If hired as our next nurse practitioner, would you bring the ability to work independently to our team?

How to Answer
Entry Level Example
Answer Example
Experienced Example

As you are being considered to join this organization, your interviewer is looking to get a sense that you have the ability to work and make decisions on your own with little supervision. Not to be confused with your scope of practice and working with your collaborating physician, talk about your ability to work with little direction and your competence in doing so. If possible, try to give examples of times when you've worked independently to prove to your interviewer that you will be a provider that joins their care team and runs with the work to provide the best care possible to patients.

"As a new NP joining your practice, I felt very comfortable handling primary care and urgent care patients on my own in my last few clinical rotations. After an orientation period and check-ins with my supervising physician, I feel very confident in my ability to see patients independently. If an issue ever came up that I couldn't handle, I wouldn't hesitate to talk to my peers."

"Throughout my career as a Nurse Practitioner, I've gained the confidence to work very independently, and this ability was really solidified in my time in plastic surgery. I often handled clinic patients on my own while the surgeon was handling cases in the OR. I learned quickly to make quick decisions with patients on their care and became more confident in my ability to do so daily. At the end of each day, the surgeon and I would talk quickly through the patients I saw that day."

"Yes, I have the ability to care for patients independently in the inpatient setting. I am the sole night shift provider in my current position and always have a physician on call if needed. Over the last two years, I've only had two situations where the physician needed to be called in for additional prescribing from the pharmacy."