Interview Questions for Hospice Nurses

Being a nurse can be pretty challenging and takes a lot of hard work before you’re really really considered to get a job – especially as a hospice nurse.

There are so many things that go into their careers and can they perform different functions than the other people in the hospital.

When hiring someone, an employer needs to be confident that this person is going to be able to perform for them in the long term.

Most of the nurses are great picks for your hospital, but you need to be able to ask them serious questions so that you can be confident in your pick.

It’s best to let the conversation flow naturally, but these questions are going o serve as a guide so that you’re not lost in the interview.

In this article, we’ve listed the 12 best interview questions for hospice nurses with examples to help you out.

This is a hard job to get, but it’s also a great job.

You should ask questions that are going to make the hospital a more positive experience to be in for their shifts.

Knowing how many hours the nurse is going to work is also important for getting hired.

Some can only work the day shift, while others are more comfortable during the night shift.

It’s good to maintain authority as an employer, but also give the nurse the to ask questions if they have any concerns.

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Table of Contents

Hospice nurse interview questions

1. Where are you in your career?

This question is great for screening and figuring out whether or not these people can fit into your team.

Some people want to work different hours than what the employer may want.

It’s best to put this out there right now the employer knows what to do with you. Generally, the younger nurse is going to want to work as many hours as possible.

See also: Interview Questions for Nurses

This option may not be considered by those who may be a bit older and nearing the end of their career.

Some people are in a strange transitional period where they want to advance and do operations that are more complex.

2. How would you talk to patients?

Communication is a big part of what makes a successful nurse. Because you’re in a hospital, everything that you are going to be saying will be taken seriously by the patient.

It’s always great to build some repour and make them feel comfortable, but you need to be serious most of the time.

Not only does the person deserve that kind of service morally, but nurses who don’t have a serious attitude could potentially lead to the patient getting the wrong idea.

It also reflects poorly on the hospital which puts everyone in jeopardy.

3. How would you inform a patient’s family that they have passed away?

Death is a tragic thing for any family to go through even if that patient has lived a full life.

When people die, that’s it and it can send the emotions of the family all over the place.

There are ways of informing the family in a way that’s inappropriate like treating it as a joke or an obligation that you don’t care about.

See also: Can Nurses Pronounce Death?

The nurse should be empathetic because it’s an unfortunate thing to go through and fortunately, this is an emotion that most people have to go through.

See also: LPN Interview Questions

Hospice nurse interview questions and answers

1. What role does the hospice nurse play in the hospital?

These nurses take on the responsibility of talking to the patient about their pain and asking if they need additional medication to take care of themselves.

Medication is important, but the nurse also has to make the proper diagnosis before they do that.

Things like reviewing medical history are important steps to being able to properly assess what the patient may need.

Of course, there are always going to be metrics that can’t be recorded such as how much pain the patient is in.

In those cases, you’re simply just going to have to listen to them and trust their stories.

2. What made you choose this job?

Most nurses got this job with the purpose of wanting to help people and that’s certainly a noble reason to want to help others.

However, some people get this job for the wrong reason.

See also: Is Nursing for Me Quiz

For example, some see the massive supply of drugs and want to take those to prescribe recreationally.

This is very wrong for a nurse to do and will likely result in a suspension of that person’s license.

When asking this question try to get to their morals as to why they have this job. If you’re the nurse, be as honest as possible.

3. How would you prepare for a patient’s session?

Preparation is a big part of any job going smoothly.

With contact information, all of the knowledge you could ask for, and medical documents, there really isn’t a reason to be unprepared.

Preparation is a big part of what shows how good the nurse is going to be.

People who do the job for a long time, end up coming in in the early hours to prepare for when they are going o see their patients.

Preparation is a good sign of work ethic, which is why you can be confident in a nurse who has those things established.

Questions to ask during a hospice nurse interview

1. What would you do if a family member or patient disagreed with the medical procedure?

A hospital is a place where plenty of people get emotional over the people who are getting taken of, but the fact is that the nurses are the medical authority.

You have spent years studying anatomy and biology to do this as a professional in most of the time you shouldn’t blindly take their advice.

Sometimes, there can be a middle ground, but most of the time a nurse should assert their medical authority, especially if the patient happens to be on the older side.

See also: Can Nurses Treat Family Members?

2. What makes a good nurse?

This is potentially the focal question when it comes to whether or not you should hire them.

Knowing how to take care of someone and follow instructions is good, but it’s not as important as having the heart to save someone.

See also: Qualities of a Nurse

There are going to be many times in the young nurse’s career when they feel like they could’ve saved someone and they just didn’t make it.

That’s completely fine and there’s nothing wrong with doing that, but they should always be doing their best, they should always care about the operation.

3. What toll does this job take on you?

Everyone in the hospital works hard, but nurses work especially hard since there are so many of them out there.

They truly do put in a lot of work and the majority of people get to stay in hospitals.

The workload can definitely be tough and there’s nothing wrong with admitting that.

This question isn’t here to tell you that you aren’t fit for the job, it’s here so that the employer can know what your limits are.

Everyone has breaking points and the higher-ups have to respect that.

Conclusion: Interview questions for hospice nurses

Hospice nurses work so hard in the medical industry and have a lot of pressure on them all-around life.

Some of them literally moved to the city that they were working in last month because they graduated and need to get a job.

Some of them are going to have to require a bit more time to be able to settle down, but some of those nurses can work immediately.

For those nurses who are ready to work right now, you should do everything in your power to hire them. There are a lot of things that they have to be qualified for to even apply.

When you go to interview them, try to be as upfront with them as you can be, but don’t overstep your boundaries as an employer.

You should also keep the interview on the topic so that these people are qualified for things that are actually medically related.

The role of people in the hospital is to ensure that people survive to live another day and that’s what people mainly care about.

But this nurse also needs to be a professional.

She has to show up on time and not be rude to the patients that are getting charged hundreds of dollars on insurance monthly.

Most of all, the hospice nurse needs to be reliable so that when people come to the hospital, they don’t have to worry about what the nurse is doing or where they’ll be.

Although medical knowledge is the most important qualifier, the character of the nurse is also important.

How they communicate with other nurses and patients is a reflection of the hospital.

Some people have bad moments of times when their temper gets the best of them.

Nurses are entitled to those moments but they should try to have the best attitude that they can.

Hopefully, these 12 best interview questions for hospice nurses helped you out.

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