Nurses help patients through pregnancy and labor by providing compassionate and skillful care. Recruiting an experienced and capable nurse ready for the challenge can be difficult. Knowing the right labor and delivery nurse interview questions to ask is one way to find the perfect candidate.
What does it take to hire a high-quality labor and delivery nurse? We’ll give a brief introduction to the role and empower you with seven candidate interview questions to help find the right team member for your organization.
What Does a Labor and Delivery Nurse Do?
A labor and delivery nurse, sometimes called an obstetric (OB) nurse, guides patients through the journey of pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period. They provide compassionate care and teaching to the patient, the new infant, and the family members involved.
Most OB nurses work 12-hour shifts in acute care hospitals or birthing centers. Labor nurses collaborate with providers such as midwives, obstetricians, medical assistants, and dieticians to provide coordinated care throughout each patient’s hospital stay.
Delegation, communication, and prioritization are just a few of the essential skills of labor and delivery nursing. Interview questions that reveal behaviors, skills, and experience can help nursing managers ensure that their new employee is fit for the job.
7 Interview Questions for Labor and Delivery Nurses
Nursing leaders have limited time to learn about each nursing candidate. Here are seven strategic labor and delivery nurse interview questions — and answers you can look out for — to help you get a better feel for each candidate.
1. What made you want to become a labor and delivery nurse?
This question can reveal a great deal about a nurse’s personality and professional experience. Demonstrating a warm, conversational tone is important in the nursing field, and hearing about what motivates each nurse can help them show their compassion and expertise.
It’s important to let the nurse know that you care about them as a whole person, not just for what they can give to your facility. Encourage personal anecdotes if the candidate is comfortable, as they often uncover experiences and behavioral traits that could be helpful for employees working at your facility.
2. How has your previous experience prepared you for this job?
Labor and delivery nursing is a unique specialty, and it involves skills and intuition that need to be learned on the job. Labor and delivery nurse interview questions that gauge a candidate’s experience level can help show you how prepared they are to care for patients.
A great employee response would include detailed information on the types of facilities the nurse has worked in, the number of years they’ve been a labor and delivery nurse, and unique skills and certifications that make them a high-quality candidate.
Nurse leaders can gain confidence in a nurse’s ability if they mention any of the following skills and tasks that may be required for patient care at your facility:
- Patient intake
- Vital sign collection
- Placing catheters and IV lines
- Preparing surgical tools and instruments
- Fetal monitoring
- vagin*l exams
- Patient education and emotional support
3. Describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision under pressure. How did you come to that decision, and what were some ways you maintained composure through the stress?
Maternal stresses surrounding childbirth coupled with long shift hours often forces nurses to perform under pressure. With a well-trained nurse, mothers can remain calm and confident throughout their hospital stay.
Knowing that your employee has what it takes to communicate, prioritize, and execute difficult decisions is vital. Managers should understand that nurse satisfaction and retention are improved when a nurse is capable of coping with stressful situations.
4. What would you do if your patient’s birth plan wasn’t going as expected?
Prioritizing your patient’s wishes is important, but what happens when those wishes are no longer safe or possible? Nurses must be able to compassionately communicate, problem solve, and demonstrate adaptability in the workplace.
The fast-paced environment of labor and delivery units demands nurse flexibility in addition to strong clinical skills. Strong candidates can help patients through emotionally tough times while still optimizing patient outcomes.
5. Share about a time when you had to advocate for your patient. Explain how you communicated your concerns and how the situation was resolved.
This is one of the most important labor and delivery nurse interview questions, as it reveals key details regarding a candidate’s moral standards and clinical judgment.
Nursing is about so much more than following orders and handing out medication; it’s about following intuition and prioritizing the needs of patients. Understanding chain-of-command procedures and exhibiting strong interprofessional communication is imperative to successful labor and delivery nursing.
Patient advocacy is a pillar of nursing important to professionals in all care facilities. Labor and delivery nurses in particular must be able to act on behalf of the patient and prioritize the patient’s wishes. Listen for answers that show a candidate’s knowledge of safe patient practices, teamwork, and ethical patient care.
6. Tell about a time when you had to deal with a difficult or unhappy family member.
Having a child is stressful for patients and their family members. Sometimes, emotions run high. It’s important that the nurse focuses more on their actions to improve care rather than talk about the poor behaviors of the family.
Nurses have to be able to deal with negativity or frustration without taking it personally, and ruminating about “inappropriate” or “ungrateful” individuals can be a red flag for managers. A great answer involves solution-based thinking and problem solving, and demonstrates strong nursing communication skills.
7. What makes you the perfect fit for our facility?
Ending with this question helps close the conversation and allows the candidate the chance to share any last-minute comments. It also shows how much research the nurse has done on your facility.
This is the perfect opportunity for a candidate to explain how they plan to encompass your facility’s mission, vision, and values into their daily practice. Give them a moment to boast about what makes them the best possible candidate.
Make sure to thank the nurse for sharing their experiences and for taking time to consider your facility for their next career move.
Deliver the Perfect Match With a Trusted Nursing Partner
Whether you’re applying for a position or interviewing candidates, it’s important to familiarize yourself with common labor and delivery nurse interview questions. Here at IntelyCare, we can help you develop or join an incredible network of nurses. Partner with us to help find the nursing professionalism you’re looking for.
