New Graduate Registered Nurse (RN) - Progressive Care Unit
Posted Sep 3, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Sep 20, 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.
Behavioral
Tell me about a clinical rotation or job where you had to care for a patient whose condition was changing quickly. What did you notice first, and what did you do?
whether the candidate can recognize early signs of deterioration, a core skill for a unit that handles cardiac and post-surgical overflow patients
You'll be ACLS certified within six months but not on day one. Tell me about a time you had to perform in a high-stakes situation before you felt fully prepared. How did you handle it?
self-awareness about current skill gaps and how the candidate compensates by asking for help or following protocol
Describe a moment during clinicals when a preceptor or charge nurse corrected something you were doing. How did you take it, and did it change how you practice?
coachability, since new grads spend months in a structured orientation with heavy feedback
Tell me about a time you had to give bad news or explain something scary to a patient's family. How did you decide what to say?
communication skill with families, important given the acuity and surgical population on this floor
Tell me about a time you made a mistake or almost made one in a clinical setting. What did you do right after you noticed it?
honesty and whether the candidate reports errors instead of hiding them, critical for a safety culture
Technical
Say a patient on a cardiac drip has a heart rate and blood pressure that are trending in the wrong direction, but nothing has crossed a hard alarm threshold yet. What do you do?
clinical judgment and comfort escalating before a full crisis, since this unit runs drips regularly
What do you know about caring for someone recovering from an esophagectomy or lobe resection, and what would worry you most in the first 24 hours after that kind of surgery?
baseline knowledge of the specific CTS patient population this unit specializes in
If you had a patient on an insulin drip and their blood sugar came back much lower than expected, what would you check and what would you do before calling anyone?
practical protocol knowledge and whether the candidate acts safely rather than freezing or overreacting
Situational
This unit cares for cardiothoracic surgery patients, cardiac drips, insulin drips, and stroke overflow all on the same floor. Walk me through how you'd prioritize your first hour if you had four patients and one just came back from a lobe resection while another was on a heparin drip.
ability to triage across a genuinely mixed, high-acuity assignment as a new nurse
A patient becomes agitated and starts trying to pull out lines. Tell me how you'd approach de-escalating that before it gets to the point of needing restraints.
comfort with verbal de-escalation techniques required by the physical demands section of this job
This schedule is nights, three 12-hour shifts, every fourth weekend, with rotating holidays, and new grads stay at 0.9 FTE for a full year. What's your plan for managing sleep and life outside work on that rhythm?
realistic expectations about the schedule commitment and risk of early burnout or turnover
How do you stay organized when you're pulled in different directions, like a call light going off while you're mid-assessment on another patient?
time management and multitasking under the real interruptions of a busy progressive care floor
Practice this interview out loud.
Offer builds a real interview for this exact role at Advocate Health from your resume and this job description, asks the questions one at a time, and tells you what landed. The first one is free.
Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Advocate Health.
More registered nurse progressive care unit roles
Related jobs
New Graduate Registered Nurse (RN) - Progressive Care Unit
Posted Sep 3 · Verified Sep 20
Registered Nurse (RN) - Progressive Care Unit
Posted Sep 7 · Verified Sep 20
Physical Therapist (PT) - Acute Care and Emergency
Posted Sep 19 · Verified Sep 20
Medical Assistant (MA)/LPN - OB/GYN
Posted Sep 19 · Verified Sep 20
Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant - Family Medicine - Full Time
Posted Sep 19 · Verified Sep 20
Registered Nurse (RN) - Orland Park
Posted Sep 18 · Verified Sep 20