HELP! Interview questions

carrie_c · Apr 28, 2012

**why did you decide to become a nurse? I was always interested in healthcare, and I wanted to help people.

***what is your specialty? OB

How did you get to this position in terms of academic or work experience? It is very hard to get hired where I work. Most everyone says they had to know someone to get hired, but I guess I just got lucky. I was a new grad with only 3 months of med/surg experience. But I had worked for years as a medical assistant prior to nursing school. I also had experience with newborns, so I think that helped. Plus lots and lots of prayer, haha.

***do you work inpatient or outpatient? Inpatient

What is a normal day at work like? Are there things about your area that you did not expect to be doing? I do postpartum/newborn. I work nights, so we have the babies in the nursery at night. Most of the night is spent taking care of the babies. We do all their vitals, weights, PKUs, etc at night. I also spend a lot of time helping new moms breastfeed. I never really expected to be doing this. I never realized getting a baby to breastfeed can be so difficult.

***what would you change in your work environment if possible? All the breastfeeding issues, and all the unnecessary labor inductions. We also have to take call 3 times in a 6 week period. This is the worst part of my job.

***what are your greatest challenges in nursing? Having too many patients. This prevents giving the best nursing care I would like to give.

***what are your greatest rewards? I love teaching new moms how to take care of their new babies. I also love taking care of the babies. I love it when I bond with a patient. That can make a bad night all worth it.

***tell me about your most memorable patient situation. Unfortunately the one that sticks out in my mind is a sad one. It was while I was still in nursing school. On my peds rotation, I had to take care of a shaken baby who later died. She was 4 months old. Her own Dad shoke her. It was so horrible. Maybe that's one reason I take care of babies now.

Are there any characteristics that you feel all nurses should or must have to be a good nurse? Compassion. Anyone can have the medical knowledge, but if you don't have compassion, it's impossible to be a good nurse. Patients can tell when a nurse really cares about them. Also being nonjudgemental is important. You won't always agree with your patient's choices or lifestyle, but we are there to take care of them, not judge them. Let God do that.

what was nursing school like, and were there any challenges? Nursing school was awful and I would never ever want to do it again. I think one of the biggest challenges were some of the instructors who just didn't care.

what were your early experiences working as a nurse? (Did it take some getting used to, for example) I have only been a nurse for a year, so I am still getting used to it. But it has gotten much easier. I don't have as much anxiety as I used to. When I first started, I was working in med/surg and I would have so much anxiety at times that I would be sick.

laguilar · Apr 28, 2012

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for your response.

Second, I realized that you say to leave the judging up to God. I am trying to get into the nursing program at my school, which is a Christian university, yet I have never heard anyone remind us of this in my intro class. I was wondering, have you personally seen someone judge a patient for their lifestyle?

carrie_c · Apr 28, 2012

Yes. I see it all the time.