In this article
Motivation and the role
Why did you become a nurse?
Give one specific reason rooted in the work, and one moment that confirmed it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describes registered nurses (RNs) as assessing patients' conditions, administering medicines and treatments, collaborating with doctors and teaching patients and families (BLS, last modified 27 August 2026). Tie your reason to one of those duties, such as teaching a family to manage a condition, instead of a general wish to help.
Why it is asked: motivation predicts how you cope with hard shifts. Read more: the healthcare interviews guide and how to answer "tell me about yourself".
Tell me about yourself as a nurse.
Give a short professional summary in three parts: your current stage or unit, one or two pieces of evidence that match this job, and why you are applying here. Keep it under two minutes and stop, so the interviewer can pick a thread. A new graduate can use clinical placements in place of jobs and name the patient group they worked with.
Why it is asked: it opens the round and shows how you organise your thinking.
Why do you want to work on this unit or at this facility?
Name something real you learned about the unit: the patient group, the staffing model, a programme or a specialty the facility is known for, taken from its own website or a visit. Then link it to experience you have. Avoid answers about location or pay alone, because they say nothing about the work.
Why it is asked: units want people who chose the work, not only a job.
How do you handle shift work and long hours?
Be honest about what you do to stay safe and well. The BLS says nurses in hospitals and nursing care facilities usually work shifts that give round-the-clock coverage, and may work nights, weekends and holidays or be on call, while nurses in offices and schools more often keep regular hours (BLS, last modified 27 August 2026). Describe your routines for sleep, handoffs and breaks, and give one example of keeping care safe late in a shift.
Why it is asked: fatigue is a safety risk, and employers want a realistic plan.
Prioritising and patient safety
How do you prioritise when several patients need you at once?
Start with who is at risk of getting worse, then with what each patient needs next, and say you would ask for help when the list is too long. Most US emergency departments (94% as of 2019) use a formal scale, the Emergency Severity Index (ESI), in which levels 1 and 2 reflect urgency and levels 3 to 5 depend on the resources a stable patient is expected to need (Wikipedia, last edited 29 July 2026).
Other countries use other scales: the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) in Canada, the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) in Australia and the Manchester Triage System in the UK, so name the one your region uses. On a ward, explain your own order the same way.
Why it is asked: it tests clinical judgement under pressure.
Text description of the diagram
- Level 1 needs immediate life-saving intervention.
- Levels 3 to 5 depend on how many resources a stable patient needs.
What is triage, and how does it work?
Triage is sorting patients by how urgently they need care. In the ESI, level 1 needs immediate life-saving intervention, such as cardiac arrest, level 2 is high risk or time-critical, such as cardiac chest pain, and levels 3 to 5 are stable patients sorted by whether they need many resources, one resource or none (Wikipedia, last edited 29 July 2026). Say whether you have used triage in your own setting.
Why it is asked: it separates emergency experience from general ward experience.
When do you clean your hands?
Name the moments. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says clean your hands before touching a patient, before an aseptic task such as handling a device, before moving from a soiled body site to a clean one, after touching a patient or surroundings, after contact with blood or body fluids, and after gloves come off (CDC, 27 February 2024). Use soap and water instead of alcohol rub when hands are visibly soiled and when caring for patients with C. difficile or norovirus during outbreaks (CDC, 27 February 2024).
Why it is asked: it checks that basic infection control is automatic.
What would you do if you realised you had made a medication error?
Say the order: check on the patient first, give any urgent care, tell the prescriber and your charge nurse straight away, and report it through the facility's reporting system, then record what happened factually. Add one thing you would learn from it. Never say you would hide it or wait to see whether anyone notices.
Why it is asked: honesty and speed after an error matter more than a clean record.
How would you recognise and report a patient who is getting worse?
Describe watching for change from the patient's own baseline, checking again, and escalating early using a structured message. Many teams use SBAR, which stands for Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation, for urgent calls (Wikipedia, last edited 18 July 2025). Say you would not wait for a scheduled round if something looked wrong.
Why it is asked: late escalation is a common cause of harm, and interviewers want to hear you act early.
Knowing it is half the job. Saying it is the other half.
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What is SBAR, and how would you use it for a handoff?
SBAR is a four-part structure for passing on information: Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation. The Wikipedia article says it gives handoffs a short, organised and predictable format and that it was introduced to rapid response teams at Kaiser Permanente in Colorado in 2002 (Wikipedia, last edited 18 July 2025). The last part states what you want done, so the listener knows what you need. An illustrative opening: "I am calling about the patient in bed four, whose breathing has become faster since this morning."
Why it is asked: handoffs are where information is lost.
Text description of the diagram
- SBAR stands for Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation.
- The last part states what you want done.
How do you delegate to a nursing assistant or a licensed practical nurse?
Delegation is handing a task to another worker while you remain accountable for the care. Use the five rights: right task, right circumstance, right person, right communication and right supervision. The OpenStax nursing text says that even when care is delegated, the registered nurse remains accountable for the care provided (OpenStax, modified 24 December 2024). Give one example of a task you would delegate and one you would not.
Why it is asked: unsafe delegation is a common error for new nurses.
What do you do when you disagree with a doctor's order?
Do not carry out an order you believe is unsafe, and do not argue in front of the patient. Check your facts, such as the allergy list, the dose and the latest results, then speak to the prescriber directly and clearly using SBAR. If the concern is not resolved, escalate through your charge nurse or the facility's chain of command. Document the conversation.
Why it is asked: it tests courage, respect and the right route for a concern.
How do you work with a difficult patient or an upset family?
Listen first, name the concern in your own words, and explain what you can do and when. Stay calm, keep your tone even and set limits kindly when behaviour becomes unsafe. Bring in a colleague or the charge nurse if needed. The Code of Ethics for Nurses, published by the American Nurses Association (ANA), opens with care that shows compassion and respect for each person's dignity and worth (ANA, 2025 edition).
Why it is asked: patient and family communication shapes outcomes and complaints.
Privacy and ethics
How do you protect patient privacy?
Say what you do in practice: look at records only for patients in your care, do not discuss patients in public areas and log out of screens. In the United States, protected health information is identifiable information about a person's health or care that a healthcare organisation must protect. The minimum necessary standard is the requirement, in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules, that covered entities make reasonable efforts to limit that information to the minimum necessary for the purpose (45 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 164.502(b), amendments through 26 April 2024). Disclosures to a provider for treatment are exempt from that limit.
Why it is asked: privacy breaches are a frequent cause of dismissal.
A patient refuses a treatment. What do you do?
Find out why, make sure the patient understands the risks and options in plain words, and respect the decision of a patient who has capacity. Tell the prescriber and record the refusal and what you explained. The Code of Ethics for Nurses lists advocating for the rights, health and safety of those served among its provisions (ANA, 2025 edition). Never pressure or trick the patient.
Why it is asked: it tests whether you respect autonomy while staying safe.
What would you do if a colleague was practising unsafely?
Protect the patient first, then raise it. If the concern is immediate, step in and tell the charge nurse. Otherwise, speak to the colleague privately and factually where that is safe, and report it to a supervisor if the behaviour continues or the risk is serious. Keep to facts you saw, not rumours. The ANA Code of Ethics covers this in Provision 3, sub-provisions 3.4 "Protection of Patient Health and Safety by Acting on Practice Issues" and 3.5 "Protection of Patient Health and Safety by Acting on Impaired Practice" (ANA Provision 3, 2025 edition).
Why it is asked: speaking up is essential and hard, and interviewers look for judgement, not bravado.
Behavioural examples and closing
Tell me about a mistake you made and what you changed.
Choose a real, modest mistake, name your part in it without blaming others, and end on a changed habit, such as a second check. Use the Situation, Task, Action, Result (STAR) structure from the STAR method page, and spend most of the time on what you did. Do not pick a mistake that harmed a patient seriously unless you can show how the system changed.
Why it is asked: interviewers look for ownership and learning.
Tell me about a time you had too much to do on a shift.
Describe the workload briefly, how you ranked tasks by risk, whom you asked for help and the outcome. Include one thing you did not do and why that was safe. The behavioural interviews guide shows how to keep one story ready for several of these prompts.
Why it is asked: it reveals your prioritising and your willingness to ask for help.
What is your greatest weakness?
Name a real, bounded weakness and the system you built around it, such as double-checking calculations when tired. Do not name something essential to nursing, and do not claim to have none. The full method is on the greatest weakness page.
Why it is asked: it shows self-awareness and whether you act on feedback.
What questions do you have for us?
Ask about the real work: the nurse-to-patient ratio on the unit, how handoffs are done, how new nurses are supported in the first months and how the team handles disagreements. Do not ask about anything the posting already answers. See questions to ask the interviewer for more.
Why it is asked: it shows interest and that you have thought about the work.
Follow-up questions
How do I prepare for a nursing interview?
Prepare three or four patient stories using the Situation, Task, Action, Result structure, learn the unit's patient group, and rehearse the safety answers above out loud. The healthcare interviews guide shows how the questions fit together, and interview loops explains how rounds are arranged.
How do I answer nurse interview questions?
Answer the question asked in your first sentence, give one real patient situation, and finish with what you did and what happened. Keep each answer to about two minutes, name your own part rather than "we", and say plainly when you asked for help. Safe practice, honesty and clear communication matter more than sounding polished.
What are behavioral interview questions for nurses?
They ask what you actually did in a past situation, such as a busy shift, a disagreement with a colleague or a mistake you made. Prepare short stories with the Situation, Task, Action, Result structure. The behavioural interviews guide explains how to build and reuse them.
Do new graduates get asked the same questions?
Mostly, with more weight on placements, supervision and learning. Use clinical placement examples and be clear about which tasks you did under supervision and which alone.
- Nurse interviews test judgement, safety, communication, privacy and honesty about mistakes.
- Prioritise by risk of getting worse, and ask for help early.
- Name the specific hand-hygiene moments and the SBAR parts.
- You stay accountable for what you delegate: use the five rights.
- For a mistake or a conflict, show ownership and end on a changed habit.
Sources
- Registered Nurses, Occupational Outlook Handbook — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 27 Aug 2026
- Clinical Safety: Hand Hygiene for Healthcare Workers — U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27 Feb 2024
- 45 CFR 164.502, Uses and disclosures of protected health information: general rules — Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute (amendments through 26 April 2024), 26 Apr 2024
- Code of Ethics for Nurses, Provision 3 (2025 edition) — American Nurses Association (date = read date), 24 Oct 2026
- Code of Ethics for Nurses (2025 edition) — American Nurses Association (date = read date), 24 Oct 2026
- Nursing Standards of Delegation — OpenStax, Fundamentals of Nursing (CC BY 4.0), 24 Dec 2024
- SBAR — Wikipedia (last edited 18 July 2025), 18 Jul 2025
- Emergency Severity Index — Wikipedia (last edited 29 July 2026), 29 Jul 2026
