How to Answer Scenario-Based Nursing Interview Questions

You’ve put a lot of effort into your job search. You patiently sorted through hundreds of nursing job postings, found one that matches your skills and interests, and submitted an application. Now you find out your hard work has paid off: you got a job interview!

Think of this as your chance to bring your nursing resume to life and show the employer just how great a fit you are for the position — not to mention for their team. But if you really want to dazzle your interviewers, you’ll need to be able to answer any kinds of questions they ask you — the most common of which are clinical scenario-based questions.

What Are Clinical Scenario Interview Questions?

There are two types of clinical questions an interviewer could ask:

Type #1: Behavioral questions

Behavioral questions focus on things you’ve already done (i.e., “Can you give me an example of the way that you communicate with patients who have a hard time understanding what you want them to do?”).

Type #2: Situational questions

Situational questions expect you to imagine yourself in certain scenarios you may have never faced before (i.e., “What would you do if the patient you were caring for couldn’t understand what you were explaining about the type of care that she was about to receive?”).

Why would an interviewer ask these types of questions, specifically? Well, the team that hires you will likely want to know how you respond in certain high-pressure situations. They want to see your problem-solving style and get a sense of how you react and respond to the specific challenges nurses tend to face. Asking behavioral and situational questions is a great way for your interviewer to assess your response.

STAR: The #1 Strategy for Answering Scenario-Based Nursing Interview Questions

When giving your responses in a job interview, it’s important to stay focused and on point. If you’ve had trouble with this in the past, you may want to consider trying the STAR interview technique. STAR stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result

By following this response structure, you’ll be able to organize your thoughts in a more coherent way, whether you’re speaking from past experience or imagining yourself in a hypothetical situation. Here’s how to formulate a thorough response:

• Situation: State the specific situation, as you understand it. This way, it’s clear what you’re responding to. If you’re speaking from past experience, connect it to the situation presented in the question.
• Task: Explain the steps that would need to be done, in order, so you come across as organized.
• Action: Describe how you’d implement the steps.
• Result: Share the result you would expect to happen. If speaking from experience, also share what did happen.

If you’ve been asked a situational question but you’ve had experience with a similar scenario, you can answer it as a situational response and segue into the fact that you had something similar happen. Then, you can set up your behavioral scenario. This is a way to share your experience after answering the question to back up your point.

How to Answer Nursing Interview Questions About Your Clinical Care Experience

This is perhaps the most common type of scenario-based question that arises during nursing job interviews. Your interviewer will want to know how you’d care for patients under different circumstances, including worst-case scenarios. You may be asked questions or given hypothetical situations like:

• “A supervisor has directed you to take a specific course of care, but you disagree that this is the best way to treat the patient. How would you approach the situation?”
• “What would you do if a critically ill patient isn’t responding to the treatment they’re receiving while under your care?”

Your interviewer will get a sense of your clinical expertise, problem-solving skills, and critical-thinking skills when you explain what you would do and why. If you’ve treated patients in similar circumstances, it’s fine to bring your previous personal experience into the equation, although this isn’t necessary. Your responses will offer insight into your care philosophy and the way you think on your feet.

Examples of Nursing Interview Scenarios Questions & Answers

When your interviewer asks a scenario question, present your answer like a clinical case study. The goal is to show you can:

• Understand the patient’s background and medical history
• Clearly describe their symptoms
• Assess the situation to identify potential causes and appropriate next steps
• Anticipate possible complications and how to handle them
• Provide the expected or desired outcome for evaluation

The STAR method gives you a good framework for this approach. To see what it looks like in practice, we asked Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RD, CEN, CNL, and Theresa Brown, PhD, RN, to give examples of how they’d answer questions about hypothetical scenarios:

Sample nursing scenario question 1:

“A patient who has been complaining of chest pain suddenly wants to leave the hospital, saying they feel better. What are your next steps?”

Sample nursing scenario answer in STAR format:

When a patient whose symptoms may suggest a heart attack wants to leave the hospital without treatment, it’s important to find out why and do everything possible to ensure they make the best decision for their health. I’d ask questions so I could understand what the patient is thinking and feeling and gently explain the potential complications of refusing treatment. If needed, I’d also adjust their environment so they feel more secure and comfortable enough to stay and receive care.

Sample nursing scenario question 2:

“A critically ill patient who has undergone recent abdominal surgery is striking a fever of 101, and it’s rising. What are your next steps?”

Sample nursing scenario answer in STAR format:

A fever in a patient fresh out of post-op indicates potential problems like an infection at the incision site or malignant hyperthermia. To determine the cause, I’d review the patient’s chart and talk with the outgoing nurse to get a thorough history that includes the patient’s age, physical condition, and any chronic conditions that could increase their risk of complications.

After assessing the patient, I’d call the provider and anticipate any necessary bloodwork and medications. I’d assess how the patient responded after each intervention, watch for adverse reactions, and update the provider about lab results that could affect the course of treatment.

How to Answer Nursing Interview Questions About Your Communication Style

Good nurses are excellent communicators. They need to be understood by patients and patients’ relatives as well as by doctors and other members of the care team. You may be given scenarios like these in your nursing interview and asked to explain how you would handle them in a clinical setting. We’re providing three examples since communication issues pop up in numerous ways:

Sample communication scenario question 1:

“If your patient’s relatives don’t understand what you’re telling them about their child’s illness and treatment plan, how would you change your communication style?”

Sample communication scenario answer:

I sometimes encounter family members who don’t understand the medical information I’m sharing, which can be due to challenges like language barriers and varying levels of health literacy. It’s important to meet them where they are and use language they understand, so I’d start by creating the best environment for the conversation, including calling in an interpreter if necessary. Then, I’d give the family time to ask questions so I could directly address their concerns. After we talked, I’d make sure they could repeat back what I just explained to show they have enough details to feel confident they are making the best treatment decisions for their child.

Sample communication scenario question 2:

“How would you care for a patient whose opinions and choices related to their medical care differ starkly from your own?”

Sample communication scenario answer:

When a patient wishes to pursue an alternative treatment path, it’s my job to provide factual, evidence-based information to guide them toward the choices that are best for their immediate goals and long-term health. After asking questions to clarify what they understand about available treatments, I’d explain the typical standard of care for their situation and lay out the potential risks of rejecting treatment. I’d gently discourage them from making choices that could worsen their condition and work with them to create a treatment plan that best addresses their needs while still respecting their point of view.

Sample communication scenario question 2:

“What would you do in an emergency situation if the attending doctor misunderstood the patient history you just shared with them?”

Sample communication scenario answer:

A doctor is taking in and processing a lot of information in an emergency and may miss something important that could impact the patient’s health. To ensure the patient receives the best care, I’d take responsibility for not being clear and repeat or rephrase the critical details clearly and respectfully. If the doctor still doesn’t seem to understand, I’d be more insistent while maintaining a nonconfrontational tone. I’d continue to discuss the patient’s condition until I am sure the doctor understands and is equipped to offer the most appropriate treatment.

As you answer these types of questions, your interviewer will assess your ability to communicate clearly, get points across easily, and identify when alternate communication styles may be needed.

How to Answer Nursing Interview Questions About how you Handle Stressful Situations

Because stressful situations are commonplace for nurses, your interviewer will want to know how you would respond to different stress-inducing scenarios. You may be asked questions or given hypothetical situations like:

• “What would you do if your patient suddenly and unexpectedly has difficulty breathing?”
• “How would you manage patient care and complete your daily tasks if your unit is one nurse short and you have considerably more patients than usual?”

Here’s an example of how to answer a question about a particularly stressful situation involving a young patient:

Sample stressful scenario question:

“If a patient’s mother is sobbing over her son’s traumatic injury right in front of him and you can see that her outburst is upsetting him, what would you do?”

Sample stressful scenario answer:

It’s common for parents to be upset, confused, or overwhelmed when their child is sick or injured. The top priority is to ensure a safe, calm environment for the child, so I’d start by checking his physical and emotional state. Then I’d ask the mom if she’d like to get coffee, and I’d walk with her to give her time to talk and calm down. If appropriate, I’d offer to be there as a willing ear or call in someone from spiritual services to support her throughout her child’s treatment.

Sometimes, parents don’t want to leave the room, in which case I’d try to turn the mom’s attention to something else like a TV show or a conversation with her son. In either situation, the best outcome is for both the parent and child to feel calm and supported.

Your interviewer will want to know that you can identify priorities, adapt quickly to change, stay organized, and delegate tasks to other members of the care team as needed so you can provide patients with the best care possible.

How to Answer Nursing Interview Questions About Triage Scenarios

One common way for your interviewer to assess your problem-solving skills, experience, and confidence levels is by asking you to triage three or four hypothetical patients who have different health conditions. You may be asked questions or given scenarios like:

Sample triage scenario question:

“You have three patients in your care: someone who is being treated for heart palpitations, someone who is experiencing a mental health crisis, and someone who is bleeding from a deep wound. How would you triage these patients?”

Sample triage scenario answer:

When faced with triage decisions for patients with conditions at varying levels of urgency, it’s critical to determine who has the most serious medical needs. I’d start by assessing the bleeding patient to determine the location of the wound and how much it is bleeding. If the patient is bleeding a lot from a critical area, I’d apply a dressing or tourniquet right away.

Then I’d ask the mental health patient questions to determine whether they are considering self-harm or suicide, and I’d remove anything from the room that they might use to harm themselves. I’d finish by checking the patient with heart palpitations for signs of any serious symptoms. I would ensure that the most urgent case receives immediate care.

It’s important that you explain your reasons for triaging patients so your interviewer can better understand your thought processes. Your answer will reveal your clinical expertise and your values, which will help your interviewer determine whether you’d be a good fit for the position.

The Importance of Having the Right Malpractice Insurance on Your Side

Once you have the job, it’s important to think about nursing malpractice insurance. There’s no doubt that nursing is a high-stress, high-risk, and high-reward profession. So the job offer you accept should provide adequate medical malpractice insurance. While many nurses feel they are free from being named in lawsuits, the fact is that more malpractice claims are naming the entire medical care team — and many workplace policies do not cover licensing board cases. Plus, having your own policy from a top-rated insurer can cost as little as $87 a year.

Read real stories of professionals getting named in claims or board actions

Let Berxi be part of your possible and get a free quote today.

Final Thoughts

It’s not always possible to plan responses to clinical scenario interview questions, especially if your interviewer is very creative or asks complex hypothetical questions. But it can be helpful to go into your nursing interview with a few work-related stories in mind that you can share in your responses.

Consider specific moments when you’ve had to show your leadership, make quick decisions, overcome communication challenges, or work with a patient who had a special circumstance. Clearly think through the important details you would want to share.

Sharing details about a previous clinical experience can also be a good way to demonstrate your personality because it may be easier for you to relax and explain what you’ve already done than to imagine what you might do. But you can let your personality shine through when you answer any scenario-based questions, even without including personal anecdotes.

Always respond thoughtfully and honestly, and let your interviewer know that you carefully consider every decision you’ve make when it comes to patient care.

Looking for more help preparing for a nursing job interview? Set yourself up for success with these other resources from the Berxi blog:

• How to Prepare For a Nursing Interview
• 15 Questions to Ask During a Nursing Interview
• 40+ Questions to Ask at the Job Offer Stage

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Experts who helped with this guide include:

• Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL, nurse career strategist and founder of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing community
• Theresa Brown, PhD, RN, nurse and writer, New York Times bestselling author of The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives and Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient
• Laurie G. Combe, MN, RN, NCSN, president-elect of the National Association of School Nurses
• Nancy Freeland, MS, RN-BC, CCRN-K, a senior nurse educator for adult critical care nursing at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
• Elizabeth Rochin, PhD, RN, NE-BC, president of the National Perinatal Information Center
• Seun Ross, DNP, MSN, CRNP-F, NP-C, NEA-BC, Executive Director, Health Equity, Independence Blue Cross

Image courtesy of iStock.com/nortonrsx

 

Last updated on Feb 29, 2024.
Originally published on Feb 14, 2019.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Berxi™ or Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company. This article (subject to change without notice) is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute professional advice. Click here to read our full disclaimer