Working in a pediatric unit requires a great deal of attention to detail and often multi-tasking. What do you do to help keep yourself from becoming overwhelmed?
"I have learned to recognize the things that may cause me to feel overwhelmed and try to address them before a situation gets out of hand. For example, I always like to make sure that all physician orders are clear before I begin a shift and report anything that seems to be out of order or any changes in patient status as they occur. This keeps things from piling up and leaving me feel overwhelmed later on."
"Nursing does require the ability to multitask while handling situations that may create stress. I feel it is important to know our own personal strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I am very detail oriented and always write very detail nurse's notes. I like to make sure that I know what the patient goals for my shift are and make sure that I have a mental list of what needs to be done and in what order. It makes most situations less overwhelming."
Managing patient care requires the ability to multitask and ensure all details are checked and double-checked. In a pediatric care nursing interview, discuss your understanding of the importance of maintaining detailed records, caregiver education, performing multiple assessments and handling medications and procedures efficiently and accurately.
"I am very detail-oriented. One of my strengths as a pediatric nurse is to manage multiple medical tasks with the highest degree of excellence."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I am very detail-oriented. I take thorough and organized notes. I also will write down a list of things that need to be done in order of priority to ensure they don't get forgotten.
Rachelle's Feedback
Prioritizing your lists is a great way to remain organized. Good work! Can you speak a bit about what you do/how you react when you do become overwhelmed?
Anonymous Answer
I would consider one of my strengths to be that I am detail-oriented. One way I keep myself from becoming overwhelmed is during precepting I would come in early and look up my patients before my shift started. I would write down when they had medications due, any new physician orders that I needed to complete during my shift, and go through my patient's recent lab values. This helped me to be more prepared to ask questions during the report and gave me some information about the patient before receiving the report. It also helped me be more efficient and to plan out my tasks accordingly. Before any med passes, I make sure I have the correct patient, right medication, right route, right dose, and the right time and to check allergies. I go through those 5 checks 3 times to make sure I am safely passing medications. I also perform thorough assessments to make sure I have the ability to catch any small changes in patient status before a major change occurs.
Cindy's Feedback
Great! This is an effective example. You're giving yourself more time to pay attention to details as part of your routine, which is a great way to show the interviewer how your past process will apply in the future if you get the position.
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