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!

203 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 Emergency Department.

see below.

kayleeb said:

1. Inmate collapses in yard, what will you do?

Ask security to clear the yard first!

kayleeb said:

2. Inmate is telling you the insulin you just drew up to give him was done wrong and refusing to use, what would you do?

Tell the I/m you will check the mar when you get back, but in the meantime, have him sign a refusal form if you have one.

kayleeb said:

3. Remembering your not an er what would you do for a chest pain with diaphoresis?

A - call an ics and depending on your assessment, call 911 or call the main medical dept to send help.

4. Pt. Becomes suicidal and threatening what would be your next step?

A - call psych to have them evaluate the I/m. They will most likely put him on suicide watch. If no psych is available, medical will have to evaluate him and then call the on-call psych and then put him on watch.

Call an ics and depending on your assessment, call 911 or call the main medical dept to send help.

kayleeb said:

4. Pt. Becomes suicidal and threatening what would be your next step?

Call psych to have them evaluate the I/m. They will most likely put him on suicide watch. If no psych is available, medical will have to evaluate him and then call the on-call psych and then put him on watch.

 

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?
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