In the healthcare services industry there are many emotions in a day. Have your emotions ever been in the way of your productivity?

How to Answer
1st Answer Example
2nd Answer Example
Community Answers

The interviewer wants to know if you consider yourself to be an emotionally driven person. Talk to the interviewer about your emotions and if they have ever affected your productivity at work.

Keep in mind - almost everyone is an emotional creature to some degree, but there are other ways that you can describe yourself that have a more positive connotation. If you are passionate, you could choose to refer to yourself as:

- Expressive
- Communicative
- Open
- Unreserved

"Everyone is emotional to a certain degree, and I would consider myself kind-hearted and open. A career in healthcare can be emotional at times; however, I choose to focus on the positives. For instance, - if we are close to losing a patient, I will focus on positive memories rather than the illness. This mindset has consistently allowed me to continue with a productive shift, no matter the emotions that come my way. "

"This is a great question. I think the right answer is, 'of course, but not for long'! We've all had those severe cases. A child dies, or you have to give someone a cancer diagnosis. It's professional to take a few minutes after an encounter like that and let those emotions come and go. I cope with these emotions by telling myself that it's not my story, its the patient's story. I think it's okay to be moved by someone else's experience, but I don't need to make it mine."

Anonymous Answer

"If anything, my emotions empower me and motivate me to do better or do the best thing for my patients. One patient I remember in particular when starting on a night duty made me very emotional. You could hear him at the entrance of the ward with the infamous death rattle. We were doing a bedside handover. He was in a side room with the door closed. I took one look at him when the door opened and I needed to know his last morphine dose, his last midazolam dose, his last hyoscine dose, and where the family was. The last doses of everything were 6 hours prior. He sounded awful and looked uncomfortable. My first priority was to get the patient as comfortable as possible."

Jaymie's Feedback

This is a good example to share, as it sounds like it would have been a stressful and emotional situation! Be sure to answer the second part of the question about whether your emotions that day affected your productivity. How were you able to keep your composure and ensure your patient was cared for?