Assistant Manager Nurse, Perioperative and Outpatient Surgery
Posted Sep 25, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about a time you were charge nurse and had to reassign staff mid-shift because the schedule fell apart. What did you weigh?
What they are checking: Whether they make assignments based on patient acuity and staff skill rather than who complains least.
Tell me about a protocol you wrote or changed. How did you get staff to actually follow it?
What they are checking: Whether they know a policy only matters if the floor adopts it, and how they built buy-in.
Describe a time you had to give a coworker you used to work beside hard feedback after you became their supervisor.
What they are checking: Whether they can shift from peer to leader without avoiding hard talks or turning cold.
What would you do
You'd help oversee PACU, Pre Anesthesia, PAT and the Outpatient Surgery Center. How do you keep four areas with different rhythms working as one patient flow?
What they are checking: Whether they see the handoffs between pre-op, testing and recovery as the place where delays and safety misses start.
A patient in PACU isn't meeting discharge criteria, the surgeon wants them moved, and you have three cases waiting for beds. What do you do?
What they are checking: Whether they hold to discharge criteria under throughput pressure and know how to escalate without stalling the whole board.
Pre-admission testing finds an abnormal lab the morning of surgery that should have been caught days ago. How do you handle it today, and how do you keep it from happening again?
What they are checking: Whether they can manage the immediate patient safely and then fix the process instead of blaming the person.
You're interviewing a nurse who has strong skills but spoke badly of every past coworker. How do you weigh that?
What they are checking: Whether they hire for team fit and patient care culture, not just clinical competence.
The schedule is Monday to Friday days with every fifth weekend flexed. How do you stay connected to what happens on the shifts you're not there for?
What they are checking: Whether they build systems for communication across shifts rather than leading only the people they see.
About the work
What do you look at first when you prepare an operational report for a perioperative unit, and how do you make it useful to leadership?
What they are checking: Whether they understand metrics like case delays, PACU holds and cancellations and can turn numbers into decisions.
What does malignant hyperthermia or a post-op airway emergency look like in PACU, and what's your role as the leader in the room?
What they are checking: Whether they keep sharp clinical recognition while leading, since perioperative leaders still run emergencies.
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As published by HSHS.