Band 5 Nurse Interview Questions & Answers

You realise you've made a medication error. What do you do?

Patient safety first, honesty immediately. I'd check the patient straight away — observations, how they're feeling — and escalate to the nurse in charge and the doctor at once so any treatment or monitoring starts without delay, because how quickly you act matters far more than how the mistake looks. I'd never try to quietly fix it or wait to see if the patient seems fine. Then I'd be honest with the patient and their family — that's the duty of candour, and they have a right to know — and complete an incident report so the ward can learn from it. On placement I saw how a near-miss handled openly changed the checking culture on the whole ward. A panel isn't testing whether you're perfect; they're testing whether you're safe and honest when it goes wrong.

You come on shift and four patients need you at once — how do you prioritise?

I'd triage by clinical risk, not by who asks loudest. Anything suggesting deterioration comes first — say one patient has new chest pain or their breathing has changed, that's immediate, and I'd assess using an ABCDE approach while asking a colleague to alert the doctor if needed. Then I'd look at what's time-critical but delegable: routine observations a healthcare assistant can take, while pain relief that's due stays with me as the registered nurse. The patient's relative wanting an update matters too — I'd acknowledge them honestly with a realistic time rather than ignoring them. The key things are quick risk assessment, safe delegation, clear communication about when I'll get to each person, and reassessing as things change — and knowing when to simply ask for help because four urgent things is a team problem, not a solo one.