Staff nurse interview questions and answers

• Nepal Nursing Council licence. PCL graduates must pass the council’s licensing examination (NLEN) to register; the pass mark is 50% in aggregate. Bring the licence certificate and know your licence number.
• Transcripts and character certificate from your nursing campus, and any training certificates (BLS, infection prevention, skilled birth attendant).
• Citizenship copy, photographs and a CV. The staff nurse CV example shows the order hospitals expect: licence, clinical postings by ward, procedures you can do.
• Uniform questions: the wards you rotated through, the bed capacity of the hospitals, and what you did there yourself.

• Tell me about yourself. — “I am Sunita Gurung from Pokhara. I completed PCL Nursing from a campus affiliated to CTEVT in 2082 and passed the Nepal Nursing Council licensing examination. During my clinical postings I worked in medical, surgical, paediatric and maternity wards, and I spent the longest in the medical ward. I am confident in vital signs, medication administration and documentation, and I want to build experience in critical care.”
• Why did you choose nursing? — Give a true reason: a family member’s illness, a nurse who impressed you, wanting work that is useful every day. Avoid “because I did not get medicine”.
• Why do you want to work in this hospital? — Name something specific: its departments, that it is a teaching hospital, its location near your home so you can work shifts reliably.
• What are the duties of a staff nurse? — Assessing patients and recording vital signs, giving medication as prescribed, wound care and procedures, monitoring and reporting changes to the doctor, admission and discharge, documentation, patient and family education, infection prevention, and handing over properly at shift change.
• Can you work night shifts and on public holidays? — “Yes. I understand a hospital runs for twenty-four hours and I am ready for rotating shifts.”
• How do you handle stress and long duty hours? — “I organise my work at the start of the shift, ask for help early instead of late, and I look after my sleep and food between duties.”
• What are your strengths and weaknesses? — A strength that matters on a ward (calm, careful with documentation, good with elderly patients) and a real weakness with what you are doing about it (“I am still slow at cannulation in children, so I ask to assist whenever there is a chance”).

• A patient collapses in front of you. What do you do? — “I check for response and breathing, call for help and the emergency trolley, and start chest compressions if there is no breathing or pulse, continuing until the team takes over. I note the time.”
• You realise you gave the wrong medicine. What do you do? — “I stay with the patient and check their condition, inform the doctor and the nurse in charge at once, follow the instructions given, and record it truthfully in the incident report. I do not hide it.”
• A patient’s relative is shouting at you. How do you respond? — “I stay calm, take them aside from other patients, listen, and explain what is being done. If it concerns treatment I call the doctor or the in-charge. I do not shout back.”
• A doctor gives a verbal order you believe is wrong. What do you do? — “I repeat the order back and ask politely to confirm the dose. If I am still concerned I tell the nurse in charge before giving it. The patient’s safety comes first.”
• A patient refuses medication. What do you do? — “I ask why, explain what the medicine is for in simple language, and do not force it. I inform the doctor and document the refusal.”
• You have six patients and two call at the same time. How do you decide? — “By urgency: airway, breathing and circulation problems first, then pain and safety, then routine needs. I tell the other patient I am coming.”

Larger hospitals and commission panels ask whether you know the standards you will work under.

• What should the nurse-to-patient ratio be? — The Ministry of Health and Population’s Minimum Service Standards for primary hospitals set nurse numbers per shift. They are one nurse to six patients in a general ward, one to four in a paediatric ward, and one to two in a high dependency, intermediate or post-operative ward.
• Which infection prevention guideline do you follow? — The ministry’s National Guideline on Infection Prevention and Control, released in 2023, together with the hospital’s own protocol.
• How is hospital waste segregated? — At the point where it is produced, into separate colour-coded containers for general, infectious and sharp waste, under the National Health Care Waste Management Standards and Operating Procedures 2020.
• Who regulates nurses in Nepal? — The Nepal Nursing Council, under the Nepal Nursing Council Act 2052. It registers nurses, and a licence that is not renewed in time has to be re-registered.
• What is patient confidentiality? — Not sharing a patient’s diagnosis, reports or personal details with anyone outside the treating team without consent.

• You have no hospital experience. Why should we select you? — “My clinical postings covered four wards, I passed the licensing examination, and I know I still have a lot to learn. I follow protocol, I ask before I act when I am unsure, and I am ready for any ward and any shift.”
• Which ward did you like most, and why? — Name one and give a real reason and a case you remember.
• Describe a procedure you did during your posting. — Pick one you did properly yourself, and describe it step by step.
• Where do you see yourself in five years? — “As a senior staff nurse in a specialised unit, and I plan to complete a Bachelor of Nursing while working.”
• What salary do you expect? — “I will accept the hospital’s scale for a staff nurse.” Know the reference figures first: nurse salary in Nepal gives the government scale and what private hospitals are required to pay.

1. 1Arrive fifteen minutes early in clean formal clothes, hair tied back, short nails, no heavy jewellery or perfume.
2. 2Carry originals and copies of your licence, transcripts, citizenship and training certificates in one folder.
3. 3Greet the panel, sit when invited, and answer the question asked before adding anything.
4. 4For clinical questions, answer in the order you would act at the bedside.
5. 5Ask one question at the end: the orientation period, the ward you would join, or the shift pattern.