Common Correctional Nursing Interview Questions

Specialties Correctional Nursing Q/A

I'm collecting a compendium of Interview Questions and best answers for folks prepping for a correctional nursing job interviews. Could you chime in with yours even if you might have posted elsewhere on this forum? It would be good to have them all in one place for newbies searching this site.

Thanks for all the time and effort you spend helping new correctional nurses learn the ropes!

Just had an interview not too long ago. They want someone who is there to be a NURSE, not someone who will taunt the prisoners. They asked me when was the last time I got in someone's face? My statement was never.... I can set firm boundaries and limits. Assertiveness is always better than aggression. Another few questions were, what would I do if I caught a nurse giving the wrong pills to the wrong patients. A lot of legal ethical. They'll want to know about your confidence as a nurse and how you will handle situations. For example. What if you found an inmate down? First thing, summon a guard!!! Then check if there may be any danger present and then assess them. You have to have great assessment skills for corrections. And you can not go in there like you own the place. We are the nurses and this is their home. Good luck!

Specializes in Forensic Psych RN.

Most nurses think in terms of "taking action", but in corrections nursing, the action you take is to make sure you are safe first before attending to the inmate involved. My action in this case would be be to assess the environment and pull my alarm or yell to bring help. The corrections officer would make the call about the situation being safe to proceed. Most likely, there would be a combination effort of supporting the patient while he is being cutdown. Most facilities have special cutdown knives for this purpose. For purposes of interviewing, they are looking to see if you will approach with a safety first mindset and follow the protocol in most facilities which is to not enter until the C.O. has deemed it safe. A lot of things can happen in forensics....did other inmates set this up and hang the inmate straining so that staff would run in to the scene and make themselves vulnerable. if you don't have experience in forensics, the default protocol is: don't enter the scene because you don't know if it is safe, call for help, wait for the ok to proceed, then follow the facility protocol for the action needed. If you have not already, look through the list of interview questions for correction job interviews. This forum is great for finding support and answers.

Specializes in ICU.

One question about what do you think is happening with an inmate with pinpoint pupils and no signs of head trauma.

Who would you see first after these three inmates got into a fight.

Inmate with broken femur slightly evaluated BP 160's

Inmate with normal vitals with facial bruising and swollen eye.

Inmate with sob with 1 inch laceration in chest area.

Give S/S of Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia

Inmate with c/o chest pain. Assessment skills and Interventions.

They also may ask a question that test your moral/religious values. Example:

A medication nurse is refusing to give the morning after drug to a pregnant inmate. What do you do?

Answer: Give it yourself. This is a sneaky way of asking if you have religious views that may conflict with your job. Like if you will refuse to treat a convicted mass murderer.

And if you have any moral/religious objections to anything then maybe you should NOT be in nursing. I have never had a job that did not conflict with my personal morals from time to time like putting a feeding tube in a brain dead 90 year old because the 75yr old daughter does not want her mom to die of natural causes.

Congratulations :-) I having been working @ a year as contract at a county jail and will soon be interviewing. Interviews are nerve-wracking for most of us I think. I am happy I have the work experience with same employers who will be interviewing and everything I have read here is great information.

Having good professional + personal boundaries a big +; in a hospital setting I would give a symptomatic low blood sugar but that would be contraband here so I make sure I have plentiful glucose tablets on hand. 'Jail-itis' springs up a lot as a common illness, weeding thru it is an art. Treat appropriately but word would travel faster than a SoCal wildfire if one were perceived as easily snowed; one OP on this site had quite a comprehensive check-list format treating a chest-pain while having 20+ standing in line for bs checks. I am going to see if I can find that one again. I handle myself quite well under pressure and been around the block a time or two (or three) I am grateful experience but I wouldn't wish it on anyone. As for pain not much different than any other setting in that no nurse ever heard anyone say '1/10' on pain scale. Amazing any of us lived through labor, eh? Anyway these questions are really helpful!

Thank you everyone. These are all very good questions. I am borrowing these for my next interviewee. Ive struggled to find good job related questions to corrections. I always find the generic ones. I have been in corrections since 2006 with a 3 year break to gain my Med/Surg/OB/ICU/ER/Hospice and LTC experience. I found corrections was my calling and where I needed to be. I have worked in big jail, Little jails, Work release, ITU and Prison Systems. They are all a bit different but one thing they all have in common is inmate care. It can be a thankless job but a rewarding one as well. We have the ability to make a huge difference in some of these inmates lives through teaching and education.

1. What qualifications do you have that will make you successful in doing this job?

2. What computer applications do you know?

3. How did you handle a difficult situation?

4.What do you think is the difference between an acute and intermediate care to the psychiatric program of the facility?

These are some of the questions (not verbatim to what I was asked though- just rephrased based on my memory) that you can be asked to a dsh job.

Kora0880 said:
Hello,

I just went throught the interview for one of the prisons in S. Cali. there were 5 questions:

1)Describe your experience, training, skills, education in the field of nursing

2)Case scenario: respiratory distress

3)Case scenatio: MI

4)Case scenario:CHF

5)Case scenario:Abd pain unspecified

For the most part they wanted assessment, interventions, nursing diagnosis

The interview was scheduled at 14:00, 3 hrs later I finally got to go in and complete the nerve wracking 5 Q's which took 10min. They told me it would take 2 weeks for response, 4 days later they called me to tell me I got the job. Im happy.....Good luck to everyone

This post helped me so much! I just got done with an interview at an N. California prison for a FT position, and the questions were similar to this along with a couple other scenarios mentioned in different posts. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to this form, I went through the interview feeling very confident because of you. They mentioned that it may take a couple weeks to hear back, I'm hoping to hear back some positive news!!

I had my interview recently and I dont believe they were the same as any questions mentioned here.

1) An inmate informs you that they fell, hit their head, and lost consciousness. What do you do?

2) A female inmate informs you that she has been having right quadrant abdominal pain. What is your assessment?

3) The DON informs you that you need to float your clinic LPN to another county jail but they refuse. What do you do? (This was a role play scenario)

4) An inmate hung himself and when you arrive you find that the CO has already cut him down. They report that he is breathing and has a pulse. What is your assessment?

5) You find out a staff member is diverting medication. They inform you that it is common practice when you confront them about it. What do you do?

Those were the only nurse questions but others were asked about how to protect inmate privacy, how I prioritize, if I've ever had to confront a co-worker about something they did wrong and what was the outcome, why I'm interested in corrections, and why I want to leave current position.

A few interview questions I can recall--

What are you strengths and weaknesses?

An order of priority question as far as who you would take care of first (a, b, c,d) ---cannot recall specifics.

a. chest pain

b. triage call of inmate who sprained ankle in the yard

c. scheduled dressing change

--can't remember d.

I had a question about administering insulin to an inmate who's blood glucose was 42. He states his blood sugar is always that low. What do you do?

Something along the lines of: How do you set your goals for the day and how do you accomplish them?

Describe how you care for patients with mental health disorders and those with a low IQ

That's all I can remember..for now! :)

Hi everyone! I am an LPN living in Canada and I just had my interview at a pre trial centre. I read through this entire thread a few days ago and really prepped for the interview and a ton of stuff on this thread was mentioned, so thank you everyone! my interview went really well and i left with all the documentation to fill out to get the hiring process going woohoo!

some of the questions that i can remember were:

- what would your coworkers say your strengths were related to work?

- what are some of your weaknesses?

-why do you want to work in corrections?

- what experience as a nurse do you have that would contribute to the role of a corrections nurse?

- name a time you had a conflict with a coworker and how you resolved it?

-you are administering medications to your patient, and they say they have never seen this drug or taken this drug before. What do you do?

-you are administering medications and your patient normally gets a half pill, but you realize afterwards you gave them a whole pill. what do you do?

- how do you think health care differs in this setting?

- if you are faced with a stressful situation in the workplace, what do you do? how do you handle stress?

- name the 5 rights of medication

-name one drug from each of these classes: antipsychotic, anti anxiety, anti hypertensive, anti hyperglycaemic, anti depressant, narcotic

there was a few other questions but i can't remember them all. Thank you everyone who posted on this thread. i hope some of my input helps!

Specializes in Med/Surg Acute Care RN.

Hello.....I had an interview fee days ago and was asked the following? It's for RN position...

1. Have you ever worked with someone that you didn't get along with?

2. Have you ever had to deal with an aggressive patient?

3. If you caught a co-worker falsifying documents, what do you do?

4. How do you feel with HIPPA with coworkers and none coworkers?

5. If a inmate comes to clinic said he had fight, lost consciousness, what do you do?

6. Found an inmate that was hung, he was cut down by CO they said he has pulse and is breathing, what do you do?

7. Female patient come to clinic c/o RLQ pain x 2 weeks, what do you do?

That's all I can remember.....

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