Questions for School Nurse Applicants

bergren · Apr 10, 2009

Why school nursing? (you would not believe what people say - very interesting first question which will reveal how long the interview will be!!!)

Tell me about any healthcare / public health experiences you have had outside the acute setting.

Why do you think your background in XXX will translate into school nursing?

What experience do you have with children / child health / parents?

How will you get up to speed in this new specialty? in this new school?

How do you feel about working in a non health care setting? How do you feel about working alone?

What is your experience working with schools and school personnel?

I'd have them do a quick quiz asking to determine safe dose ranges. Have a couple of orders that are not safe or not pediatric meds or alternative meds and ask how they would handle it.

Tell me what you know about this community? The health care needs of this community?

What is your experience doing home visits? leading community meetings, teaching in a classroom, organizing programs / events? teaching adults?

Describe a situation in your career where you were able to bring about a change through persuasion and influence?

Can you describe how you would conduct a needs assessment in a school community? How would you determine which population interventions to implement?

Scenarios:

Describe a clinical situation where you had to respond in an emergency?

How would you handle angry mom, angry teacher, principal, child with frequent visits, emergency situations, team issues, MD issues, determining clinical and administrative priorities , delegation, the 911 that mom student does not want you to call, have a procedure to do you never did in acute or nurisng school ....

A child is starting Monday with (trach, incessant seizures, name a syndrome). That is all you have been told, how will you prepare?

If experienced, are you nationally certified? A member of NASN, state affiliate?

How do you keep current? What is the last nursing conference or continuing education offering you attended, last book you bought for your personal professional library, what journals do you read, what professional organizations do you belong to? Community health organizations?

What strengths do you bring? What are three areas you will need to shore up?

If you accept this position, will you be working in another position also? Are you available for before and after school IEP meetings? home visits? Are you available for summer session?

I would not expect positive answers for a lot of these, but how she or he answers them will reveal a lot.

nitengale75 · Apr 13, 2009

Thanks Martha! I knew you wouldn't let me down and would have some great advice as always.

valeriecathleen · Apr 13, 2009

why school nursing? (you would not believe what people say - very interesting first question which will reveal how long the interview will be!!!)
tell me about any healthcare / public health experiences you have had outside the acute setting.
why do you think your background in xxx will translate into school nursing?
what experience do you have with children / child health / parents?
how will you get up to speed in this new specialty? in this new school?
how do you feel about working in a non health care setting? how do you feel about working alone?
what is your experience working with schools and school personnel?
i'd have them do a quick quiz asking to determine safe dose ranges. have a couple of orders that are not safe or not pediatric meds or alternative meds and ask how they would handle it.
tell me what you know about this community? the health care needs of this community?
what is your experience doing home visits? leading community meetings, teaching in a classroom, organizing programs / events? teaching adults?
describe a situation in your career where you were able to bring about a change through persuasion and influence?
can you describe how you would conduct a needs assessment in a school community? how would you determine which population interventions to implement?
scenarios:
describe a clinical situation where you had to respond in an emergency?
how would you handle angry mom, angry teacher, principal, child with frequent visits, emergency situations, team issues, md issues, determining clinical and administrative priorities , delegation, the 911 that mom student does not want you to call, have a procedure to do you never did in acute or nurisng school ....
a child is starting monday with (trach, incessant seizures, name a syndrome). that is all you have been told, how will you prepare?
if experienced, are you nationally certified? a member of nasn, state affiliate?
how do you keep current? what is the last nursing conference or continuing education offering you attended, last book you bought for your personal professional library, what journals do you read, what professional organizations do you belong to? community health organizations?
what strengths do you bring? what are three areas you will need to shore up?
if you accept this position, will you be working in another position also? are you available for before and after school iep meetings? home visits? are you available for summer session?
i would not expect positive answers for a lot of these, but how she or he answers them will reveal a lot.

funny you should ask - i was interviewed this morning for a school nurse position and there were 5 people asking the questions of me! the 5 on 1 was pretty brutal, not because they were nasty people - there were just so many of them and they kept firing questions one right after another. one would ask a question and the next one would be writing the response down. they went around the table about 3 times although it seemed like 33!

right now i waffle back and forth between i did ok and i was a miserable failure. i closed the door at the end and the principal took me around for a tour. i heard them laughing behind the door. but...that could have had something to do with the last things i talked about when i was leaving. the present school nurse (who strangely enough was part of the interview team) said "so...you work at xyz company - i was thinking of interviewing there." i told her to call me and she said "maybe we can switch jobs - ha ha ha". i don't know what to make of the laughing when i closed the door.

i think i answered some of them they way they wanted to hear things.

"should the nurse call every child's parents who hits his head on the pavement in our parking lot/playground even if there are no symptoms?" answer - yes. i talked about natasha richardson and hwo her death has raised awareness of how serious head injuries can be even if there are initially no symptoms. i have no problem calling a parent to let her know what to watch out for with a head injury.

"how would you handle a child who appears to be having allergic reaction symptoms but does not have known allergies or an epipen?" answer - assess for wheezing, chest tightness, swelling of the lips, tongue, mouth, anxiety, call 911, give benadryl. the 2nd grade teacher who asked me that one prefaced it with this was a personal situation that happened with one of her own children and she smiled when i said call 911. i don't even want to think of how that one played out.

one just stumped me - "tell us about an "ah-ha! moment that you had in your nursing career working with children..." i drew a blank. all i could say is "that's a tough one. i've been a nurse for a long time and they all seem like ah-ha moments. let me think about that one and get back to you" so that we could move on and five people did not stare at me while i racked my brain trying to think up something clever. even now, 6 hours later, i still don't have a good answer for that one. all i can say is that i tried my best at the time.

they seemed to perk up when i asked a question about the school health teacher and how the nurse role interfaced with her position. like i had done some research and was interested in being a team player.

the three questions i highlighted in bergren's response to you were all asked of me!

bergren · Apr 13, 2009

Sounds like you did a great job!!!