Registered Nurse (RN) - Medical/Surgical
Posted Sep 18, 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 noticed a patient was starting to deteriorate before it showed up clearly in the vitals. What did you do?
What they are checking: pattern recognition and willingness to escalate based on subtle clinical cues, not just numbers
Tell me about a patient or family member who became verbally aggressive or agitated with you. What did you actually say or do in the moment?
What they are checking: de-escalation skill and composure under pressure, since verbal de-escalation is explicitly part of the job
Tell me about a time you disagreed with another nurse or a physician about a patient's plan of care. How did you handle it?
What they are checking: ability to advocate for patients while maintaining working relationships with the care team
Tell me about a shift that didn't go the way you planned. What fell apart, and what did you do about it?
What they are checking: self-awareness, resilience, and problem-solving under real-world chaos rather than an idealized answer
Weekend and holiday rotations are part of this unit. How have you handled working a schedule like that in the past, and what makes it sustainable for you?
What they are checking: realistic expectations about the schedule and evidence of past follow-through on similar commitments
What would you do
Walk me through how you'd prioritize your patients at the start of a night shift if you had six patients, one of whom was just admitted with chest pain and another who's due for discharge in the morning after an observation stay.
What they are checking: how the candidate triages competing demands and uses clinical judgment to sequence tasks safely
Say you have a COPD patient whose oxygen saturation is trending down and a diabetic patient with a blood sugar of 55, both around the same time. Who do you go to first and why?
What they are checking: clinical prioritization logic across common med-surg diagnoses named in the posting
How do you handle a night where you're pulled thin and a physician or provider isn't picking up quickly for a patient you're worried about?
What they are checking: chain of command knowledge and persistence in advocating for a patient
How do you approach handoff at 0700 when you've had a rough night and there's still unfinished charting or a task that didn't get done?
What they are checking: honesty and thoroughness in communication versus the temptation to gloss over gaps
About the work
This unit runs a lot of 24 to 48 hour observation stays for things like syncope, DVT workups, and electrolyte issues. How do you make sure a short-stay patient still gets a real assessment of their teaching and discharge needs, given the turnaround?
What they are checking: understanding of the fast-paced observation model and whether the candidate can compress full nursing process into a short window
What's your approach to a sliding transfer or repositioning a patient who weighs significantly more than you, especially with limited staff around at 2 a.m.?
What they are checking: awareness of safe patient handling practices and willingness to ask for help rather than risk injury
How do you keep yourself and your patients protected when you know you're going to be exposed to blood, body fluids, or a patient with an unclear infectious status?
What they are checking: basic infection control discipline and consistency with PPE use
What does evidence-based practice actually look like day to day on a med-surg floor, in your own words?
What they are checking: whether the candidate can translate the buzzword into concrete bedside behavior
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As published by Advocate Health.