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!

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.

Thanks for all the practice questions! This is really helpful. I've had one interview at a California prison, and have another scheduled.

Here are some of the questions I remember from my interview.

  1. Be able to identify the signs and symptoms, interventions, and anticipated tests for TB.
  2. Know the signs and symptoms, interventions, and anticipated Doctor's tests for narcotic overdose.
  3. Know signs symptoms, interventions, and tests for high blood sugar/low blood sugar.
Specializes in behavioral health.

I can remember having a question at interview for county jail: The IM threw the water and pills back at the nurse. What would I do in a situation like that. I remember that my answer was that I would document in notes that IM refused meds and move onto next IM. I am not certain how things work in the jail, but would put a note in the drs. box about IM conduct and refusal of meds. I would assume that CO would take care of the consequences for the IM behavior to the nurse. Also, I would have to look at he meds and see if there would be any immediate dangers of his missing dose, e.g. if he is a diabetic on po meds. If there would be a high risk of the missed dose, then I would contact the house doctor after the pill pass. I don't know what the appropriate answer was.

That was for a county jail LPN position. Now, I just applied for an LPN position at a small county prison. It houses inmates with up to two years sentence. I will have to pull out my books and read up on some illnesses that I would see, in the event that I get called for an interview.

I know that it is very likely that much of the population has a personality disorder, substance abuse, or other mental illness. I think that it is important to show that you are not easily manipulated. I would not let my personal ethics or values get in the way of the nursing treatment of the IM. They are human, no matter what their crime is and it is my job to give the standard nursing care that I would give anyone. Also, I would definitely maintain my professional boundaries and not give out any personal information about myself.

Specializes in substance abuse, psych, LTC, corrections.

I was asked "What was the biggest mistake you have ever made as a nurse"? I was honest and received supportive feedback from my interviewer.

Just Hired!!! ? THANKS to ALL here. I read every thread & post here & without you all I may have turned down a job I am now thrilled to be starting.

As for my interview.... I was asked to read from a sheet of paper with 10 scenarios & give my reply. As best as I can remember:

1. When is it/ when would you d/c cpr. A: SAFETY!!!! Obvious mortal injury, triage considerations, fatigue..

2. Couple of ? re: TB... how to test.. know your procedure, what to do/how to treat a pt who is + TB... I said meds, ensuring compliance, diet, rest, fluids, probably put a mask on them cuz the air/droplet transmission, isolation.

3. You find an inmate who cut his wrists... I swear this exact ? is here somewhere... bleeding to death what do you do. ... this is a prison... you don't do jack until your scene is safe. Answer is to get a guard first.

4. Something about diabetes education.....Diet, testing, etc. EZ...

5. Two ? about inappropriate relationships with inmates.. I was helped here by a huge poster in the lobby. I didn't see anything about that here. Pretty obvious stuff though: A coworker who has a special inmate, bringing them treats, contacting their family, volunteering for OT, being found where you shouldn't be with inmate. What would you do? Hello! The answer is to tattle on them, even if in reality you might want to talk to them one on one first.

6. One ? asked about having to lift something too heavy for you & this was a trick ? if ever I saw one. The job description says you have to be able to lift 25 pounds, period. (I just had back & knee surgery, so this is a rather sensitive issue for me). The answer was related to the weight listed & job description. I said that it would depend on how much over the weight, what kind of lift is was, the urgency of the need, & of course, always #1, SAFETY. They seemed satisfied.

7. You just discovered you gave a whole tab to a patient when you were only supposed to give half, what do you do. #1 is always SAFETY. I answered that I would first review, quickly, the drug & other Rx's the patient had & their overall medical condition. Then tell my supervisor, document, & monitor patient for adverse reactions and lastly, make sure it never happens again.

That's all I can remember for the ? They also asked why I thought I'd be a good fit. That was EZ for me. I have a background in psych, 12 years in EMS, & many years volunteering at free clinics. I think everyone deserves health care & hey, what a great opportunity to make an impact on a, uh, captive audience. At least here I can be sure they are really taking their Rxs!

When it was my turn to ask ? I was well prepared, thanks to all nurse.com!! What kind of training will I get? They loved that & it's great, just great. I also asked the usual: what is their time frame, what are my perceived weaknesses, what can I do to get the job.. etc...

I was halfway to my car when I heard my name over the loudspeaker asking me to come back. I was HIRED!!! ? ? It was a week later before the actual dollar offer came in. It is hands down the highest salary I could get in this area as a new grad. And.. state benefits!! Wow am I blessed!

One more thing: this is what they call a transfer facility. Our inmates are either going to anther prison or home. I am told that this makes it a "cream puff' of a correctional nursing job. I'd welcome any comments on that. I start 5/2. 2 weeks of training.

Good Luck!!! I studied for my interview & was very, very glad.

I went on an interview in a southern california prison and I totally screwed it up. I have not been able to get in anywhere in my county but I managed to get into the prison system.

I had a few questions...

What is a heat stroke and what is heat exhaustion? What are the signs and symptoms? How would you treat each one?

How would you recognize an inmate who has hyperglycemia? How would you treat it?

Another question was "What would you do if an inmate in the clinic is becoming loud and obnoxious and is not complying with you?

I said, I would tell him to come back later!

Hello? What was I thinking?

I should have said that I would ask the inmate to calm down if he wanted to be seen otherwise I would need to call a guard in to control and remove the inmate.

I cant remember the other questions but I think they asked me 5 seperate questions and some of them were scenarios. I hope this post helps!

I just remembered another one ...

What are communicable diseases and how would you treat them here in the prison?

You need to take into consideration that if one inmate has athletes foot, then he can easily spread to others. If one has a cold, he can infect alot since they are in a closed environment and of very close proximity to others. They take communicable diseases seriously.

I remember a huge state prison I did an interview for for a travel position. It was extremely different than any kind of interview i'd done in the past. Maybe someone who works in the big prison life can answer this for me. They say you will have to use your critical thinking and nursing judgment and be able to act. Knowing the #1 thing is your personal safety.

Questions I remember were

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

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?

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

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

I see a lot of questions on here, but no real answers...my biggest one is, the insulin question, they tell you remembering that you did it correctly, what would you do at this point?

Very good questions, but in my opinion so in detail, that different prisons have different capabilities, and without giving me a rundown of the access and medical building allowance is hard to determine my what the policies and boundary for care would be.

Interviewed for a minimum security rehab facility last week. I mostly got general behavioral questions, and they went right down a little questionnaire packet.

What would you do if you overheard two employees gossiping?

How would you handle conflict with a co-worker?

What's your management style?

Tell us about your supervisory experience. (to a new grad- ha!)

What would you do if an inmate asked you for a favor?

Why do you want to work in corrections?

What qualifies you to be the first responder in an emergency?

I did extensive research here, and on the 'net, looking up all the behavioral interview questions I could. I researched the facility, the medical contractor, and corrections nursing in general. There wasn't a single question posed that I hadn't already thought about in some form, and I had ready, eloquent answers prepared. The research allowed me to make some informed comments and ask specific, intelligent questions. I received a rejection letter about 3 days later, but about 3 days after that, I got a call from HR. They said the NM and director had to choose a more experienced candidate, but were so impressed with my interview that they wanted to hire me PRN so I could go through orientation and begin preparing for a FT position.

I recently was interviewing for a job at a state prison in Arizona. HEre are some of my interview questions, and the answers they were looking for:

If you enter a prisoner's cell and find them hanging from the ceiling, what would do? At first I was unsure of the answer as I have no experience in a prison setting. I replied that I would start CPR. They liked this answer, and after further discussion, the correct answer was revealed. The cardinal rule of thumb is that no one dies in prison, and no one is born in prison! After the prisoner is cut down by a CO, assess CAB (circulation, airway, breathing), start CPR, call 911.

What would you do if you were called to a prisoner's cell and found an inmate and a pool of blood? I answered that I would first determine if the blood belonged to the inmate in the cell, and if so, assess for injuries and proceed accordingly. They really like this answer and commented that they have absolutely seen instances where the blood in the cell may have been on the inmate in the cell, but that inmate was ot injured. This is because the injured inmate had left the cell and had to be found.

If you had one inmate with chest pain and one inmate that was bleeding, how would you triage them? I answered that I would determine if the bleeding inmate was severe (like hemmoraging from a stab wound) of something that could wait (simple laceration). Once that is determined, I wouls assess the chest pain to determine if it was true MI chest pain, or simple muscular pain or indigestion. I told them I woule obviously proceed with standard protocol from there.

What are some side effects of psych drugs to look for with inmates? I totally flubbed this question, and I have no idea why, but they were looking for symptoms such as pill rolling, parkensonian like symptoms, and extra pyrimidal symptoms.

Hope this helped!

LorrySchoenlyRNPhD said:
Hi, Gang: I'm collecting a compendium of Interview Questions and best answers for folks prepping for a correctional nursing job interview. 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 (I will also include them on a special section of my blog).

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

Lorry

Luve this dancing guy!

Had an interview yesterday for an Rn position in Ia. They asked me ten qUestions, all very vague. Mostly typical interview questions such as: list strengths/weaknesses, why do you want to work in corrections, what would your current supervisor say about you, how do you deal with stressful situations, how do you create good work environment, how do you respond to an emergent situation when you don't have all of your resources. That's the gist of it! No real clinical questions which surprised me. Also they said I would hear back in the next couple of days so I hope i get it!

So i am a new grad RN and had my second RN interview today at a private prison in AZ. Here are the questions I was asked:

1) Describe your skills, experience, and knowledge to be a correctional health nurse.

2) If an inmate asked you to mail out a letter for him, how would you respond?

3) Have you ever participated in a quality improvement program, how did you participate, and how did it turn out?

4) If you saw a co-worker violate a company policy but did no harm to anyone else, what would you do?

5) If you asked someone in the department to do a task and they did not do it, what would you do?

6) Describe any other skills, experience, or anything else you would like to mention that makes you qualified for the job.

Then here are the questions I asked the interviewer:

1) What kind of security of measures are in place at this facility?

2) Can you explain the daily routine for a nurse?

3) What is the scheduling process?

4) What is the policy on overtime, and is being on-call a requirement for the position?

5) What's next in the hiring process?

So the interview went well however that particular facility is a coveted prison to work at within the company because it's the smoothest, so I'm sure they got lots of applicants. I will find out next week. However, I do have another interview at a detention center next week with the same company. We'll see!

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