Band 5 Nurse Interview Questions and Answers (NHS, 2026)

Act on the trend now. Recheck the observations, look at the patient, do what your policy allows within your competence, and escalate by SBAR to the next person on the escalation route rather than waiting for the one who is unavailable. Stay with the patient, keep records, and follow up until someone has reviewed them.

On a late shift my post-operative patient's NEWS2 rose from 2 to 5 within an hour: his respiratory rate was up, his blood pressure was down and he looked grey. I repeated the observations myself, sat him upright and checked his oxygen saturation and urine output. The surgical doctor was in theatre, so I told the nurse in charge and bleeped the on-call registrar through switchboard. I used SBAR: post-op day one bowel resection, NEWS2 now 5 and rising, I think he may be bleeding or developing sepsis, and I need him reviewed within the next half hour. While we waited I prepared for fluids and kept observations every fifteen minutes. The registrar came, started fluids and antibiotics and he stabilised. I recorded everything and added it to handover.

Put the patient first: check them, get help, and tell the nurse in charge and the prescriber straight away so any harm can be treated. Then report the incident, be open with the patient and record what happened. Say what you learned, because blame is not what the panel is looking for.

As a student, and later as a registered nurse, I have had to speak up about a medicines error. In one case I realised, while writing up the chart, that I had given a dose an hour earlier without checking that the patient had already had that medicine from the evening round. I went to the patient at once, took a full set of observations and told the nurse in charge. She asked the doctor to review the patient, who asked for monitoring for a few hours and gave advice on timing. I explained to the patient what had happened and apologised, and I completed the incident report that same shift. Afterwards I changed my practice: I check the chart for every earlier administration before drawing up, and I do not let myself be rushed at the round.

Red skin that stays red when pressed is a warning sign of pressure damage. Take the weight off the area, check the rest of the patient's skin at risk points, record it using your skin assessment and body map, report it to the nurse in charge, and update the care plan so repositioning and any equipment are in place.

On a care of the elderly ward I noticed a red patch on the heel of a man who had been mostly in bed. When I pressed it, it did not fade. I got him off that heel straight away by floating his heels on a pillow, then checked his sacrum, hips and other heels, and found nothing else. I recorded the finding with a body map and the date, told the nurse in charge so she could grade it and ask for a pressure-relieving mattress and a review by the tissue viability team, and added it to the care plan with turning times. I also asked the healthcare assistants to tell me about any redness they see, so we are all looking. The area healed without breaking down and I now check heels every shift for patients on bed rest.

Do a quick safety sweep of the whole group, then see the sickest first. A falling blood pressure goes first, then pain, the finished drip and the toilet request in order of risk. Say what you hand to others, tell the nurse in charge, and promise a time to return to everyone.

I started a busy morning with exactly that mix. I looked at all four from the doorway and called the nurse in charge. The patient with the falling blood pressure came first: I checked the full set of observations and calculated the NEWS2 score, then bleeped the doctor with SBAR. I asked a healthcare assistant to take the patient who needed the toilet, because it was within her competence, and told the patient who was in pain that I would be back in ten minutes with analgesia and checked she was not in severe pain. I paused the empty drip so there was no risk of air or a missed dose, and told the nurse in charge it needed changing. When the doctor arrived I handed over the unwell patient, returned to the patient in pain and then to the rest. Every patient was seen within a few minutes.

Delegate tasks that sit within the person's competence and that suit a stable patient, such as routine observations, personal care and mobilising. Keep assessment, care planning, anything needing clinical judgement, and the decision to delegate. Give clear instructions, say what to report back, and stay accountable for the outcome.

On my last placement the registered nurse supervising me delegated, and I watched what she kept. The healthcare assistants took observations on stable patients, helped with washing and mobilising, and recorded fluid balance. She kept anything that needed an assessment, such as a new pain, a patient who looked different, a wound she needed to see, and anything about medicines. When I became a registered nurse I followed that. I tell the healthcare assistant what the observations should be for the patient, when to report a number straight away, and that I want to know if the patient looks different even when the numbers are fine. I check back, and I have asked a colleague to redo a task if it was beyond a person's sign-off. I am accountable for the decision to delegate.

Speak up at once, calmly and privately if you can, and stop the medicine going to the patient if it has not been given. Raise it with the nurse in charge if the practice is unsafe, report through the incident system, and use Freedom to Speak Up or your manager if it is not dealt with.

I saw an experienced colleague about to give an intravenous antibiotic without checking the patient's allergy band. I said, quietly, 'Can we check the band together before you give that?', and we did. It was fine, but she then said she had been rushing. After the shift I told her I had been worried and asked if she was all right, because I think a skipped check is often a sign of pressure rather than carelessness. I also told the nurse in charge, who checked whether the team was short, and I completed an incident report to record the near miss. I would have escalated sooner if the patient was at risk or she had brushed me off, and used the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian if I thought the concern would not be heard.

Choose a real situation, own your part and be specific about what you did differently afterwards. Use a reflective model if it helps, and mention how you recorded it, for example in your NMC revalidation reflections. The panel wants honesty and change, not a story where you were perfect.

On placement I took a patient's observations, wrote them down and moved on without telling the nurse that his pulse was higher than at the last set. It was only a small change and it was not on the early warning chart's trigger range, but he deteriorated overnight and I learned about it the next day. I felt awful and talked it over with my practice supervisor. We looked at the earlier set and she showed me how a trend can matter before the score does. I wrote a reflective account and I now do three things: I compare each set with the last one, I say out loud anything that is trending the wrong way, and I ask if I am unsure. It is also now part of how I teach students when I supervise them.