ICU/Critical Care Interview Question

[krb09]

Hey everyone,

Next Monday I am having an interview at the hospital I really want to work at with the ICU/Critical care units. I have been hearing lately that hospitals are getting away from the more "traditional" interview questions. A couple of my classmates have said they have been asked specific patient questions and what they would do in the situation.

Has anybody had that for ICU/CCU interviews? If so, what did they ask? I am confident but am a little scared I might freeze up on these types of questions.

Any other interview tips would be helpful as well! I really want to impress because I really want to work for this hospital!!!

Thank you!!!!!

[agilitydogs]

I was hired into a CVICU as a GN, and from that experience my advice would be...If they do ask you specific patient type questions, and you don't know the answer, don't hesitate to say I don't know, but give them possible options to find the answer. As a newbie in a critical care unit, they will put a ton of weight in the fact that you are willing to say you don't know something. It means a heck of a lot more that you can say "I am not sure" than it would if you tried to wing an answer. Critical care units are not the place to be winging anything if you don't know and you don't have experience to back you up. Good luck, and remember that your humble willingness to learn and be a TEAM PLAYER will be your greatest assets in a critical care unit while you get your feet wet.

[krb09]

I was hired into a CVICU as a GN, and from that experience my advice would be...If they do ask you specific patient type questions, and you don't know the answer, don't hesitate to say I don't know, but give them possible options to find the answer. As a newbie in a critical care unit, they will put a ton of weight in the fact that you are willing to say you don't know something. It means a heck of a lot more that you can say "I am not sure" than it would if you tried to wing an answer. Critical care units are not the place to be winging anything if you don't know and you don't have experience to back you up. Good luck, and remember that your humble willingness to learn and be a TEAM PLAYER will be your greatest assets in a critical care unit while you get your feet wet.

Very good point. I am definitely not afraid to ask for help and am very comfortable admitting what I don't know. I was going to talk about it in the interview (hopefully) but I hadn't thought about the possibility of doing it this way.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Assess the patient to the best of your abilities, get vitals if appropriate (or at least the most current ones), and get help. I used that in my interview and my manager was quite happy. (Many, many of our patients would be in an ICU at a smaller institution; we're not a stepdown unit but we are considered progressive care - and our sister unit DOES have stepdown beds).

After just over a year on the job, I find myself still doing this. The docs always want vitals, and sometimes I's and O's depending on the patient's underlying diagnosis. I usually go to the phone with the flowsheet in my hand (we still use paper flowsheets!) just to cover myself, and if the vitals are too old either I get a new set b/f calling, or I get the NA to help me as I'm calling.

Sometimes, as the other person said, saying "I don't know but I'd get help" is the right answer.