Behavioral Nursing Mock Interview

To help you prepare for your nursing interview, here are 35 behavioral nursing interview questions and answer examples.

Behavioral Nursing was updated by Kelly Burlison on March 8th, 2021. Learn more here.

Question 4 of 35

Describe a time you effectively instructed a patient on something they were struggling with learning?

How to Answer
Answer Example

Patients are often under a great deal of stress. The stress of a new diagnosis, worsening symptoms, and even the hospitalization may make them less attentive to instruction. The nurse must triage the patient's ability to comprehend novel and challenging directions, and factor in any other compounding variables such as cultural differences, pain, medications, and others. Optimal outcomes are achieved when the patient is compliant with treatment and understands what they need to do to be successful. Do your best to explain effective teaching methods here, like teaching through direct instruction or incremental lessons with return demonstrations, utilizing multi-sensory instruction, by providing verbal, written, and physical instructions when applicable.

"During my home health rotation, I worked with a patient who said her medications weren't working, but they worked when she was in the hospital and in the rehab center for several weeks after discharge. I asked her to bring all of her medications out to the table, and they were tossed in a cardboard box with old and expired medications with no sense of order. She told me she took them faithfully everyday and never missed one. I looked at the bottles and noticed that they were all ordered on the same day of discharge but several bottles were full and others were almost empty. I asked her if I could help her organize her medications, call the pharmacy to help with automatic refills, and also get her a medication minder. We filled the 2-week minder together and that really helped her take the correct pills. The next visit, she happily reported that her meds were working again."

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How to Answer: Describe a time you effectively instructed a patient on something they were struggling with learning?

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Behavioral Nursing job interview.

4. Describe a time you effectively instructed a patient on something they were struggling with learning?

How to Answer

Patients are often under a great deal of stress. The stress of a new diagnosis, worsening symptoms, and even the hospitalization may make them less attentive to instruction. The nurse must triage the patient's ability to comprehend novel and challenging directions, and factor in any other compounding variables such as cultural differences, pain, medications, and others. Optimal outcomes are achieved when the patient is compliant with treatment and understands what they need to do to be successful. Do your best to explain effective teaching methods here, like teaching through direct instruction or incremental lessons with return demonstrations, utilizing multi-sensory instruction, by providing verbal, written, and physical instructions when applicable.

Written by Dianne Barnard on March 1st, 2021

Answer Example

"During my home health rotation, I worked with a patient who said her medications weren't working, but they worked when she was in the hospital and in the rehab center for several weeks after discharge. I asked her to bring all of her medications out to the table, and they were tossed in a cardboard box with old and expired medications with no sense of order. She told me she took them faithfully everyday and never missed one. I looked at the bottles and noticed that they were all ordered on the same day of discharge but several bottles were full and others were almost empty. I asked her if I could help her organize her medications, call the pharmacy to help with automatic refills, and also get her a medication minder. We filled the 2-week minder together and that really helped her take the correct pills. The next visit, she happily reported that her meds were working again."

Written by Dianne Barnard on March 1st, 2021

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