Have you ever had a time where you couldn't complete all of your necessary tasks in a given day or shift? How did you handle that situation?
A busy clinic or inpatient unit can often prove to be too much to handle on some days for nurse practitioners, and your interviewer is fully aware of that fact. By asking this question, your interviewer is looking to hear that you are resourceful in handling situations where you get too busy and that you use open lines of communication with your team to ensure that the best care gets provided to patients. As you think of a time when you had to handle a busy clinic or inpatient unit, be sure that you can prove your ability to handle the situation with ease using communication and the resources available to you. To seal the deal for you in this answer, try also to share that you are always willing to help others on your team when they are in a time of need.
"This can happen from time to time on a busy hospital unit practicing in Hospital Internal Medicine as I have been for many years. During the pandemic, our hospital beds were often full, and it could be difficult to handle all necessary patient tasks in a given 12-hour shift. I am always focused on handline one task at a time while always reprioritizing what is most important. If I'm feeling too bogged down, I remain in contact with the other providers on shift with me. Then, at shift hand-off to the oncoming provider team, we have a great system for communicating to each other what needs to be done. When I come onto a new shift, I'm always happy to help my colleagues out as I know they would and have done the same for me."
"During my time as a registered nurse in an outpatient clinic, daily patient care tasks were required to be handled before heading home for the day. This included the stocking of rooms and all patient charting. Though it was rare to happen, I would stay after clinic hours to finish any duties that I wasn't able to complete during the day, and my nursing team always handled this as a team effort."
"Yes, I have had a day or two like that in my current role. During seasons where influenza runs rampant, my clinic becomes overwhelming with appointments and leaves little to no room for administrative tasks. During these times, communication with collaborating physicians and administrators is critical to let them both know that I have a packed clinical schedule. My physician's schedule typically mirrors mine, so in these times, the administrator has other team members pick up on the administrative tasks so we can focus on patient care for that individual day. If hired here, I would bring a team-based approach to helping others as well on days that are just too crazy to get everything accomplished."
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