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Nursing Mock Interview

Question 44 of 50 for our Nursing Mock Interview

Nursing was updated by on January 18th, 2023. Learn more here.

Question 44 of 50

Tell me about the most stressful situation you've had to deal with in the workplace.

"Working my way through nursing school, I worked a near full-time job and was attending classes. To try and finish a semester early, I packed 19 credits in my final two semesters and this was a stressful time for me. While not having a lot of time for family and friends, I made sure to take care of myself by eating healthy when tempted not to and still get a good amount of sleep each night. By taking care of myself, my daily stress was lessened and much more manageable when it could've been easy to live off of fast food and caffeine with many sleepless nights."

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How to Answer: Tell me about the most stressful situation you've had to deal with in the workplace.

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Nursing job interview.

  • 44. Tell me about the most stressful situation you've had to deal with in the workplace.

      How to Answer

      Nurses can find themselves in very stressful working conditions from time to time due to a variety of reasons. Here, the interviewer is looking to see how you personally manage those stressful situations. Think of a specific time you had to manage a stressful situation, how you handled it, what tools or resources you used and what the outcome was of the situation.

      Written by Elisabeth Walter

      1st Entry Level Example

      "Working my way through nursing school, I worked a near full-time job and was attending classes. To try and finish a semester early, I packed 19 credits in my final two semesters and this was a stressful time for me. While not having a lot of time for family and friends, I made sure to take care of myself by eating healthy when tempted not to and still get a good amount of sleep each night. By taking care of myself, my daily stress was lessened and much more manageable when it could've been easy to live off of fast food and caffeine with many sleepless nights."

      Written by Ryan Brunner

      1st Experienced Example

      "As an emergency nurse, I was working a night shift during the winter where a bus accident brought in 10 critically injured patients on top of the standard winter visits to an ER. When we received the call that the ambulances would be showing up, I went into immediate triage mode with our current patients. This mode continued when the accident victims arrived as well and I prioritized those with the most traumatic injuries first and worked down the line. I great piece of advice I got early in my career was that I am only one person who can only focus on one thing at a time. In these situations, this sage advice keeps me focused on the patient in front of me and not letting my mind wander to the other patients."

      Written by Elisabeth Walter

      2nd Experienced Example

      "In my time working as a home health nurse, I spent a lot of time on the road. Winters were particularly tough with high numbers of illnesses coupled with bad driving weather. One Sunday, we had a large dumping of snow and I had a full patient load the next day. As I hit the road on Monday morning, I received several emergent calls for visits that day as I was realizing the driving conditions would be bad. Knowing I would have a large patient load that day and driving conditions were poor, I contacted my supervisor to let them know of the situation. He approved me to work the hours that I needed to that day safely and responsibly. In that situation, I took my time on the roads and made a plan for patient visits that would be efficient. By communicating and making a plan, the daywas very manageable."

      Written by Ryan Brunner

      3rd Experienced Example

      "By far the most stressful situation I have ever dealt with took place while I was working as a technician in the emergency department at County Hospital. You may or may not remember seeing this on the news, but there was a day when we had a Code Silver, or a warning for an active shooter because there was a family member who was extremely upset over a bad outcome and had come in threatening to shoot everyone. Because the ED was extremely busy that day, we had patients in beds in all empty spaces we could find, so beds were essentially lining the hallways. Once the Code Silver was called, we had to immediately get these patients moved to a secure location. Doing this while not knowing if a shooter was right around the corner was terrifying, and the hardest part was remaining calm for the patients."

      Written by Kelly Burlison on March 17th, 2019

      4th Experienced Example

      "My most stressful situation was while working on a step-down unit. Unfortunately, we were short-staffed that day, and so I had 2 additional patients compared to what a typical workload would be like. I knew from my morning report that the day would be very busy due to patients' high acuity levels and multiple patients needing blood transfusions, so I quickly began my morning assessments. I immediately noted new abnormalities on a patient's assessment that were concerning for stroke. This patient became my immediate priority. I spoke with my charge nurse at once and called a code stroke. I had learned strong reporting skills over the years and was able to give a brief but thorough report to my charge nurse on my other patients and she assumed the primary nurse of those patients while I cared for the patient who was actively displaying new signs of a stroke. Once I was able to begin medication for the patient and transfer her to ICU, I was then able to resume full care of my other patients. It was a stressful situation, but my years of nursing experience had prepared me for it, and my team and I were able to work well together to provide all the necessary care needed as quickly and safely as possible."

      Written by Tabitha Cumpian on January 31st, 2023

      Anonymous Interview Answers with Professional Feedback

      Anonymous Answer

      "The most stressful situation I had to deal with in the workplace was working my shift with three nurses out sick. But the whole nursing team came together and managed to figure out a solution to provide expected care to the patients."

      Rachelle's Feedback

      This would be stressful, indeed! To give the interviewer more context, be sure to include details such as how many nurses you usually work with in total (for instance, 3 out of 5 nurses is a different picture than 3 out of 15 nurses). Also, be sure to outline the part that you played in getting the whole nursing team together.
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    About the Author

    Jaymie Payne

    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