patin (Consultant Paediatrician) touched her inappropriately yesterday. Alison requests that you promise not to tell anyone about your discussion.
Outline what actions you would take in this scenario.
This is a somewhat challenging scenario which raises potential safeguarding concerns. With patients often more comfortable confiding in medical students, such a case could well be encountered during early clinical exposure:
Average Candidate Response
I understand that in possible safeguarding cases where children or vulnerable adults are involved, I have a duty to investigate this further and that duty over-rides my duty of confidentiality. It would be important to explain to Alison that whilst we take confidentiality very seriously, in cases such as this it is important to investigate the matter further to prevent future similar episodes not only towards Alison but also potentially towards other patients.
I would explore the hospital safeguarding policy, and consider discussing my concerns with the safeguarding lead for the hospital. I would also try to establish from Alison if there was anyone else present at the time of the incident, potentially discussing the incident further with them, as well as trying to discreetly establish if any other patients have been similarly affected.
Having not encountered such a case previously, it would likely be beneficial to request advice from my educational/clinical supervisor, in identifying what additional measures need to be taken.
A patient is to be given 660ml of a medication by intravenous infusion using a controller with a drip factor of 13 drops/ml. The medication is to be given over a 6 hour period. What would you set the drip rate to (to the nearest whole number)?
660ml needs to be given over 6 hours
110 ml needs to be given over 1 hour
110ml = 1,430 drops (per hour)
= 23.83 drops/minute
= 24 drops/minute (to the nearest whole number)
How is a nurse different to a healthcare assistant?
Average Candidate Response:
Nurses have a more specialised role than healthcare assistants; whilst HCAs can take observations and blood tests, nurses are more involved in the interpretation and application of the findings.
Excellent Candidate Approach
Both of these professions involve caring for and attending to patients’ needs, and thus require empathy and compassion. However, nurses have a more specialised role than healthcare assistants, who are involved in the general looking after and care of patients. Nurses carry out duties that include the administration of medication, and the monitoring of patients’ statuses, in addition to assessing vital signs or carrying out physical examinations. Nurses are also responsible for attending to minor physical injuries that do not require surgery, an example being the management of wounds or burns.
There is also a greater role for specialisation as a nurse, and this can range from being an asthma nurse specialist to a heart failure nurse specialist. Unfortunately, there isn’t this same scope as a HCA. Nonetheless, Healthcare assistants play an important role in looking after the general wellbeing of patients. This can involve taking observations, washing and dressing patients, serving meals and making beds, amongst other things. Ultimately, healthcare assistants are key in ensuring patients are comfortable when staying at hospital as well as facilitating the work of nurses and doctors.
