Pre-Interview Practical Assessment

Did the employer authorize you to reveal their interview question on a public forum?

I changed the question it is not exactly verbatim. Sorry,I should have mentioned that in the original post

A.You should not be revealing any part of an interview question on a public forum

B. You missed assessing for key physical reasons a two week old baby might be dehydrated and jumped to looking for abuse.

What did I miss? And I didnt jump straight to abuse. I assessed for feeding habits of the new born and respiratory infections and I mentioned poverty as a factor as to why perhaps the new born is not eating well...

You asked does she breast or bottle feed, that is not an adequate assessment.

How often does the baby feed? for how long? would you assess the baby's palette? would you ask what happens after the baby feeds? would you ask if the baby vomits? is it projectile vomiting?

I only had 30 minutes to answer so I couldnt go into detail about every single medical assessment. However, because the mother is new to the country and does not

Speak english you also have to

Look and consider the social determinants of health as being a factor as well.

For the safety of the baby and mother, I would hope you would be using an interpreter as you would not be able take an accurate medical history without one. Thirty minutes is plenty of time to do the approipriate history and physical assessment if you know how to focus your assessment based on this baby's symptoms. What if the baby has a cleft palate and you didn't assess for this? Why do you think poverty is a cause of the baby's dehydration and weight loss in this case? How does 'poverty' cause dehydration and weight loss to a baby living in a women's shelter? Do you think the city/province provides funds for women's' shelters but they don't provide funds for food for the mothers and children living in the shelters?

Yes I did state on the test that i would use a medical interpreter due to confidentiality and to ensure that the proper medical terminology js used. And you have to look at the question drom all angles there is a reason why they stated the mother is a newcomer to Canada and does not speak english so it doesnt hurt to think the child maybe dehydrated due to being malnourished due to poverty or from long term illness due to the environment he or she lives in. There are 24 points so I think it is important to look at the questions from different aspects and to also involve the interdisciplinary team to assist.

Yes, you have to look at the question from all angles but your assessment of the possible physical causes for the patient's symptoms was incomplete. The baby is two weeks old, living in a shelter where the mother has access to food and water and your going to make poverty a source, but your not going to take a focused history or do a physical assessment on the baby's digestive system?

The question did not state the mother and child lived in the shelter. It is a new admission scenario. I see where I missed parts that pertained to the baby's digestive tract. I had to think on the spot and it's hard to think of everything. But I am confident with my answer I touched all basis. So we will see where it goes...

You not only missed assessing the baby's digestive system, you did not say what you would do about the baby's dehydration. You did not say what symptoms mean the baby should be taken to the emergency department or what symptoms mean the baby should be seen by the physician. This baby is at risk of dying and you would fail to rescue this baby because you do not understand how to prioritize an assessment.

You would ask about immunization of this two week old baby, what immunization were you expecting the baby to have had?

You would waste time talking about poverty and the mother taking English classes to become employed and better able to provide for the baby, why?

I mentioned on my test once I stabalized the infant by providing fluids, and applying oxygen , and obtaining blood work that then I would go about finding resources for the mother. There was no information in the test that the infant required transfer to the emergency. Sorry, but I can't remember everything I wrote. So it may not be in my original post. I get your point, but you should ask if that was done instead of accusing me of not doing so. However I had to answer based on the job description at hand yes, the physical assessment is imporant but also have to take into consideration the underlying causes and as nurses at this facility they want you to take into the consideration social determinants of health. If the child is at risk for dehydration do to the environment of the mother or due to her lack of finances why is it a bad idea to refer her to those services once the child had been stabalized?? The question asked how would YOU handle the situation not what the priority actions are. I included my assessment and physical interventions but it doesnt stop there once those are implemented, I need to tackle all possible underlying causes and that includes social factors as well to prevent it from happening again. YES there are certain immunizations given to the child at birth based on the mothers health history and because the mother is new to Canada, the baby could have recieved HepB or HBIG its very possible! that is why I asked during my assessment I appreciate your feedback bfrom the get go you have been very negative and condescending first your asking if the facility gave me permission to disclose the question?? Obviously they did not express their permission but I didn't sign any confidentiality agreement not to ask about it and I did not repeat the question verbatim nor did I disclose the name of the organization/facility or agency or town or city in which this facility is in. If you have an issue with it you can contact the facility and let them know about my posting or the administrators of the page. Overall, whether you like it or not there are so many reasons why the infant could be dehydrated yes digestive problems, but also respiratory infection, neglect or abuse or maybe the mother cannot adequately provide nutrition to her infant. based on the limited information provided we cannot really say exactly why thats why there is really no right or wrong answer to the question. Therefore, I am just looking at feedback from different points of view not responses from people that state their answer is the be all end all.