Nursing Supervisor Interview Questions & Answers

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Nursing Supervisor is a healthcare professional specialized in managing and supervising a nursing team in order to create and maintain a high level of patient care.

Whether you're a job seeker preparing to be interviewed for the role of Nursing Supervisor or an employer preparing to interview candidates for Nursing Supervisor position, these Nursing Supervisor interview questions will help you prepare yourself for the job interview session.

Nursing Supervisor Interview Questions

Below are a list of some skill-based Nursing Supervisor interview questions.

1. What would you do if you noticed that two of your nurses were having a conflict that was affecting their work?
2. Do you have any experience training new nurses on best practices?
3. How do you explain medications, treatments, or healthcare situations without using a lot of medical or healthcare jargon?
4. How would you rate your computer skills?
5. What is your experience in training and managing team performance?
6. What do you believe is the hardest part of being a nurse?
7. Are you comfortable taking up nursing responsibilities when necessary?
8. Do you think nursing or management skills are more important for a nursing supervisor?
9. What do you do differently when managing newly trained nurses as opposed to experienced nurses?
10. What types of patients did you deal with as a nurse? What is the typical volume of patients you handle each shift?
11. How do you keep up with the constant changes in the nursing and healthcare field?
12. Tell me about a difficult case you handled as a nurse. How would you train your team to handle similar cases?
13. Give me an example of a time you improved efficiency in clinical operations.
14. We want to improve our patient satisfaction rates. What would you do to improve our patients’ experiences with our nursing services?
15. What are the most difficult aspects of managing a team of nurses? What are the most rewarding?
16. How do you stay organized with documentation and record keeping? What do you do when the nurses you supervise don't adhere to same organization process as you?
17. Tell me about a time you were short-staffed. How did you ensure patient care standards were met?
18. How do you handle emotional family members?
19. There is a new treatment protocol for a common condition that your team hasn’t been using. What would you do?
20. What would you do if a patient complained to you about one of the nurses under your care?
21. As a Nursing Supervisor, explain how you will deal with a patient who is aggressive and refuses medication.
22. Which nursing certifications do you have?
23. Have you experienced a time when you were unable to train clinical nursing staff in the use of a new piece of equipment?
24. Give me an example of a time you improved efficiency in clinical operations. What was the outcome?
25. What do you think is the most important skill for a nursing supervisor to have?
26. Retaining skilled nurses can be a challenge to manage. What steps have you taken in the past to improve retention? How effective were the changes?
27. What clinical experience has been important and relevant to you?
28. Describe your process for evaluating your team’s performance and completing performance reviews.
29. Tell me about a time you had to give a member of your team a negative performance review. What was the outcome?
30. How often do you perform audits to monitor your team’s performance?
31. How do you deal with conflicts between team members? What are some guidelines you put into place to keep peace among your team?
32. What are some strategies you use to motivate your team as a nursing supervisor?
33. What would you do if a nurse wasn’t following your instructions?
34. How would you handle a situation where one of your nurses is not following protocol?
35. As a nursing supervisor, what is your experience with managing budgets and cost-effective solutions?
36. How well do you understand our organization’s policies and procedures for nursing?

Nursing Supervisor Interview Questions and Answers

Every interview is different and the questions may vary. However, there are lots of general questions that get asked at every interview.

Below are some common questions you'd expect during Nursing Supervisor interviews. Click on each question to see how to answer them.

1. What is Your Greatest Weakness?
2. What is Your Salary Expectation?
3. Tell Me About Yourself
4. Why Do You Want To Leave Your Current Job?
5. Are You a Leader or a Follower?
6. What is Your Greatest Strength?
7. Do You Have Any Questions for Us?
8. Why Should We Hire You?
9. What Is Your Greatest Accomplishment?
10. Why Do You Want This Job?

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