Nurse Interview Questions for Health Care Hiring

Introduction

Hiring the right Nurse is critical in Health Care to ensure patient safety, quality outcomes, and strong team performance. A focused interview process helps identify candidates with the clinical skills and professional judgment required at the bedside.

This guide contains Nurse interview questions across basic, intermediate, and advanced levels, plus five pre-screening interview questions designed for one-way video interviews. Use these video interview questions to standardize screening and speed up candidate selection.

Nurse Interview Questions

Basic Nurse Interview Questions

• Describe your nursing education and current licensure status.
• What are the key components of patient assessment on admission?
• How do you practice infection prevention and control in daily care?
• Explain your approach to medication administration and double checks.
• How do you document patient care and why is accurate documentation important?
• What steps do you take to protect patient privacy and confidentiality?
• How do you prioritize tasks during a typical shift?
• Describe a time you communicated important information to a physician or team member.

Intermediate Nurse Interview Questions

• Tell me how you would manage two patients with competing urgent needs on the same unit.
• Describe your response to a post-operative patient who shows signs of respiratory distress.
• Share an example of a medication error you discovered and how you handled it.
• How would you support a family that is refusing a recommended treatment for their loved one?
• Discuss how you approach end-of-life care conversations and symptom management.
• Describe a time you identified and corrected incomplete or inaccurate documentation.
• Explain how you would recognize and manage an IV infiltration or phlebitis.
• How do you adjust care when working with pediatric patients compared to adults?
• Give an example of a triage decision you made in an urgent situation and the reasoning behind it.
• How do you organize your time to complete required assessments, documentation, and rounding?

Advanced Nurse Interview Questions

• Describe a clinical improvement project you led and the outcomes you achieved.
• How do you assess staffing needs and advocate for safe nurse-patient ratios?
• Explain your experience with developing or updating clinical policies or protocols.
• Describe how you mentor and develop junior nurses to improve clinical competence.
• How have you used data or metrics to drive quality improvement in patient care?
• Explain your approach to resolving interprofessional conflicts that affect patient care.
• Discuss experience optimizing electronic medical record workflows to reduce charting time and errors.
• Describe how you ensure compliance with regulatory standards and prepare for surveys or audits.
• How would you design a clinical pathway to reduce the length of stay for a common diagnosis?
• Explain strategies you have used to manage budgetary constraints while maintaining care quality.

Pre-Screening Video Interview Questions for Nurse

These pre-screening interview questions are ideal for one-way video interviews on ScreeningHive. They help hiring teams quickly evaluate communication, clinical reasoning, and fit before live interviews.

1. Briefly introduce yourself and summarize your nursing experience and licensure.

   This question evaluates communication clarity, relevant experience, and whether basic qualifications match the role.

2. Describe a clinical situation where you identified a patient safety risk and what you did to address it.

   This question assesses clinical judgment, initiative, and adherence to safety protocols.

3. Explain how you would prioritize care when assigned multiple patients with competing needs.

   This evaluates prioritization skills, time management, and decision-making under pressure.

4. Give an example of when you advocated for a patient and the result.

   This reveals patient advocacy, ethical reasoning, and the ability to navigate team dynamics.

5. Why are you interested in this nursing role, and how do you see yourself contributing to our team?

   This question gauges motivation, cultural fit, and alignment with organizational goals.

Conclusion

These Nurse interview questions provide hiring managers, recruiters, and HR teams with a structured approach to assess candidates at multiple skill levels. Candidates can use the questions to prepare examples that highlight clinical competence and professional behavior.

ScreeningHive supports efficient hiring with one-way video interviews that enable faster screening, consistent evaluations, and improved hiring decisions for healthcare teams.