RN needed for interview for assignment

General E. Speaking, RN, RN · Feb 27, 2011

I had a young nervous man show up at our hospital one day needing to interview a nurse. He was sweating bullets and his voice was shaky. I admired his courage to come into a place where he didn't know anybody and do the interview. Seems he didn't know any nurses either.

I was busy but not swamped so I put him out of his misery, pulled him into the breakroom and gave him a few minutes of my time. It was a great experience for the both of us.

I think the point of the assignment is to sharpen your communication skills and do the interview in person. :)

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 27, 2011

The interview process in nursing is extremely important. It is imperative that you learn to pick up on verbal and nonverbal clues from the first moment of contact whether triaging or interveiwing you new admission. A lot of information can be obtained through non verbal communication and eye contact (or the lack thereof) Like " is anyone hurting you mentally of physically at home??" I can easily say no now but in person ....What does the body language show? Is someone hurting them and they are afraid to say????

I am thinking it is the face to face skills that your instructors are looking for.....not something tweeted or FB'd or blogged. Make an appointment at your own doctors office to talk to that nurse (just make sure they are a nurse and not a medical assistant...your assingment is to talk to a nurse.) Go to a minute clinic at CVS or Walgreens and talk to a nurse there......go to your town's board of health or health services. Go to your local schools.....elementry,middle,jr or high and speak to the school nurse. Go to the health stop on campus....there should be a nurse there too.......Good Luck..!

Jenni811, RN · Feb 27, 2011

Im guesing the assignment is about communication. Not just to do an assignment for the heck of it and get points. It is important to have that face to face contact when doing interviewing skills. Which you will learn in nursing school.

I know it might be scary, but try going to a clinic or hospital and speak to the charge nurse. The charge nurses are generally very good about helping anyone that has questions. Even if the charge nurse is busy and can't do it- Im sure he/she will help you find someone that has a few minutes. or you could walk into a LTC facility, like a nursing home and speak to some of the nurses there. Some units in nursing homes are a little "slower paced" than others, so if some of the nurses there are busy they can always direct you to someone that can.

It can be nervous just doing that- but nurses are VERY used to students and are used to assignments like this. Keep in mind they too were once a student and had to go through the same exact thing.