How to Answer: How do you prioritize when multiple patients and procedures demand your attention at once?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Nursing job interview.
21. How do you prioritize when multiple patients and procedures demand your attention at once?
How to Answer
Working in any patient unit or clinic comes with times where the patient load can be overwhelming. During these times, nurses are often the glue that holds everything together in the department to ensure that things run smoothly. The interviewer is asking this question to determine how the candidate manages such as situation and how they will be able to manage these types of situations at your organization. To successfully answer this question, the candidate should talk about a particular situation when they had to prioritize multiple patients at once, how they handled the situation, and what the outcome was.
Written by Elisabeth Walter
1st Entry Level Example
"During my clinical rotation in an Urgent Care clinic, we had a very busy day where many patients were coming in due to a flu virus that was being spread around. In working with my preceptor, I learned from him how to communicate to patients what their wait times would be and how to best triage patients based on their symptoms. His calmness in handling the situation was inspiring. Personally, during my final year of coursework in college, I was taking 18 credits each semester. During these semesters, I had to learn to prioritize my classwork by due dates and order of importance. By utilizing checklists and working through each thing one at a time, I learned invaluable skills that I can bring to my nursing career."
Written by Ryan Brunner
1st Experienced Example
"As a nurse in the emergency department, there are times when the action is crazy with patients coming in. During these times, I always remember that the needs of the patient come first so my triage skills come into use to prioritize which patients are the highest priority and which ones can wait. During these particular times, communication is extremely important for patients. If they are going to have a time period to wait, I communicate that to them and check in with them when I am able to. As well during these busy times, it is equally important for our team of nurses and physicians to stay in communication. From there, I stay calm and handle patients with quality care one at a time."
Written by Elisabeth Walter
2nd Experienced Example
"One day on my shift as a nurse in the surgery center, we were booked full of cases throughout the day. As the day progressed, we had a couple of other trauma cases that were a high priority come in due to an auto accident. When this happened, we had to work as a team to communicate to current patients and family members in waiting that we had to push their times back in the day due to an emergent situation. An on-call surgeon came in later in the day to help cover the regularly scheduled cases and I had to communicate with the three surgeons on duty as to where I was needed and when I needed to be there. In the end, being able to prioritize the patients and my duties was crucial in helping the day in the surgery center run smoothly."
Written by Ryan Brunner
3rd Experienced Example
"Working in the pediatric outpatient environment, I often am faced with competing priorities and situations where I have multiple patients who need my attention at once. Managing my patient load and these priorities are something I have struggled with since I began working as a nurse two years ago. At first, I would get extremely overwhelmed and because I was unsure of how to handle the situation, I would end up getting extremely behind in clinic. However, I have worked with my manager and my doctor to come up with new strategies to help me save time and improve efficiencies, which have helped me improve my practice. I also have been practicing strategies for being mindful and not getting overwhelmed, which has helped me focus on each task at hand, rather than getting overwhelmed by the whole."
Written by Kelly Burlison on March 17th, 2019
4th Experienced Example
"I always begin by prioritizing patient safety first. I then base my care on a combination of the time care needs to be completed and the level of acuity for each patient and task. I once had a patient needing to go to surgery at the same time I had a patient returning from a procedure and a third patient needing a blood transfusion. I knew the blood transfusion would require me to stay with the patient for an extended period of time when beginning it. I knew the patient was stable and was not an emergent transfusion, so I decided I would complete this after sending and receiving my two surgical patients. I had already prepped my patient going to surgery, so I did the final checkoff with this patient and called to report to the receiving nurse. I was then able to receive my patient coming back from their procedure and received a report without being distracted by needing to send another patient to a procedure. This also allowed me time to settle the patient in from their procedure and do a full assessment and ensure they were still receiving good pain control."
Written by Tabitha Cumpian on January 31st, 2023
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About the Author
I began my healthcare career when I was a sophomore in high school and became an STNA (state-tested nursing assistant) at a local long-term care facility. I then went on to work as a nursing assistant at a local hospital and home healthcare agency. During that time, I pursued my Bachelor's in Business Administration: Human Resource Management and transitioned to working for one of the largest long-term care and post-acute rehab companies in the country. I supported the talent acquisition function, and in the span of 8 years, I screened and interviewed over 1,500 nurse aides, LPNs, and RNs.
I hold a very special place in my heart for nurses, as it's often a thankless and tiresome job. Not everyone is cut out to be a nurse, and I have great respect and admiration for those that choose this career path. As a content writer and interview coach for MockQuestions, my goal is to help you prepare and succeed in your upcoming interview. This article offers interview tips and advice along with 50 practice interview questions and answer examples to help you better understand what to expect and prepare for interview day! Wishing you the best of luck!
Learn more about Jaymie Payne