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!

Hi Everyone,

This thread made me feel so prepared for my second interview ? So here's what I had:

First interview: totally unprepared, only asked me questions about why I wanted to be a correctional nurse, what my strengths were, ect. no scenarios.

Second interview (different facility), got a phone call with a pop quiz interview, six questions:

1. You have 60 seconds, tell me about yourself

2. Name a specific time you knew you were in over your head with a patient, what you did about it, and what you learned from the experience.

3. Name a specific time you had difficulty with a patients behavior, how you handled it and what you learned from the situation.

4. Name a specific example of a time you were reprimanded at work, how you handled it and what you learned.

5. Give a specific example of a time you had multiple things to do, all at the same time, how you prioritized your tasks and what you learned.

6. If you were up against someone with the same level of education and experience for this position, tell me why I should hire you over someone else.

This was all on the phone, minutes before I was going to walk into walmart lol. Then he brought me in for a tour of the facility (I did well on the phone part ? thanks to this thread) and although he didn't really ask me any more "interview" type questions, what he told me later he was doing was introducing me to people on the unit to observe how I interacted with them. At one point he left me with the triage nurse and came back a couple minutes later, he was trying to see how well I'd fit in I think.

At the end, he told me how happy he was with the interview, complemented me several times for following the exact directions I was given (bring your CPR Card, RN license, references, put keys in a locker and bring nothing else, dress code, ect. He actually said I was the only interviewee that followed all of his directions, which he loved because he said it spoke to my ability to take directions and be trained on the job) Then he asked me which of the two available shifts I preferred!! Great Sign!!! Now I'm waiting for the offer...I am 7mo pregnant and did tell him I'd need some time off, so hopefully that's not a deal breaker and I'll get an offer soon ?

The pay scale her in MA is 27-44$/Hr for reg. scheduled positions and 32$/Hr for per diem ?

Hello! I am interviewing at a state supermax on Monday which has 3000 inmates. They told me to dress conservatively and bring only my ID. I will be given a multiple choice test and the best score will be offered the job. I have learned so much from this thread. My background is med/surg, ER and LTC. I was also a Director of Nursing. I feel my 18 years of RN experience will help me as a first time Correctional Nurse.

This post had helped me tremendously. I have an interviewed with the local county jail..that is literally 5 min. down the street from my house. I am a recent LPN grad and currently in school for RN. hope I get the position. I have a living to maintain as well.

hi guys i have an interview for a correctional facility on Tuesday i am soo nervous.... when you have your interview is it one on one or is it a group of people interviewing?

Hi Guys, I have a job interview for correctional nurse position next week, at Lancanster . Can anyone help me what questions are they going to ask me? I heard that they will ask me 5 questions. This thread helps me a lot, but I need more advice . I really want this job. Pls help! Thanks

I hav an interview in Soledad ca next week plz help me if anyone know about the interview question. Plz plz I want this job I dont have any job.

Specializes in Forensic Psych RN.

I understand how you feel. I hope you do get the job. Working for the state of CA pays very, very well. The benefit package is unsurpassed and the employee pays very little towards it. If you start with them when you are young, get your education so you can move up to other positions, you can do well and retire early.

You will probably be asked 5 questions. There will be a panel of interviewers and the interview is very structured. They will have a series of laminated pages that have the questions they are going to ask you. You will be asked to flip over the first page when you are ready and they will read the question out loud to you with you reading along on your own card.

The question objective will always be about your critical thinking skills while working in a forensic environment. It will be about your awareness for being safe first, considering your patient population, and a nurse second.

Here are some sample subjects you may get asked:

1. While doing your medpass, patient tells you he already got his insulin shot. What are you going to do?

First you'll hold the insulin until you check the MAR, the diabetic log book for a blood sugar check that was documented, maybe the needle sign out roster to see if his name is in there for that date, you will check with other staff. You may check his blood sugar again before giving any injections.

2. You have a patient down and bleeding and another complaining of chest pains. Who are you going to help first?

You call for help (calling for help is big in this environment) quickly assess each one. If the bleeder is life threatening blood loss, that's your priority. Bleeding could mean cut on the arm. If you know your patient population, and you know the chest pain person's history, then that would determine your actions as well. Does he often complain of chest pain because he has a diagnosis of GERD and refuses his omeprazole? Chest pain is a high priority but not if someone is bleeding out. Hopefully there will be help to take over one of them.

3. Man down by himself. Do you go to him? No you call for help, assess the area and make sure you have staff with you in case it's a set up.

4. My friend interviewed last month at Stockton and was asked this: You overhear two staff gossiping about other staff...what do you do with the information? Depending on the nature of it, you may have to report it to your supervisor.

Don't be afraid to keep talking and adding information. They will have a checklist to complete while you answer to score how many of their targets you hit, but there is no right or wrong for which sequence you answered in. Just that you hit them.

Also...dress professionally. Impressions are so huge and can do alot for a candidate. I cannot believe how some of the interviewees dress. If you can, wear your RN pin....you'd be surprised how much goodwill it will generate....especially if one of the interviewees went to the same school. It shows you are proud of your chosen profession.

PS - I went through allnurses.com before my interview and cut and pasted all the forensic facility question and answers I found into one document I could study, read into a recorder and listen to, and get as familiar with as possible.

derme2000 said:

PS - I went through allnurses.com before my interview and cut and pasted all the forensic facility question and answers I found into one document I could study, read into a recorder and listen to, and get as familiar with as possible.

That is a great idea. Would you mind sharing your document?

Exactly..this is the same with corrections in New Zealand too.I had an interview yesterday. had questions almost the same way Orca has presented.

Got a call for an interview at a state hospital and so glad I started to compile and study all the responses here. I'm happy, excited and a little nervous about this new chapter opening up, and I'm going for it! Thank you to everyone who has shared here. This information is invaluable!

The interview went ok. There were 4 questions, 2 questions about diabetes and 2 of which were psych scenarios. I did okay, but was nervous. So they said I should hear something in 3 weeks, depending on when they get ahold of my references. I guess if they are going to the trouble of contacting references that there may be a job possibility. I didn't pretend to have more experience than I did, but stressed areas which would help me in this setting.

Hello! I have an interview on Wednesday, October 23 in a NZ corrections. Would really appreciate if anyone has an idea or previous experience with a job interview here in NZ. I am glad to have found this and have been reading and reviewing in preparation for my interview. Cheers!

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