You are currently in a patient's room during rounds and although they are not due for another dose of pain medication for two more hours, they are complaining of increased pain. Tell me how you proceed.

"Unfortunately, since the patient is not due for their medication for a couple of more hours, I would not be able to approve them being administered and I would let the patient know that and that it was for their own safety and well being. Immediately, I would work with the nurses on duty so they could work with the patient to see what could be done to make them comfortable in the meantime."

To effectively answer this question, you should indicate that you would avoid giving the patient their pain medication early and instead use alternative comfort measures to help reduce the patient's pain. To seal your answer and impress your interviewers, talk about how you would let the patient know that more medication could not be administered for their safety and how you would work as a team with nursing support staff to ensure that the patient was pain-free and at ease.