Staff Nurse Inpatient-PACU Part-time Days
Posted Sep 17, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Sep 22, 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
Part time days at McHenry. How does that fit your life?
What they are checking: The posting states the hours, the shift and the site.
What would you do
A patient's airway is at risk in recovery. Walk me through what you do.
What they are checking: The most urgent complication in a recovery room and the nurse is who is there.
How do you handle a patient who becomes agitated as they wake?
What they are checking: Emergence delirium is common and it is a safety problem for everyone.
How do you manage two recovering patients at once when one deteriorates?
What they are checking: The posting names determining the appropriate utilization of any assistant, but the nurse holds both.
How do you talk to a family waiting for someone in recovery?
What they are checking: The posting names collaborating with family and they have been waiting for hours.
About the work
Tell me about your PACU experience.
What they are checking: The posting is a post-anesthesia care unit role at McHenry.
How do you assess a patient waking from anesthesia and decide they are stable?
What they are checking: The core clinical work of recovery nursing.
How do you manage post-operative pain without overshooting on a sedated patient?
What they are checking: The daily balance in recovery and both errors are dangerous.
How do you decide a patient is ready to leave recovery?
What they are checking: The discharge criteria decision is what a PACU nurse is there to make.
How do you hand over to the receiving unit so nothing is lost?
What they are checking: The posting names documenting responses to interventions and the handover carries it forward.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Northwestern Medicine.