What to know about a hospital for an interview?

missnurse01, MSN, RN · Apr 21, 2013

Is there certain services or specialties that drove you to applying to this hospital? Heard great things about the unit? do they have awards? Shared governance? History of the hospital, what it provides, what you have heard about it in the community. Knowing what type of pt's they see on that floor, etc.

Professional attire = conservative. no low cut anything, no jeans, tshirts, etc.

mhy12784 · Apr 21, 2013

Well im a male so ill be wearing a suit and tie (having it altered so it fits perfect atm)

And part of why im applying is I got my BSN from the hospital, and they prefer their own grads (being honest lol)

Ive been trying to find out more about the unit though. Its a medical telemetry unit, but my clinical professor tells me its more like a regular med surge floor with more renal patients (when I would think that it would be more cardiac). So ive been trying to figure that out

Appreciate the suggestions though, thank you !

FurBabyMom, MSN, RN · Apr 22, 2013

Okay. So you are familiar with the system (to some extent) being a student at the affiliated school. Highlight that. Be prepared to speak about the units you had clinicals on (patient populations, skills you got to try, everything). I don't know if all of your clinicals were all at your affiliated hospital or not - but do not, under any circumstances talk crap about anywhere you have had clinicals or worked (if you worked as an assistant in school). You NEVER KNOW who knows who in this business. You can describe a difficult situation and how you handled it, but you have to do it positively and show what YOU learned.

Be prepared to talk about things that make you want to stay. Teamwork? Organization? Shared governance? Magnet Status? Research/evidence based practice? Why is it important to you that you stay? Why is it important to them that you stay? You are selling yourself to them (well, presenting yourself as a desirable candidate). Hospital awards? Ratings? Designations for excellence in care and/or research? Is the hospital rated well (best places to work, etc), do they offer attractive work/life balance? Opportunities (and I cannot stress this enough) down the road, for continuing education?

There will (honestly) probably be some kind of questions regarding customer service - usually a difficult family member or patient. There may be a question about how you handled something with a less than positive outcome and/or where you weren't successful. As a new grad, not all of your answers will be from nursing experience - you may have to draw from school or other job experience. And that is okay, if you can remember to focus on what you did, how things went and what you learned.

Many students graduating with a BSN these days have a "plan" years down the road - ex: med/surg for a year, maybe a pit stop in ICU for a year, grad school to go the NP/CRNA route. Those are fine, but not what they wanna hear in an interview as a new grad. If they ask what they see you doing in 5 years - it's good to show ambition, but you might want to emphasize a desire to become proficient in this environment before making any solid plans but that you would certainly consider grad school or certification. It's up to you how to present yourself, but it takes a while to properly orient a new grad.

Telemetry units - you WOULD think it would be more cardiac. But they are often a bunch of things. And really it IS, but the primary diagnoses (as your professor suggests) may be renal in origin. But because of the implications of renal insufficiency, it very much becomes cardiac. Many renal patients end up on dialysis, and have fluid/electrolyte imbalances, which make it more than just renal, but it becomes cardiac too. I worked neurology/neurosurgery stepdown/telemetry when I worked as a floor RN. We primarily took the neuro patients, but because we were the unit with the most tele beds, we got a bit of everything (inpatient units are like that tele or not). We got most of the stroke calls / TIA v CVA, unless the patient was going to NSICU for tPA or the OR from the ED (subdural hemorrhage etc). We also got some chest pain patients. I had multiple patients with very poor renal function as we were a tele unit and had open beds when the patient was admitted. I had patients with some huge cardiac issues too.