IITR Healthcare Interview Preparation Guide

IITR Interview Preparation Notes

Please use the following examples of questions and prepare how you might answer.

 The questions below are to get you thinking about your role as a Registered Nurse, your
responsibilities and scope of practice, and to familiarize you with the way interviews
are conducted in the UK, as many of you may not have had an interview before.

 Always try to relate your answers to your everyday life/work in your own
country and the policies and protocols followed in your hospital/country, you
will not be expected to know the specific policies and guidelines in the UK.

 NHS interview are formal, but the Interview Panel will try to make you feel relaxed.
However, please also remember that it is still a formal interview for a permanent
offer of employment.

 Please do not bring interview notes into the interview room.

 Ask questions if you want to know anything about the hospital, or clinical
speciality.

 Do not ask irrelevant questions from the Interview panel.

 Do not wear jeans, trainers or any casual attire to the interview as this is not
acceptable dress code for UK interviews.
 Dress smartly and make good eye contact with your interviewers. First
impressions are very important.

Interview Question Information below is to help prepare and what you

Topic
How do you feel about
living and working in a
different country?
THIS IS NOT A CLINICAL
QUESTION.
should be
thinking about
Interview panel would like you to demonstrate that you
are prepared to work away from home and you have
thought about how you will adapt to a new country, away
from family, friends, weather, new culture, etc. Please
research the location and ensure you know where it is, and
research the Hospital. You should be committed to
 working at the Hospital for minimum 1-2 years. If you wish
to stay longer, they will be very happy to hear that.

Professional Accountability Patient safety, keeping your knowledge current, accountability.

Your own nursing guidelines, NMC guidelines re Accountability
http://www.nmc-uk.org/Nurses-and-midwives/Regulation-in-
practice/
https://www.rcn.org.uk/development/health_care_support_
workers/professional issues/accountability_and_delegation_film
Ensure consistent and high Follow guidelines, care plans, audit, monitoring Skill mix, what
standards of care to patients each patient needs, time constraints, managing
What are the issues in sickness/illnesses, families of patients
managing your own group of
patients and coordinating a
shift? Give an example of
when you've been asked to do
something and you were
unsure if you were allowed to
do it - what would you do?
Risk management Documenting and reporting incidents, education, assessments,
policies in place, health & safety
If your colleague made an Assessment of patient safety, Informing the incident to
error whilst working on your senior In charge/Supervisor.
shift, what would you do Incident Reporting form and Documentation.
about it and how would you
deal with it?

Infection control Hand Washing, use of PPE.

Communication Comprehension, listening, handovers, documentation, reporting

Customer care or Customer Your customers are your patients, their relatives/families and
service your colleagues.
How do you update yourself Attend Continuous nursing education, trainings, conferences,
with current practices? workshops.

Questions which are frequently asked:

1. Tell us about yourself and why you want to work in ___________ Hospital?
a. Tell the interviewer why you wanted to be a Nurse, why you wish to work as a
Nurse in England and why you choose that particular NHS specifically.

2. What key attributes/characteristics do you think makes a good Nurse?

a. Example - Kind, Caring, Organized, Empathetic, Non Judgmental, Responsible and
Fair

3. How has your training and experience helped to develop these characteristics?
a. Discuss about clinical placements done throughout the Nursing program, how
you gained confidence applying your knowledge in Nursing practice, further
 skills gained from work experience post qualification.
b. Say you believe in continuous learning to enable further development, and it’s
equally important that you understand your limitations and ask for help when
needed.

4. What support do you feel you will need in your first 6 months at ___________
Hospital?
a. Do not say you need an English course

b. You could say you will familiarize yourself with the ward and hospital policies and
procedures, get to know the patients, nursing techniques which are practiced in
the UK, and the different Drug names etc.

c. Also, good Communication skills among the team members, psychological

support.

5. What are the essentials of Infection Prevention?

a. Hand Hygiene
b. Use of PPE (Personal Protective equipment).
c. Safe handling and disposal of sharps.
d. Safe handling and disposal of waste.
e. Spillage Management.
f. Use of aseptic techniques.
g. Ongoing Education in Infection
Prevention and Control Hand Hygiene
is essential.

6. If I walked onto a ward that you were working on, how would I be able to tell that the
patients you were responsible for were being cared for properly?

Patients look comfortable, no sign of distress, etc.

7. What aspects of your Nursing degree programme did you find the most challenging
and interesting?
Discuss key points, e.g., gaining knowledge of diseases, processes, and seeing the
real impact on a person’s life (linking theory to practice)
Observing/assisting with treatments/procedures and following the patients journey
Supporting a patient who is dying or coping with a long-term illness
a. Using reflection to learn from practice

8. How do you feel when a colleague/patient holds an opinion which differs from your
own? Can you tell me about a time this has happened? How did you deal with the
situation?

Carefully listening to the other person’s/patient’s opinion.

 Think of religion/colour/gender/nationality.

9. During the medicine round, you cannot find Mr. Smith to give him his tablets. You find
him in the bath, and he asks you to leave them on the table in the bathroom, next to
his clothes. What is your next action?

a. Explain to patient that you must not leave medicine on the table and will
give them to him when he has finished his shower.
b. Discuss with the interviewers the risk of leaving medication unattended.

10. It’s 6am and your colleague is off the ward on their break – an acutely ill patient
has arrived on the ward following surgery and a patient has just fallen out of
bed. What is your next action?

a. Attend to fallen patient immediately and assess if collapsed/injured (ABC

assessment).
b. Send colleague to get help or ask for help, call colleague back from break if
needed.
c. Do not try to move patient back to bed without assistance, make
him/her comfortable and wait for assistance.
d. Take vital signs and reassure patient.
e. As soon as help arrives, assess the newly arrived acutely ill patient and follow all
the post-op instructions.
f. Inform Supervisor/doctor and ensure proper assessment.
g. Fill in incident report.

11. In the event of a patient’s death, how would you manage this sad situation?
Dignity, Respect and Consideration to Family Members. Also, taking care of their cultural
or religious beliefs and their wishes.

12. What have you done to find out more about Nursing in the NHS/UK?
Use examples like NMC website, nursing forums, friends already working with NHS,
research online/books, etc

13. What challenges are being faced by the NHS at the moment?
Cutbacks, Staff Shortages, Aging Population, Rise in Diabetes etc.

14. How do you think the role of a Nurse differs between __________ and the UK?
Drug names, paperwork, working hours, language, policies and protocols.

12. How do you assess and manage pain?

Discuss about PQRST of pain

P-Provocating factor

Q- Quality of pain; dull/aching/throbbing

 R- Radiating or not

S- Severity of pain

T- Timing

Discuss what all measures can be taken to relieve pain!

13. What will you include in the Pre-op & Post-op Checklist?

Include pre-op and post-op instructions which you follow for all patients.
14. What are the rights/principles of Safe medication administration?
To provide safe drug administration, the nurse should practice the “rights” of drug
administration. They are:
1. The right client.
2. The right drug.
3. The right dose
4. The right time
5. The right route

15. What do you mean by ventilator associated pneumonia? And how do you prevent it?

Ventilator-associated pneumonia is a lung infection that develops in a person who is on a ventilator. A

ventilator is a machine that is used to help a patient breathe by giving oxygen through a tube placed in a
patient’s mouth or nose, or through a hole in the front of the neck. An infection may occur if germs enter
through the tube and get into the patient’s lungs.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES:

 Minimize ventilator exposure

 Coordinate care for subglottic suctioning.

 Maintain positioning and encourage mobility.

 Ensure adequate staffing

 Maintain patient’s oral hygiene.

Include other points from your experience and what all you do in your hospital setting and
explain each of the point.

 What are your strengths and weaknesses?

  What specialty would you like to work in?
 How can you ensure good practice is used on your ward?
 What can you bring to the team?
 Time you thought the care was wrong, what did you do about it, what was the result?
 Pressure sores, how you would determine a pressure sore and treatment?
 If we were to employ you what qualities do you believe you would bring to our team?
 Your colleague is practicing against the ethical principle. What do you do?
 You have lot of workload; you feel you are harassed by your Senior-What do you do?
 Your doctor has prescribed wrong dose of medication to the patient, what is your
responsibility as a nurse?
 What do you mean by Policies, Standards and guidelines?

 A patient in your care, knocks his head on the bedside locker when reaching down to
pick up something they have dropped. What do you do?
 Tell us of the Infection control measures practiced in your ward.
 You are preparing your patient for the ward, you noticed that their breathing has
suddenly become laboured. You feel weak thread pulse. How would you respond?
 As the nurse administering the medication what should you know before you
administer?
 What are the biggest adjustments/ challenges you believe you would face if you are
successful in getting this role?
 How can you become a good member of the Nursing team that you work with?

Nursing Care Plan

Signs

• Discoloration: In light-skinned people, the skin may turn red or dark

purple. In dark-skinned people the area may become darker than
normal
• There may be a bad smell from the area
• Redness or warmth around the sore
• Swelling around the sore
• Tenderness, pain around the sore
• Thick yellow or green pus
• Size of pressure sores are variable, they can go down into the muscle, or
even to the bone
• Further reduction in mobility

Treatment

• Relieving pressure: Position must be changed on a regular basis, at least every two hours,
and in the very frail at least every hour
• Good Diet: A good and balanced diet contributes to healing, as well as avoiding severe
nutritional and weight loss
• Skin Care: Keep the skin clean. Moisture should be minimized. Skin care products should
be used that moisturize the skin but do not make it wet or soggy
• Use products to relieve and treat pressure sores; airbeds, foam bed, bed and chair
protectors, chair products, continence aids can all contribute to avoiding of bed sores

Scenarios

 You are looking after a patient who has been admitted for an angiogram. He buzzes
and tells you he has chest pain. He is looking grey and sweaty. What are you going
to do?

 You are looking after a patient who returned from Theatre having had a bowel resection
4 hours ago. He has been quite stable until his blood pressure drops to 90/40. What may
be the cause of this and what will you do?

 A patient is admitted into the ward from the A&E at 0100hrs with a fractured neck of
femur. The night staff nurse handed over to the morning staff nurse that the patient has
not ring the call bell since the time of admission. What are your initial/first thoughts?
Then the HCA reports the following observations: B.P=90/60mmhg, PR=81bpm, RR-
26/min.
What all you will include in your on-going nursing care?

NOTE: THESE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ARE JUST TO HELP YOU OUT WITH
WHAT ALL CAN BE ASKED IN INTERVIEW QUESTIONS. Please include your own
points and explanations, hospital based policies in regard to particular
questions.

Useful Websites

 Nursing & Midwifery Council of UK (www.nmc-uk.org)

 National Health Service (www.nhs.uk)

 Royal College of Nursing (www.rcn.org.uk)

 Department of Health (www.dh.gov.uk)