2023-01-04_akunnath_Interview Questions.docx

Work Ethic

Tell me a little about yourself? Interests outside of work?

Why did you get into healthcare/PSW? What do you like most about it? What do you find most rewarding about it?

While there are many rewarding parts of the job, there are some challenging and demanding parts of it as well. What aspects of this job are most likely to wear you down or what do you find most challenging? How do you motivate yourself to continue working hard when having a bad day? Tell me about your most frustrating day at work. Tell me about a really good day you had at work?

Tell me about the most valuable lesson you have learn throughout your experience or training? How did it help you when working with other clients?

How do you build a rapport when meeting a new client? Have you worked at a client’s home and they asked you to leave/turned you away?

Can you describe a time when you went beyond the call of duty for a client?

Give an example of when you completed a difficult task that made you work harder than normal? Biggest challenge you’ve faced?  How did you overcome it?

What do you value most in an employer/manager/work environment? What can employers do to earn your loyalty?

Negative Feedback about performance? What did you learn? How did it help? When approached by a manager about this how do you feel you handle feedback? Have you had to give feedback and updates to a manager before?

Tell me about a time you made a mistake. What did you learn from it? How did you handle it? How do you handle stress? How do you handle rejection?

Please tell me 3 positive things your colleagues or past client’s would say about you?

What attracted you to the position with HCA?

We interview a lot of applicants, what do you think you bring to the table that others may not?

What are your goals for professional development? How will this role help you get there? What is your plan for the next 5 years? How long do you expect to work with HCA?

Is there anything you feel you might be uncomfortable doing?

Pets _____  	Smokers_____        	   	COVID____       	Male____    	Female ____

Have you ever been in a situation at work that you were uncomfortable? How did you manage it?

Are there certain skills you’d like the opportunity to develop or improve in the future? Ever a time that you were working and something was out of your skillset?  Tell me about a time you had to learn a new skill – How did you approach the learning process?

What does teamwork mean to you? What did the communication look like? Who did you report to? How did you get your schedule? Do you prefer to work in a team or independently?

Availability:

IF interested in Live in -  Have you worked live in before? How many days of live in are you comfortable with? Live in presents it’s own sets of challenges, what interests you about doing live in care specifically?

Location/Main intersection/commute?

Languages?

Situational:

Aggression/Agitation – Describe a time when you were work with a client and they became agitated or even aggressive/combatative. How did you protect yourself and safeguard the client? What techniques did you use to calm them down?

You are working with a client with dementia and you go for a walk. When you arrive back in front of the home they don’t recognize the home, don’t want to go inside. How would you handle this?

How would you handle it if a client wakes up grumpy and doesn't want to get dressed or eat her breakfast-but she has a doctor's appointment later that morning?

Your client falls, seems confused, doesn't recognize you and won't let you help her. What do you do?

You are working with a dementia client and you go to put something in another room and when you come back the client doesn’t recognize you. How do you respond?

A client is refusing to take a bath or shower - What techniques would you use to try and get them to bath?

A client is refusing to take medication – what techniques would you use to try and get them to take their medication?

Hallucinations – What do you do when a client is insisting someone is in their room?

A client with paranoia accuses you of stealing, how do you react?

A client is becoming upset, and starts to shout at you. How do you respond?

How do you handle a client that assumes a ‘helpless’ role and does not do what is necessary for their treatment & asks you to do certain tasks that they could or should do for themselves?

Technical:

Tell me about the most recent client you’ve work with? Walk me through your day to day responsibilities.

What do you do to keep your client’s engaged/busy throughout the day?

Alzheimer’s

Dementia: What types of Dementia have you worked with?

How mild or severe of dementia did you work with?

What tasks could this client still complete independently?

How do you keep client’s safe when they begin Wandering?

Have you ever worked with client’s that have lost Mobility or speech due to alzheimer’s?

Have you worked with client’s that Sundown? What did this look like? How did you manage the sundowning? 4pm and your client becomes restless or agitated? How do you manage a client that is sundowning.

Your client asks you to leave and you know they cannot be left alone. How do you handle that?

What differences did you notice between an early stage client and a late stage client?

How did you have to change care as the dementia progressed? What challenges did you see in the late stages?

Have you ever worked with an exit seeking client? What techniques did you use when you know it’s not safe for a client to go out. How do you redirect their attention? Your client is adamantly trying to leave the home during bad weather. How do you handle that?

What techniques do you use when a client is trying to express something to you but cannot verbally explain what they want?

Independent client – assistance after surgery or accident

For clients that have lost a sense of independency, how do you help them to still feel like they have a sense of purpose?

Parkinson’s exp?

Walk me through a typical day of care?

Have you ever had a client fall?

it’s known that parkinson’s client’s need exercise to stay strong as long as possible. What did you do to help maintain their muscle strength?

Communication?

Swallowing issues are often part of late stages of parkinson’s – How do you manage swallowing issues

Meal Preparation/cooking? Cooking for special dietary needs?

Have you ever worked with a G-Tube/Feeding tube?

Catheter care? Colostomy Bag? Incontinence care?

Importance of hygiene – proper hygiene for yourself and client is crucial for infection control. When I say that what comes to mind to proper hygiene.

Transfers – How comfortable are you performing transfers? Where did you receive training?

Please walk me through the steps for transferring a 1-person assist client from bed to wheelchair – What steps do you take to ensure client safety? How do you ensure your own safety? Tell me 3 techniques for transferring

If you were in a situation where a client is on the floor, do you have the techniques to get them off the floor, how to you handle it after?

Have you ever used a gait belt? Hoyer lift- exp with 1 person, 2 person or both? what is the importance of hoyer lift safety to you

Tell me about a time you worked with a client and their condition improved after you started caring for them?

Experience with Mental health?

Depression? Your client is depressed, they don’t want to eat or drink, refuse to get out of bed. How do you encourage them or motivate them? Have you ever work with a client that expressed suicidal thoughts, or self-harm?

Bipolar? How do you deal with the sudden mood changes?

Anxiety? How do you help client’s when they are experiencing a panic attack?

Palliative – Have you worked palliative care before? Are you comfortable working palliative care again? What is the most important thing you can do for them? How do you help client’s maintain dignity at the end of life? Self-care?

Do you know what a DNR is?

Bed Ridden – How do you care for client’s that are bed ridden – what were your responsibilities? What complications can develop due to immobility? How do you prevent bed sores?

What precautions do you take while bathing a client in bed?

Hypertension or heart conditions:

Experience taking vitals

Can you explain hypertension to me? Practices in place for someone with high blood pressure. (reduce sodium diet, watch levels of stress)

Caregivers that primarily work 1-2 hour Community shifts:

What is the biggest difference you notice in community work going client to client and working with a private home care agency

You’re used to dealing with multiple clients in a day often with different illnesses how you adapt or change the way you care for a client?

Have you ever had to work with a client for more than 4 hours? How were they unwell? What did you have to help with? What did you do to keep them engaged.

We work anywhere from 4-12 hour days. When you are used to spending 1-2 hours with a client, tell me how you would keep them engaged when you work with them for 8 hours straight as opposed to working with multiple clients for short hours.

Part way through your shift your client asks you to leave and doesn’t want you in their home anymore but you know they cannot be left alone. How do you handle that?

Have you worked with clients with sundowning? It’s 4pm and your client becomes restless or agitated? How do you manage a client that is sundowning.

Your client is adamantly trying to leave the home during bad weather. How do you handle that?

RPN Exp:

Have you given medication before? Are you familiar with giving injections? What injections have you given?

Where did you receive training on medication administration. Was this part of your RPN program or did you have to take a separate certificate course?

Have you checked blood sugar before? Administered insulin

Familiar with wound care? Would dressing

Bolis feed?

Have you changed an IV before? Have you set up an IV before

Have you worked with a G-tube before? Have you worked with a Tracheostomy?  What formal training have you received on this?

Catheter? Colostomy?

Are you specialized in any particular area of nursing?

What is your understanding of infection control?

Live in Questions:

If new to live in:

What really stood out for you that made you want to do live in? What are the perks of live in for you?

What kind of responsibilities do you think fall to you during the day when working with a live in client.

There can also be down time during live in, how do you spend your down time? How do you keep yourself occupied? Hobbies?

What challenges do you think you may find?

Cooking – appropriate snack, what kind of things would you make for breakfast

How do you handle situation where a client does not believe they are in their own home. Do not recognize their environment or own furniture and insisting that they do not live there

Every client is unique, some cases for dementia can be with a client with severe cognitive decline. This can also feel lonely at times as there’s not a lot of conversation, a lot of decision making also falls to you. Clients cannot always express themselves the same ways and you won’t know why, being able to read and redirect a client while remaining calming for hours on end isn’t always easy. You are with a client for days at a time and there will be good nights and bad nights. But you cannot just leave or go home at the end of an exhausting day to your own bed the same way you can with hourly care. It can be not too dissimilar to having a new baby.

Have you ever been on vacation with a group of people for several days or a week at a time that you can’t get away from? What was that like? How did you handle it?

I don’t want to present live in as all negative but want to also make sure that you are up to the challenge. Our caregivers that are on live in prefer this model of care and enjoy it, but we want to make sure you understand that these challenges can arise.

Some of our live in clients are still fairly independent and we are just there for security, companionship, peace of mind and that could be the case you get assigned to but I want to make sure you are also prepared to take on a case that may not be a walk in the park each day.

What kind of responsibilities do you think fall to you during the day when working with a live in client.