Common Correctional Nursing Interview Questions

Common Correctional Nursing Interview Questions

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!

202 Answers

Specializes in Emergency Department.

Here's a few I remember.

Q. You find an IM in his cell hanging by his neck. What's the first thing you do?

A. Ask the CO to make sure it's safe for you to be in the area, or ask the CO to call for help. Bottom line, your SAFETY is #1.

Q. You find an IM in lying in a pool of blood. What's the first thing you do?

A. Pretty much the same answer as above.

Q. Name some psychotropic drugs and their side-effects. (I was told as a NG, I was not expected to know the answer).

A. I answered that the primary SEs of the class of drugs are extra-pyramidal symptoms like dry mouth, weight gain, and Tardive Dyskinesia (TD).

Q. How would you deal with the fact that a vast number of IMs have HIV, Hep B, Hep C?

A. I just assume EVERYONE is infected and use PPE. IOW, glove up and wash your hands.

And of course the usual job interview questions like, "what are your greatest strengths, and weaknesses?"

Are you a new grad also?

Specializes in Rural, Midwifery, CCU, Ortho, Telemedicin.

The only one that I remember stuck in my mind as it was out of date - fortunately I have been around for a long time. The question - What are the 5 rights of medication? I scrambled and left out the newer 6th right and thus got it right. All the other questions that I encountered had to do with scenarios. As I understand the process, and this is just hearsay, the state sents out a series of about 20 questions and each facility then picks which 5 they will ask each candidate.

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

We always ask applicants how they believe that their nursing practice might change as a result of working in a prison environment. We are looking for things such as maintaining professional distance, not offering to do favors for inmates, security concerns and so forth.

We ask applicants to tell us something we might not know about them from reading their applications. We ask them about their best work-related trait, and a how they would deal with someone they observed working outside his/her scope of practice. We also ask them how they approach problem solving, and to give an example of how they applied this approach to a work problem.

I don't have the interview questions in front of me, but that covers a good part of our interview.

I just started at CTF (as an LVN) on Monday and I remember some of my questions (interview was 10/7/09 and we got 10 questions)

5 rights of med administration, I did give them all 6

What is diabetes and how would you do patient teaching for an inmate on how to manage diabetes.

What would you do if you found an inmate down?

What would you do if an inmate was threatening to jump from the 3rd tier.

How do you feel about providing care for inmates.

Why do you want to work in a correctional facility.

These were the ones that stuck out to me.

Jax

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

Another interview question, which can be very telling sometimes: We ask applicants if they have ever been fired from a job, or have ever been asked to resign in lieu of termination. Sometimes the reason makes sense, just a bad situation. Other times applicants may reveal that they have a problem following directives, or that they can be unreliable.

The following questions are included in our oral examination for Registered Nurses:

1. Describe your background in nursing and how this will compliment the duties for a Correctional Health Nurse.

2. You will be making decisions about whether an inmate seen by you may need to see an MD. What are some factors you would consider in your decision?

3. What are some key principles of infection control?

4. An inmate/resident presents with complaints of pain in his left ear. Discuss your assessment process.

5. Manipulative behavior is very common among the inmate population. what are some nursing skills that are helpful in dealing with this behavior?6. Describe your attributes and experiences that would enhance your ability to work with a diverse population.

7. Practicing nursing in a correctional facility requires specialized skills, knowledge and work behaviors. Describe what you think they are.

Hope you find this helpful!

Specializes in New Grad.

I had an interview today and one of the questions was, "What professional experiences have you had that would help you to work in the correctional setting and deal with inmates?

I had trouble with this one. What kind of answer are they looking for? I am a new grad and I have not worked as a nurse yet. I have worked in restaurants. I have volunteered at Orphanages and homeless shelters. I mentioned something about being able to work with a diverse population, but i didn't know what else to say...

Can anyone help with a good way to answer this question?

Specializes in Psych, substance abuse, MR-DD.

My two interviews (two different CI's) were surprisingly easy so far. I have one more Monday, and I will see if they ask anything different.

The big question was what made me want to work in corrections. They also asked about my experience in general, if I had experience with IV insertion, and how I would feel working with inmates who have done some really terrible crimes.

All things I was expecting thanks to you guys on allnurses.com! Thanks:)

I have my fingers crossed for the FT day position, but I think I might take the per diem if that's what they offered me!

so i read everyone's post and unfortunately it did not help me. There were 5 questions, and they were all situational clinical questions. I prepared myself for a different set of questions and these questions threw me off. I answered to the best of my knowledge, but here are the 5 questions I had:

1) Redness and tenderness on IV site.what do you do?

2) 5 surgery pre-op checklist

3) 5 interventions for patients with high risk for falls

4) What do you do if you the physician's order is not legible

5) Caring for an alzheimer patient with dementia. what are their characteristics during admission?

I hope this helps

Good Luck!

I just went through 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

I just had an interview at a CA prison, and thought I'd share the questions I was asked:

  1. What are the components of a physician's order?
  2. IM is shaky, dizzy, confused and is an insulin-dependent diabetic. What would you do?
  3. How do you complete a medication pass?
  4. Tramadol is prescribed for IM and he says "I've never taken this pill before." What would you tell him?
  5. Alarms have sounded off and 2 COs are with an IM who is in the shower, lying down and verbally non-responsive. What would you do?

I had an interview and remember being asked:

  1. What would teaching be for a new BP med?
  2. What to do if inmate was banging his head against the wall?
  3. What if an inmate gave you a letter to mail on the outside? and treatment for a chest Stab Wound.

Not very hard, but they wanted thorough step-by-step answers.

Not sure how I did, but I felt pretty confident about it. Mostly they talked about the facility and allowed me ample time to ask my questions. The questions they asked were very standardized and they could not elaborate on the scenario. They asked me not to share the questions or my answers until all interviews were completed "as the interview is very competitive". So I waited a month .... hope that was long enough. ? I was very nervous before my interview and looked for a forum like this to help me understand the kinds of questions to even expect. It seems every location is very different, but most give a psych, safety, and medication question at the minimum.

Good luck to all applying.

+ Add a Comment