Hospice Nurse interview questions and answers
This Hospice Nurse interview profile brings together a snapshot of what to look for in candidates with a balanced sample of suitable interview questions.
Hospice Nurse Interview Questions
Hospice nurses provide end-of-life support to terminally ill patients, either at the patient’s home or other facility. They’re registered nurses (RN) so they possess all the typical qualities of those healthcare professionals. But, since they’re dealing exclusively with a patient’s inevitable demise, their compassion and mental resilience should be even greater.
Not every RN is cut out to be a hospice nurse. You need someone who believes in the hospice philosophy and can persuade you they can handle the burden. If you’re interviewing candidates who are inexperienced in hospice care, make sure they have the motivation and emotional stability to do the job.
Focus the greater part of the interview on asking about their past experience and their responses to hypothetical scenarios. You can ask basic nursing questions to verify their knowledge of procedures and patient care. A certification in palliative care can be an asset.
Operational and Situational 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?
Role-specific 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?
Behavioral 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?