How to Answer: You are a floor nurse in your unit and have close relationships with several of your colleagues. When your supervisor goes on vacation, she appoints you to be in charge. How do you approach supervising the nursing staff in your unit?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Behavioral Nursing job interview.
3. You are a floor nurse in your unit and have close relationships with several of your colleagues. When your supervisor goes on vacation, she appoints you to be in charge. How do you approach supervising the nursing staff in your unit?
How to Answer
Oftentimes, when a nursing supervisor is out on vacation, sick, or personal leave, they will appoint someone from their staff to serve as acting supervisor in their absence. While serving as acting supervisor, it is important for a nurse to treat their colleagues fairly and put any personal relationships they have with their coworkers aside. The interviewer is asking this question to determine how the candidate would respond in this situation and if the candidate would treat all their colleagues equally. To effectively answer this question, you should indicate that you would put all personal relationships with your coworkers aside while you are acting as supervisor and treat everyone fairly. A more successful answer to this question would include an example of how you effectively served as acting supervisor of a nursing unit during your career.
Written by Kelly Burlison on March 8th, 2021
Answer Example
"If I was serving as acting supervisor, I would set any and all relationships I had with my peers aside and treat everyone the same. I have been in this situation before, where I have stood in for my manager while she was on vacation, and I found that the only way to be successful and fair, was to compartmentalize everything while in charge. It can be a difficult situation to be in, as sometimes your work friends want you to make special concessions for them, but in order to be fair, you can't do that. So, in this situation, I would make it clear that I am not their friend, I am their supervisor, and I am going to follow the rules as stated in the handbook, for everyone."
Written by Kelly Burlison on March 8th, 2021