Maternal Newborn Interview Help!!

[ERnursemom]

I have an interview this week for a maternal newborn unit. It's a panel interview which already makes me nervous! And then, the add scenario questions in the mix! Can anyone help give me an idea of what those may be geared towards?

I am an ER nurse of 3 years. I know when I interviewed for my ER position I was asked about an MI patient, differences in stroke patients, and treatment of sepsis.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[jennylee321]

Woman and family centred care are good words to throw in there.

A lot of patient teaching on maternal newborn so maybe "tell me about a time you had to teach a patient something and they weren't comprehending, what did you do"

Maybe a postpartum hemorrhage management question

Maybe a breastfeeding question

I bet you Klone will have a good answer for you.

[labordude, BSN, RN]

Scenario questions that are relevant only to the specialty you are applying for are terrible. If they want to ask clinical type questions, they should be looking at your thought process especially since this would be a new area for you to work in. I want to hire for fit, I can train for competence. Panel interviews are a good way for both sides to get a sense of each other. Ideally, the management team leaves the room and you are left with just the staff. Far too many people participate in interviews (on the hiring side) without any training whatsoever, it's a bad situation. Understand that it's likely the people you are sitting across from want to find a person they will enjoy working with.

Also do these things:

1) Smile

2) Do not fidget with your hands.

3) Mirror the people you are speaking with in terms of speech cadence, tone, volume, etc and their body language. If they are a group, figure out the leader and mirror them, the others will follow.

[boquiabierta]

I think the most important question will just be why do you want to work maternal/newborn? Especially if it's a well mother/baby unit (i.e. on mine we didn't get high risk moms or NICU babies) your acuity is going to be generally pretty low so it's going to be a huge change of pace from ED. (edit: unless it's L&D/combined LDRP rather than just postpartum)

On my interview I talked up my love of education which seemed to score me points. Maternal/newborn is a LOT of educating and I'd say at least 50% of that is breastfeeding education and support. Your ED experience will make you a good person to have on hand for the few expected emergencies like hemorrhages and babies in respiratory distress. Good luck!