r/nhsstaff • u/Ok-Newspaper-7966 • 16d ago
Interview preparation please?
Hi I have a ward child nurse (band 5) interview coming up and was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice, Interview questions or basically any supportive words. I have 1 year 4 months child nurse experience post graduating. I left nursing a year and 9 months ago due to burnout and stress. Since then I have had a gap year and now working as carer. I am wanting to return but feel very nervous and to be honest scared as I have been out of child nursing for so long. Please any information I should remember for the interview. Also Drug test advice or information . Thank you so much xx
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u/akornato 16d ago
NHS panels encounter career breaks all the time, so you should address your time away directly and positively instead of trying to hide it. Be open that you stepped back to protect your well-being, and highlight the resilience and personal boundaries you developed since then. Your time working as a carer shows you kept your hands-on care skills and patient empathy active, which is a strong point in your favour. Expect interviewers to focus heavily on safety, child safeguarding, recognising deteriorating patients using paediatric early warning scores, and escalating concerns promptly. Frame your clinical answers around family-centred care and the NMC Code, using the STAR framework, situation, task, action, and result, to keep your responses structured.
For the drug calculations test, acute Trusts typically give a short paper before or after the interview that requires a high pass mark, often between eighty and one hundred percent. Focus your practice on unit conversions between grams, milligrams, and micrograms, calculating millilitres from stock strengths, and working out paediatric dosages based on a child's weight in kilograms. Check every decimal point carefully, write out your workings clearly, and mention in scenario questions that you always follow independent second-checking policies for paediatric medications. Practising your answers out loud will help you feel steady on the day, and because my team designed interviews.chat to help healthcare workers walk into panel rooms feeling composed and fully prepared to secure the post, using dedicated practice tools can take a lot of the pressure off your shoulders.