Practice 50 Nursing interview questions covering clinical scenarios, patient care priorities, and ethical decision-making.
Question 27 of 50
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Elisabeth Walter is an experienced Recruiting Consultant and Enrollment Advisor.
The healthcare industry is always in a constant state of change. Organizations merge, laws change and new technology and process are always emerging to better care for a patient. To succeed as a nurse, you need to be able to demonstrate that you can navigate change with ease in the workplace and this is your chance to give a specific change you have dealt with in the workplace with a positive outcome.

Elisabeth Walter is an experienced Recruiting Consultant and Enrollment Advisor.
"In my last job, my organization went through a buyout to become the current organization that it is. Upon the buyout, just about everything about my job changed. We were working on a new EMR, our pay structure changed, our benefits changed, our leadership structure changed and some of our work processes did too. Knowing about the buyout ahead of time, I was able to prepare myself under the notion that I only can control what I can control. In this instance of a total buyout, my attitude was under my control. As I saw other coworkers complain, cry and even look for new jobs, I took this as an opportunity to embrace change and become a better organization. Learning a new EMR and learning new work processes did end up making me a better nurse in the end and for that, I am grateful for that opportunity."

Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.
"As an inexperienced nurse starting my clinical rotations, every rotation was a significant change. With each rotation, I had to familiarize myself with a new facility, a new staff, a new EMR and new work processes. I feel like these changes from rotation to rotation helped round me out as a new nurse entering the workforce and helped me gain a lot of great knowledge on how to be the best nurse that I can be."

Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.
"During my 10 years working as an emergency nurse, my department saw several leadership changes. With each leadership change came a change in philosophy on how the work schedule would be made and worked. In those 10 years, I've worked standard eight, 10 and 12-hour shifts. I've worked straight day shifts, straight evening shifts, straight night shifts and swing shifts from week to week. Each change in work schedule had an effect on my life at home due to childcare and being available for my children's school and recreational events. With planning and communication, I was able to embrace each change in schedule and I learned over time that being flexible to these changes was extremely vital to both my personal and professional well-being."

Kelly Burlison is an experienced healthcare and quality measurement professional with experience interviewing in the healthcare field focusing on IT.
"I have been working as an outpatient clinical nurse for a couple of years now, and six months ago, my company's leadership team began rolling out LEAN initiatives in each department, which significantly changed the way we operate in almost all areas of our practice. At first, when the LEAN project teams were helping us change our procedures, it was very difficult, and I resisted a bit. However, once I started seeing how much the LEAN methodologies were helping us save time and improve our efficiencies, I became more excited and I have even volunteered to lead a few of the implementations. This experience helped me realize that when procedures change, I don't need to resist, and instead, I should help with the rollout to make it easier."
Tabitha Cumpian is an RN Lead with experience in multiple clinic specialties and has functioned as a program manager.
"Over my years of nursing, I have learned that change is part of nursing and part of life. I feel that I am able to handle change well and that I actually welcome it because I believe it's necessary in order to grow. One big change that I was recently part of was the change from one EHR to another. It was a long in-depth process for our organization to change this. I had to meet with several extended team members who helped to format the EHR for our specific department and our needs. Once the EHR was rolled out, it was incredibly different than the previous one, and there was a huge learning curve. It was definitely challenging at times, but I maintained a positive attitude about it and worked diligently to learn the new system so that I could continue to provide the best care possible to my patients and in a timely manner."
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Anonymous Answer
As a student nurse, every clinical rotation presented a significant change. Every semester, I was in a different hospital that had their own set of protocols and their own system of charting. Also throughout the semester, clinical rotations were in different departments and that presented significant changes. I adapted fast and adjusted well to these changes; I gave the very best care to my patients and my care team. Many colleagues commented that they thought I was a real nurse already. I took pride in the compliments from the nurses, patients, and family members I worked with during my clinical rotations.

Rachelle's Feedback
Wow - this sounds like a lot of change. The compliments you received would have felt great! When it comes to the adaptations you made, did you have a specific approach or methodology?
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Written by Ryan Brunner
50 Questions & Answers • Nursing

By Ryan

By Ryan