Have you every had to work in a department that was short staffed? How did you handle that situation?
"I just recently completed my working internship in my program. One evening, the department I was training in at a large level I trauma center experienced two techs calling in sick. My preceptor was alone for half of the shift and watching how she handled herself during busy times was amazing. First, she communicated with the scheduling staff to have them let patients know there may be an extended waiting time. This communication alleviated potential concerns that could have came from patients. Next, I saw how she calmly handled the growing work queue by handling patients one at a time while working quickly. With each patient, she explained her process and that she would be working quickly. Having experienced this, I now know how to handle a situation like that should I ever be in one in the future."
"In all honesty, I've had to work under these conditions too many times in my career. The time that sticks out in my mind is a day shift I was working as part of a small team at a private clinic where I had to cover a day by myself. When my colleague called in sick that morning and my director not able to call anyone else in, I first spoke with our Radiologist to let her know that I'd be working solo that day. As well, our administrative staff was notified as well. From there, I worked with the Radiologist on prioritizing the patients as they came in and our plan worked out well. Any time I have experienced these situation of being short staffed, taking small amounts of time to communicate have been huge in making the shift a success."
The interviewer is looking to see how you handle adversity when a department you have worked in was short staffed for a shift or a period of time. It is important for you to show that you are flexible and able to prioritize your work while remaining calm, cool and collected. If you have a particular situation where this happened, us that as a specific example for your interviewer.
"Recently, our department of techs was facing a medical leave of absence and a week where two other techs were on vacation. We were fortunate enough to be able to plan ahead to rework our schedule as needed to provide coverage. On two of the days, we worked one tech short and during those periods, it was important to remain on top of our duties as patients made their way through our department. While I needed to prioritize patients when things got busy during the day, remaining calm and working through things one at a time was extremely vital to make the week a success."
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