Entry-Level Nursing Mock Interview
Practice 40 Entry-Level Nursing interview questions covering clinical scenarios, patient care priorities, and ethical challenges.
Question 15 of 40
Nurses typically work long shifts, often working 12-hour days rather than the traditional 8-hour workday, and oftentimes are required to work overtime. Tell me why you think you are prepared for these long days.
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Kelly Burlison is an experienced healthcare and quality measurement professional with experience interviewing in the healthcare field focusing on IT.
The nursing profession can be exhausting due to the long hours nurses are expected to work. Many times, to staff inpatient care facilities, nurses are scheduled for 12-hour shifts, and due to the nature of the job, they often cannot leave at the end of their shift, so they stay longer and accrue overtime. The long hours required from nurses can be a difficult adjustment for new nurses, especially if they are unprepared for such. The interviewer asks this question to understand if you are prepared for the long shifts you will face as a nurse. To effectively answer this question, discuss why you feel prepared for the long shifts using examples from your life to explain how you have endured long days. A successful answer would include specific examples of your professional career when you have successfully worked long shifts.
Kelly Burlison is an experienced healthcare and quality measurement professional with experience interviewing in the healthcare field focusing on IT.
"I feel like I will be able to handle the long shifts as a nurse because I was in a similar situation in nursing school. While in school, I worked my shifts as a certified nursing assistant and went to school, often on the same day. So, most days, I had to juggle school, class, studying, and my personal life. I often had commitments for more than fourteen hours a day. I feel that this busy life has prepared me for the nursing life, and I will be able to endure the long, stressful shifts."
Kelly Burlison is an experienced healthcare and quality measurement professional with experience interviewing in the healthcare field focusing on IT.
"While my career as an accountant is much different than my nursing career will be, it has prepared me for the long, stressful days in my nursing career. As an accountant, especially during the first quarter of the year, the days were very long and stressful. Again, I understand that nursing is different, as it is more physical and patient lives are in your hands, but I have experience working multiple sixteen-hour days in a row, and I feel this experience has well prepared me for the long days of a nurse."
"During nursing school, I've had several opportunities to have 12-hour clinical shifts. Two of my advanced med/surg clinical semesters and my capstone clinical had us working the entire shift with our nurse preceptor. It was a great way to experience the entire shift, from taking reports at the beginning of the shift to reporting at the end of the shift. Working such a long shift takes stamina, but you're also so busy the whole time that it tends to go pretty fast. I also work out in my downtime, and being in good physical shape will help me as I work long shifts."
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