Updated 5 October 2026 by Ben Gallagher. Sources below.
Nurse interviews ask the same things in every country: can you keep patients safe, speak up, work with a team and stay kind under pressure. What changes is the system around you, such as who registers you and what a panel calls the grade. This page gives the questions panels ask registered nurses, a short guide to the UK, the US and Australia, and how to use your own country's language in your answers. For the NHS grades in detail, see the Band 5, Band 6 and Band 7 nurse pages.
Try these questions free
What they're testing: Spotting a trend, acting first, using SBAR and finding the next person on the route when the first is away.
What they're testing: A structured, concise SBAR with the observations, your assessment and a clear request.
What they're testing: Patient safety first, telling the nurse in charge, reporting it, and being open with the patient.
What they're testing: Respecting a capacitous refusal, exploring the reason, recording it and telling the prescriber.
What they're testing: Noticing a risk, acting on it straight away, and making sure it was reported and learned from.
What they're testing: Practical dignity: a calm approach, privacy, the other patients, and asking why he is doing it.
What they're testing: Listening, being honest about what you know, and getting the right person to speak to her.
What they're testing: Honesty within your role: acknowledging fear, not guessing at prognosis, and getting the team to the bedside.
What they're testing: Staying calm, calming things down, listening to the concern and keeping everyone safe.
What they're testing: Speaking up about unsafe practice at once, then using the right route if it is not resolved.
What they're testing: Safe delegation within competence, with clear instructions, supervision and your own accountability kept.
What they're testing: Matching tasks to competence, giving clear instructions and staying accountable for the outcome.
What they're testing: Persisting through the right routes, including Freedom to Speak Up, while keeping patients safe.
What they're testing: Clinical prioritisation: the sickest first, using the team to cover the rest, and saying so out loud.
What they're testing: Managing interruptions without making a drug error: pausing safely, handing off and restarting the check.
What they're testing: Honest reflection that leads to a change, as the NMC expects for revalidation.
What they're testing: Taking feedback without getting defensive, and showing what changed in your practice.
What they're testing: Realistic coping and team support, including debrief, rest and asking for help.
What they're testing: Trusting your clinical judgement, escalating through the right route and recording what you did.
Say that you would not wait on a worry. Repeat the observations, give the doctor the specific changes you can see, ask for a review by a set time and use your hospital's escalation route if it does not come. Record every call. The patient's safety comes before politeness.
On a surgical ward I had a man whose observations were borderline but who had gone grey and quiet. The doctor on the phone said to recheck in an hour. I rang back within ten minutes with a clear message: situation, what I could see, his last three sets of observations, and the fact that he had stopped asking for his pain relief. I said, 'I am worried and I would like him reviewed in the next fifteen minutes. If that is not possible, I will call the senior on duty.' The registrar came, found early sepsis and started treatment. I recorded each call, the times and who I spoke to. I learned that a specific, calm message works better than a vague worry, and that using the escalation route is part of the job, not a complaint about a colleague.
What they're testing: Courage, advocacy and doing it respectfully through the proper route.
Pick a real moment when a patient's wishes or safety were at risk. Describe what you saw, who you spoke to and what you said. Show that you stayed respectful and used the right route. End with what changed for the patient and what you learned about speaking up.
An older woman told me she did not want the sedative she had been prescribed because it made her confused, but the plan said to give it each night. I did not give it. I told the nurse in charge what the patient had said and asked the doctor to review the prescription in the morning, and I wrote down the conversation. The nurse in charge was not pleased at first because the ward was busy, but the doctor changed the plan to a lower dose she agreed to. The patient slept and was clearer the next day. I learned that raising it early and in the right place protects the patient and the team, and that a patient's refusal is a reason to ask a question, not to work around her.
What they're testing: Honesty, speed of reporting and learning without blame.
Choose a real mistake with no lasting harm. Say what happened, that you told your nurse in charge straight away, how the patient was checked and informed, and how it was recorded. Finish with what you changed in your own practice. Panels trust people who report quickly.
On a medicines round I gave a patient their evening tablets and realised, as I signed, that I had given the morning dose of a drug that was only due once a day, which they had already had. I told the nurse in charge at once. We checked the patient's observations, asked the pharmacist about the extra dose and informed the doctor, who monitored him for a few hours. He came to no harm. I told him what had happened and apologised. I reported it through our incident system and took part in the review. I now check the chart for the last dose time before I open the packet, and I do not let myself be hurried through a round. Reporting straight away meant the patient was safe within minutes.
A nurse panel is trying to find out whether you are safe, honest and kind. It usually asks about recognising a patient who is getting worse and getting help, giving medicines safely, communicating with frightened families, delegating to colleagues and speaking up. Answer with a real patient situation, say what you did yourself, and finish with what happened and what you learned. The UK, the US and Australia all register nurses and expect you to keep to a professional code, so the habits are the same even where the names are not.
In the UK, nurses practise on the register kept by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The NMC says its register shows who can practise as a nurse or midwife in the UK, and its Code sets the standards that registered nurses must uphold, in four themes: prioritise people, practise effectively, preserve safety, and promote professionalism and trust. A good answer names the part of the Code you would turn to, as the Band 5 page explains.
In the NHS, jobs are graded on the Agenda for Change pay system. NHS Health Careers says adult nurses are typically paid from Band 5. The Royal College of Nursing describes updated national job profiles for nursing bands: Band 5 for registered nurses, Band 6 split into specialist and team leader profiles, and Band 7 with clearer differences from Band 6, including wider responsibility for research, people management and clinical decisions. Each band changes what a panel listens for, and the Band 5, Band 6 and Band 7 pages give the questions for each.
NHS employers also recruit for values. NHS Employers describes values based recruitment as an approach to identify people whose values and behaviours align with the NHS Constitution, using methods such as values based interviewing, role play and written responses to scenarios, and NHS England says it is used alongside assessment of skills. Expect questions about dignity, speaking up and working together, which the NHS values page covers.
In the US, registered nurses (RNs) are licensed by each state. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says nurses must complete an approved nursing programme and pass a qualifying examination to be licensed, with some requirements, such as background checks, varying by state, and that each state's board of nursing sets the specific requirements. O*NET, the US occupational database, adds that passing the NCLEX-RN, the national licensing examination, is part of what each state requires, alongside education at a state-approved nursing school.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists three routes into the job: a bachelor's degree in nursing, an associate degree in nursing or a diploma from a hospital programme, and says graduates typically begin as staff nurses and can move into more responsible roles with experience and further study. O*NET also shows that employers hire registered nurses with a bachelor's degree, an associate degree or a post-secondary certificate. In interviews, say which licence you hold, which state it is from and which certifications you have, such as basic life support, which the Bureau notes many employers require.
In Australia, nurses are registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) through Ahpra, the national regulator. Ahpra says it registers health practitioners who have the skills and qualifications to provide competent and ethical care, and a recruitment agency that places overseas nurses confirms that nurses trained overseas must register with the NMBA through Ahpra before they can practise.
Ahpra's list of professions shows nursing divided into registered nurse (Division 1) and enrolled nurse (Division 2). The Victorian Department of Health explains the difference in training: enrolled nurses complete a diploma in the vocational education sector, while registered nurses and midwives need a degree from the tertiary education sector. So when an advert says registered nurse or enrolled nurse, it is a different registration, not a different title for the same job.
Use your own country's words, but keep the shape of the answer. If you work in the UK, say which part of the NMC Code or which NHS value you were using. If you work in the US, name the hospital's policy or your scope of practice under your state's licence. In Australia, say whether you were working as a registered or enrolled nurse and which supervision or escalation route applied.
If you are applying in a new country, say so openly and explain how you would learn its rules. A panel is reassured by a nurse who knows what they do not yet know and knows where to look. The behavioral questions guide shows how to tell each story in the STAR shape, and the common questions guide covers the classics.
The questions are very similar: safety, escalation, communication, teamwork and learning from mistakes. What differs is the system, so who registers you, what the grades are called and which code or standards you cite.
In the NHS, Band 5 is the grade at which newly registered adult nurses typically start, on the Agenda for Change pay system. Band 6 and Band 7 are more senior grades with more responsibility.
To be licensed as a registered nurse in the US you need an approved nursing education and a passing result on the licensing examination, which for registered nurses is the NCLEX-RN, as well as meeting your state's other requirements.
They are two registrations on the Ahpra nursing register. Registered nurses are degree-qualified, and enrolled nurses hold a diploma from the vocational education sector.
Related topics: NHS values, The 6 Cs, Clinical governance, Safeguarding, Civil Service Success Profiles, Behavioral interview questions, Common interview questions.
See also: NHS and healthcare.
Related: Band 5 nurse, Band 6 nurse, Band 7 nurse, Healthcare assistant, Midwife.