What is one challenge you foresee in becoming a NICU nurse?
Every new nursing job has challenges, no matter where your prior experience and education come from. With your interviewer fully aware that coming to their team as a NICU nurse will provide challenges for any new hire, they're asking this question to allow you to talk about what you feel would be your biggest challenge from the start in this role and to hear what your plan would be for facing this challenge.
"It's difficult to just be a nurse and not get attached and take things to heart--I'm still human. I know that this will be extremely difficult working with newborns in the neonatal intensive care setting. If things ever felt overwhelming to me in this role, I would take a quick breather, step aside, and get my feelings together. I would always try to remind myself that no matter what happens in a day, I am blessed to be able to be with people during some of the toughest times of their lives and I can make a difference, one child at a time."
Prior to your NICU nurse interview, be sure to carefully read the job description and really reflect on what you foresee as a potential challenge from the day you would start on the unit. Answer openly and honestly, but be sure to talk about what you would see for a plan of attack in handling that challenge. Make sure your interviewer walks away knowing that you would still thrive, despite the initial challenge.
"As a new grad, I think a major challenge will be training and onboarding in such a specialized unit of nursing and getting settled into a new team. I'm really excited and am confident in my technical abilities as well as my ability to learn things quickly. I'm eager to be a part of a team and contribute to the work that you do every day in the lives of patients and their families."
