Nursing in the UK

Sample Questions to assist you in preparation for interview.

1.

What has interested you about this job?

Think carefully about this question and stress positive aspects that have
attracted you. Indicate that you have done some research on the
Hospital e.g. looking up websites

2.

What attributes do you think make a good nurse? How has your training and
experience helped to develop these?

3.

What support do you think you will need in your 1st 6 months?

4.

Tell us about your clinical placements to date.

5.

What are you long term career aspirations?

Stress opportunities for personal growth, new challenges, ongoing
education etc.

6.

What do you think you can bring to the ward if we recruited you?
Include strengths that you think you have and can bring to the position
with examples of times you demonstrated these.

7.

What support do you think you may need?

Orientation etc.

8.

What are the skills and qualities that you feel are required to be a good
staff nurse.

9.

As a registered nurse what skills do you have which will help to ensure
effective communication with patients, and relatives within our trust.

10.

What do you understanding by Quality and Clinical Governance?

http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/practice/clinical_governance

11.

What do you understand by privacy and dignity?

into practice?

How do you put this

12.

Example of a stressful situation on a ward and how you would handle it.

13.

What do you think are the most important concerns of patients when
they come into hospital?

14.

How can you help to reduce cross infection within the clinical area.

15.

What measures would you take to ensure that you are a safe
practitioner whilst you are doing a drug round.

16.

As a registered nurse what do you feel constitutes professional

behaviour.

16.

17.

What have you done to find out about nursing in the NHS? Challenges
facing the NHS currently?

18.

What skills would you require to support a student nurse in her first year
of training.

19.

You are taking care of a patient and they complain about your care, how
would you deal with that? If you were unable to resolve the issue, what
would you do?
What do you understand by Professional accountability?
I am accountable for my actions and omissions as a registered nurse, I am
accountable to Nursing Registration Body, Hospital, Patients, Public.

17.

You come on duty and at handover you are told that one of your patients is
diabetic. When you go out onto the ward you find the patient is drowsy and
incoherent; what would you do?
Assess A, B, C , blood sugars.
Maintain airway if necessary.
If hypo give hypostop if semiconscious or Lucozade/sugary drink if
conscious. Recheck BS.
Give small meal high carbohydrate.
If hyper give prescribed insulin, contact Drs immediately. Recheck BS

Scenarios
You are looking after a patient who has been admitted for an angiogram.
He buzzes and tells you he has chest pain. He is looking grey and
sweaty. What are you going to do?
You are looking after a patient who returned from theatre having had a
bowel resection 4 hours ago. He has been quite stable until his blood
pressure drops to 90/40. What may be the cause of this and what will
you do?
Remember these questions are just examples of those you may be asked.
Please read up on notes in relation to your specialty, conditions of the
patients, anatomy and physiology, equipment used, nursing care, drugs
used and day to day questions.
Useful Websites:
o Nursing and midwifery council (UK)L www.nmc-uk.org
o National Health Service; www.nhs.uk
o Royal College of Nursing: www.rcn.org.uk
o Department of Health: www.dh.gov.uk
o Unison: www.unison.co.uk