Registered Nurse (RN), Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Posted Sep 7, 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 your background in critical care nursing and what kinds of patients you've cared for in the ICU.
whether the candidate has genuine high-acuity clinical experience matching this unit's patient population
Tell me about a time you had to give a nurse on your team difficult feedback about their clinical practice or behavior.
comfort with direct, respectful accountability conversations rather than avoidance
Describe a situation where you disagreed with a physician about a patient's plan of care. What did you do?
willingness to advocate for patients while maintaining a working relationship with providers
Tell me about a time you noticed a process on your unit wasn't working well and you pushed for a change.
initiative in process improvement and ability to influence beyond direct clinical tasks
Why are you interested in a leadership role now, and how do you see it different from being a bedside ICU nurse?
whether the candidate genuinely wants supervisory responsibility versus just seeking a title change
Technical
How do you decide how to assign patients and staff at the start of a shift when acuity is uneven across the unit?
understanding of acuity-based staffing and fair, safe assignment practices
What's your approach to orienting a new grad or a nurse who is new to ICU, especially on a night shift with fewer resources around?
skill in structured teaching and coaching under real-world constraints
What's your experience managing high-acuity equipment and drips, like vasopressors, ventilators, or continuous renal replacement therapy, and how do you make sure staff you're supervising are competent with them?
depth of hands-on ICU clinical knowledge and how it translates into oversight of others
How do you keep yourself and your team following safety and regulatory standards during a busy shift when things start slipping?
commitment to compliance and quality even when operational pressure is high
Situational
Walk me through how you'd manage a night shift where you have a critical admission coming in, a patient coding on the other end of the unit, and two nurses who are floating from another department and unfamiliar with your protocols.
ability to triage competing priorities and lead staff through chaos in real time
A family member is upset and confrontational at the bedside during a code situation. How do you handle that while your team is still working on the patient?
ability to manage family dynamics without pulling focus from clinical care
If you had two ICU beds open and three admission requests coming in at once, how would you work through that with the house supervisor and charge team?
grasp of patient flow, bed management, and cross-department coordination under pressure
Tell me about a time staffing was short and you had to make a call about coverage or reassign resources on short notice.
practical decision-making around workforce planning and safety trade-offs
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As published by Advocate Health.
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