1. Tell me what do you consider to be your best strength as Hospice Nurse?
This question allows you to brag on yourself, but keep in mind that the interviewer wants strengths relative to the position. For example, being a problem solver, a motivator, and being able to perform under pressure, positive attitude and loyal. You will also need examples that back your answers up for illustration of the skill.
2. What are your salary expectations as Hospice Nurse?
This question is like a loaded gun, tricky and dangerous if you're not sure what you are doing. It's not uncommon for people to end up talking salary before really selling their skills, but knowledge is power as this is a negotiation after all. Again, this is an area where doing your research will be helpful as you will have an understanding of average salary.
One approach is asking the interviewer about the salary range, but to avoid the question entirely, you can respond that money isn't a key factor and you're goal is to advance in your career. However, if you have a minimum figure in mind and you believe you're able to get it, you may find it worth trying.
3. Tell me how would you handle a patient who complains?
I would consult the on-duty doctor's opinions about the patient to see if he has been suffering from any pain or distress, then, I will work out the most suitable approach.
First, I shall try to comfort the patient and calm him down. Then, I ask about his problem and discuss with the on-duty doctor if necessary to resolve that.
First, I will listen carefully to his complaint and consider the situation carefully. Then, I will reassure the patient by sharing my sympathy with him and figure out what I should do to help him.
4. Tell me what is your greatest weakness for the position: HOSPICE NURSE?
I am a perfectionist and therefore, I rarely believe anyone can work as well as me. As a result, I am afraid to delegate important tasks to others as I want to get them done right
5. What kind of salary do you need as Hospice Nurse?
This is a loaded question and a nasty little game that you will probably lose if you answer first. So, do not answer it. Instead, say something like, that's a tough question. Can you tell me the range for this position? In most cases, the interviewer, taken off guard, will tell you. If not, say that it can depend on the details of the job. Then give a wide range.
6. Tell me what field experience do you have for a HOSPICE NURSE POSITION?
I have been working with computers since 2001. I also have a degree in network support/computer repair. I have built my last 3 computers, have work with Dell as an employee. So I have around 15 years experience working with computers.
7. Do you know the position: hospice nurse you're applying for?
This is a “homework” question, too, but it also gives some clues as to the perspective the person brings to the table. The best preparation you can do is to read the job description and repeat it to yourself in your own words so that you can do this smoothly at the interview.
8. Please explain what experience do you have in this field and Hospice nurse position?
Speak about specific matters that are relevant to the position you are applying for. If you do not have any specific experience, get them as close as you can.
If you are being asked this question from your employer, you can explain about your experience. Tell the employer what responsibilities you were performing in your previous job. You can tell about the programs you have developed and modules you have worked on. You can also tell about your achievements in different programs.
9. Tell me why did you pursue a nursing career?
As a kid, seeing the nurses take care of my grandmother in the hospital really made an impact on me. But, my interest in nursing started when I volunteered at a hospice care facility near our school. The fulfillment I would feel after each day of taking care of patients in the facility made me decide that I wanted to pursue nursing as my profession someday.
10. Why do you believe we should hire you as Hospice Nurse?
This question needs to be carefully answered as it is your opportunity to stick out from the rest of the applicants. You should focus on skills that you have, including those not yet mentioned. Simply responding “because I'm really good” or “I really need a job” isn't going to work. You shouldn't assume the skills of other applicants or their strengths, focus on yourself. Tell the interviewer why you are a good fit for the position, what makes you a good employee, and what you can provide the company. Keep it brief while highlighting achievements.
11. Tell me why do you want this job as Hospice Nurse?
This question typically follows on from the previous one. Here is where your research will come in handy. You may want to say that you want to work for a company that is X, Y, Z, (market leader, innovator, provides a vital service, whatever it may be). Put some thought into this beforehand, be specific, and link the company's values and mission statement to your own goals and career plans.
12. Tell me what would you say to encourage nurses looking for a specialty to explore this one?
I would suggest having a year or two of hospice experience first. This is not necessarily an area of nursing for everyone and experience in hospice nursing can help you determine that. Also, because the hospice triage nurse often must operate independently, it is important to have a solid knowledge base about death, dying, symptom management and about grief and bereavement.
I interviewed for my first nursing job when I was in the middle of studying for my state nursing exam. The interviewer was aware that I had to sit the exam a week after my interview, and that any job offer would be contingent on successfully passing the test. For a two-week period, I was perusing hospice nurse interview questions while also looking over chapters in my textbook. In addition to those tasks, my mother was battling breast cancer at the time and I was her primary caregiver. In the end, I passed my state exam, and was offered my first job as a hospice nurse.
There was an instance a couple of years ago where a patient's daughter was not happy with her mother's wishes about end-of-life care. This conversation happened when emotions were high and both parties wanted to be heard. Ultimately, I was able to remind the upset daughter that her mother had completed a will the year before, and that the document outlined treatment directives. Once the daughter realized that, she calmed down and understood that legally, I had to abide by what was written in the will.
Try to include improvements that are relevant to the job. A wide variety of activities can be mentioned as positive self-improvement. Have some good ones in handy to mention in this circumstance.
Employers tend to look for goal-oriented applicants. Show a desire for continuous learning by listing your non-work related hobbies. Regardless of what hobbies you choose to present, remember that the goal is to prove self-sufficiency, time management, and motivation.
Everyone should learn from his mistake. I always try to consult my mistakes with my friends and relatives, especially with elder and experienced persons.
16. Explain me what have you done to improve your knowledge for hospice nurse in the last year?
Try to include improvement activities that relate to the job. A wide variety of activities can be mentioned as positive self-improvement. Have some good ones handy to mention.
17. Tell me what does your work involve on a daily basis?
A typical day generally runs from 5:00 p.m. till 8:00 a.m. and, on weekends, from 5:00 p.m. Friday to 8:00 am Monday. I receive reports by voicemail or email. Calls come to me from the answering service and, unless I am on another call, the service will patch the caller through to me. The call may involve a patient's symptoms, equipment, supplies, or medication. I often need to refer to specific patient information via internet or a detailed printed census that has been faxed or emailed to me. Based upon the problem, I may suggest a course of action, or I may offer to send out the nurse, the DME technician, or a social worker. On weekends, I often have the option of sending a CNA if that would be helpful.
Sometimes the call is as simple as a medication refill. Sometimes it is a change in condition that results in significant discomfort for the patient and/or family. A considerable amount of teaching is often involved.
Death calls present an interesting dynamic. Since hospice staff must attend all home deaths, we instruct families and caregivers to call us first. Many find it difficult to say “dead.” They might say, “He hasn't been breathing for 10 minutes and I can't wake him up,” or “I think he might be gone, but I'm not sure.” I have to be able to read the caller's response, find the right words, and prioritize the visit. Sometimes the family wants a little private time and other times they need someone there as quickly as possible.
18. Basic Operational and Situational Hospice Nurse Job Interview Questions:
☛ One of the patients under your care starts complaining constantly. How do you deal with this?
☛ Imagine a patient dies suddenly when their family isn't around. What do you do about the patient and how do you inform their relatives?
☛ Envisage that a DNR patient just died and a panicked caregiver tries to perform CPR on them. What would you do?
☛ How would you deal with a family member who tried to convince the patient to continue treatment that stopped at the patient's request?
☛ What would you do if you suspected that a family member was stealing from the patient's medication?
19. Strengths and Weaknesses Based Hospice nursing interview questions:
☛ Time when you made a suggestion to improve the work.
☛ What has been your most successful experience in speech making?
☛ List five words that describe your character.
☛ Tell me about a time when you successfully handled a situation?
☛ What would be your ideal working environment?
20. General Role-specific Hospice Nurse Interview Questions:
☛ Why is hospice care important?
☛ Being a hospice nurse can be emotionally challenging. Why do you still want to follow this profession?
☛ What's the difference between routine and GIP care?
☛ When do you administer morphine to patients?
☛ What other healthcare professionals should a hospice nurse collaborate with?
☛ How do you handle stress?
☛ In your opinion, what does a peaceful death look like?
21. Situational Hospice nursing interview questions:
☛ How did you handle meeting a tight deadline?
☛ What do you think, would you be willing to travel for work?
☛ What parts of your education do you see as relevant to this position?
☛ Which subjects did you enjoy during your qualifying degree?
☛ What is the difference between a good position and an excellent one?
22. Behavioral Hospice nursing interview questions:
☛ What kinds of situations do you find most stressful?
☛ Describe a situation where you had to plan or organise something.
☛ What do you like and dislike about the job we are discussing?
☛ Give me an example of a high-pressure situation?
☛ What kind of events cause you stress on the job?
23. Competency Based Hospice nursing interview questions:
☛ What was the most stressful situation you have faced?
☛ If you were hiring a person for this job, what would you look for?
☛ What were your annual goals at your most current employer?
☛ Why did you decide to pursue this career?
☛ Did you feel you progressed satisfactorily in your last job?
24. Communication skills based Hospice nursing job interview questions:
☛ Describe a recent unpopular decision you made.
☛ Do you have the qualities and skills necessary to succeed in your career?
☛ What is a typical career path in this job function?
☛ What type of work environment do you prefer?
☛ What's most important to you in a new position?
25. Difficult Hospice Nurse Job Interview Questions:
☛ How do you handle stress?
☛ Why did you choose hospice?
☛ How would you handle a difficult family member?
☛ Are you willing to take call after hours?
☛ Hospice deals allot with death and dying. How will you handle this on a daily basis?
☛ What do you say to a patient when they ask you if they are dying?
☛ How do you organize your day?
☛ Describe a past issue you had with either patient or coworker and how did you work through that conflict?
☛ A family member confesses they were so stressed, they took one of your patients ativan to take the edge off. What do you do with that information?
☛ Hospice is one of the few team approaches in Medical care. How would you cope if the famiy or if a patient just didn't seem to get the whole philosophy of hospice.... and continuely asked about chemo, blood work, labs, xrays etc??
☛ What is your perception of hospice?
☛ You walk into a patients home, and they just passed away. A frantic family member is calling 911 and you know for sure the patient is a DNR what do you do?
☛ Describe something you have done to provide patients or family with stellar service? Out of the box sort of approach?
☛ A family member asks you for your phone # so they can call you directly during business hours. WHat do you say?
☛ Describe a good death...
26. Behavioral Hospice Nurse Job Interview Questions:
☛ Tell me about the first time you lost a patient. What has changed in your reactions since?
☛ Tell me about a time you felt great satisfaction about your job
☛ Describe a time you had difficulty getting the patient's family to accept their upcoming death. How did you manage?
☛ Recall a time a patient started panicking. What did you do?
☛ Have you ever had to deal with conflict between a patient's family members about the patient's condition? Did you take part in it and what was your role?
27. Video Based Hospice nursing interview questions:
☛ How have you changed in the last five years?
☛ Situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise.
☛ What was the most important task you ever had?
☛ What were the responsibilities of your last position?
☛ How did you react when faced with constant time pressure?
Be prepared to discuss in detail and with examples your five or six main attributes. This is the time you make advantage of the list of questions you have prepared earlier.
If you can come up with an example that relates to the position you're applying for that would be even better.
28. Phone Based Hospice nursing interview questions:
☛ Who was your favorite manager and why?
☛ Can you describe a time when your work was criticized?
☛ Tell about a time that you had to adapt to a difficult situation.
☛ What are the qualities of a good leader?
☛ What has been your biggest professional disappointment?
29. Basic Hospice nursing interview questions:
☛ Do you think you are overqualified for this position?
☛ Have you done this kind of work before?
☛ How did you prepare for this work?
☛ How long would you stay with our company?
☛ Are you planning to continue your studies?
Talk about specific work related experience for the position you're interviewing for. Think of actual examples you can use to describe your skills. Be clear in understanding the responses.
I have been with my current company for a year and a half, but have done telephone triage for about three years. I chose this company because I was familiar with many of the people involved in its start-up and I was offered an opportunity to participate in the growth. Over the past year and a half, the patient census has doubled.
About a year ago, I was caring for a lady who was within hours of the end of her life after dealing with a form of skin cancer that is very hard to treat. She was extremely anxious because she was estranged from her family and did not want to die alone. I assured her that I'd be by her side when the moment came, and she wouldn't have to worry about her fear coming to pass. I sat with her for about an hour after she expressed he anxiety to me, and by the end of the conversation, she was much more at ease.
32. Explain me what you know about our institution?
ABC Medical Center is currently the country's leading chemotherapeutic treatment center for children. Its mission of providing the best treatment options for the greatest benefit of children's wellness made me interested to establish my career here.
I believe that everyone should learn from his or her mistakes. I always try to consult my mistakes with my kith and kin especially with elderly and experienced person.
I enrolled myself into a course useful for the next version of our current project. I attended seminars on personal development and managerial skills improvement.
For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to help people, so I'd say I'd always considered caring professions. However, my mother's fight with cancer was very long, and my role as her caregiver caused me to research the hospice nurse specialization and realize it was really where I wanted to focus my efforts. I came to that conclusion about halfway through nursing school.
35. Tell me any less agreeable aspects or challenges?
As in any job, there are frustrations. The phones get busy at times. Since the goal is always to give each caller my undivided attention, I sometimes need to budget my words carefully.
Dealing with staff can sometimes be difficult. As a triage nurse, every time I call someone, I am asking them to do something-to work. Often, people in the field are stretched pretty thin and they must cringe when they see my number on their caller ID. Sleep deprivation can also be a problem. My body has adjusted over the years and I can wake up easily and fall back asleep quickly. Fortunately, I can get by with multiple short naps through the night.
