Situational Nursing Mock Interview
Practice 50 Situational Nursing interview questions covering clinical judgment, patient safety, and critical response scenarios.
Question 19 of 50
You are nearing the end of your 12-hour shift on your inpatient unit and you are exhausted from caring for eight high-acuity patients. As your colleague arrives to relieve you, tell me how you proceed.
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Kelly Burlison is an experienced healthcare and quality measurement professional with experience interviewing in the healthcare field focusing on IT.
When inter-shift information is involved, nurses must ensure that they properly handover information to their colleagues properly, even if this means they stay late to complete handover paperwork on each of their patients. Failing to properly handover information to the next nurse could have dire consequences to patients, making handovers a vital element of a nurse's set of responsibilities. Many facilities have standardized handover templates for nurses to complete before the end of their shifts, and these templates include elements such as: background, assessments, vitals, and recommendations. While many electronic health record systems pre-populate much of this information, it is imperative the remaining information is completed. The interviewer is asking this question to determine if the candidate understands the importance of completing handovers. To effectively answer this question, the candidate should indicate they would ensure handover information for all patients was completed before departing for the day. A more successful answer to this question would include an example from the candidate's nursing career where they ensured their handovers were completed despite being exhausted or dealing with other confounding factors.
Kelly Burlison is an experienced healthcare and quality measurement professional with experience interviewing in the healthcare field focusing on IT.
"In this situation, even though I am exhausted, I would complete handover templates for all my patients, if I haven't already. This is especially true because you said the eight patients are high-acuity, which means there is a lot the next nurse needs to know about them. I could never leave my patients without completing handovers, because not only could I not leave my coworker in a bad situation, but I also don't want to put my patients at risk. Last week, I was in a similar situation, where I had been so busy that I didn't have time to complete handovers until my coworker arrived to relieve me. So, I stayed late and completed the templates for all my patients, despite the fact that I was tired and ready to go home."
"At shift change, it's so important to give a concise but thorough report to the oncoming nurse who will be caring for the patients I had during my shift. If these patients were high-acuity, that's all the more reason to make sure no important details are missed. I want to ensure the oncoming nurse has all of the information needed to provide safe care to our patients. I have a brief 'cheat sheet' that I keep for all of my patients throughout the shift. It keeps me on track for all of my patients' orders, vital signs, conditions, and charting. Therefore, regardless of how tired I am at the end of my shift, I have the information necessary to complete a safe handoff to my oncoming colleague or colleagues."
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Anonymous Answer
Even though I'm exhausted it is still very important to give a thorough nursing report. Need to give a good report to not only help my colleague have a better shift but also less risk for patients as well as having the oncoming nurse informed about their current presentation and plan. I usually do cheat sheets for each patient. Name, room, when they came in what they presented with, diagnosis, pertinent medical history, interventions done (IV, foley, fluids, meds), diagnostics imaging results, blood work, let them know abnormal values and what's been done about them. Vitals and frequency. Plan follow up with GP, discharge, awaiting cath lab repeat imaging, IV and, specialist to see, etc.
Cindy's Feedback
Great, in describing your process.
Anonymous Answer
Although I am very exhausted I would still continue to go on and complete handover templates for every patient, this is important as 8 patients are high-acuity patients which means a lot of information the next staff nurses need to be informed about. It would not be in best practice if I left many patients without completing the handover, this can negatively affect patient safety and I do want my patients to be at any risk along with this would be negative to put my colleagues in difficult situations.
Amanda's Feedback
Your answer makes it clear that you understand the importance of a thorough, well-informed handover. You can make this answer stronger by explaining what kind of key information you make sure to include on the shift change template and why. Does certain information ensure that things run as smoothly and safely as possible for both patients and staff? How would omitting parts of that information negatively impact your colleagues' ability to provide high-quality care? Giving more detail helps the interviewer see how you strive to protect and serve patients as well as your team members.
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