General Practice Nursing Interview Questions

Whether it’s your first time, or you’ve done it before, Debbie is here with some tips for acing your GP Nursing interview.

Topics Covered In This Article

Introduction

Share Your Experiences

Highlight Your Specialities

Know The Practice

Be Open About Your Expectations

Questions You May Want To Ask

Conclusion

Introduction

Hello, my name is Debbie and I'm a Practice Nurse in London.

Today I'm going to be sharing a few interview tips for anyone who wants to go into Practice Nursing and how I personally answered some of these questions.

Share Your Experiences

So one of the first questions I was asked was "why Practice Nursing?"

How I answered this was sharing my experience within a GP Practice setting and what I saw and what I enjoyed about it.

So for example, I enjoyed continuity of care.

I liked the fact that when patients came in, they were very familiar with their health care professionals.

Another thing I enjoyed was being able to see all ages from teenager to babies, to elderly care, just the range of it.

Now, what was important is that I shared the fact that I had experiences with these age ranges before.

So I've worked in a Nursery so I shared that experience and I've also worked in Nursing homes, domiciliary care, so I shared that experience as well to show that I have various range of experience with these age groups.

Now, don't be afraid to share the fact that you enjoy the working hours of a Practice Nurse.

Not everybody is built for the 12-hour shifts on the ward.

And if you enjoy the fact that it's Monday to Friday, most Practices with sociable hours, then share the fact that you enjoy this as well.

You must also share the fact that you have a passion for primary care.

There are various conditions that are cared for within the primary care setting, such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, sexual health, and much more.

Highlight Your Specialities

Share the fact that you have a passion for any one of these specialties.

For example, I have a passion for diabetes and during the interview, I shared the fact that I did a poster and a project on type two diabetes and its management in the South Asian community.

Another question that I was asked is "what skills do I have that will be beneficial in primary care?"

Now, as I've said before, do not despise the skills that you've learned in the ward. These are skills like taking blood pressure readings, being able to tell when a patient is deteriorating, doing IM injections, complex wound dressings, working with people from all ages, or so many skills that are learned that we can transfer into primary care.

Know The Practice

You might also be asked, "why do you want to work for us?"

It's important to know the Practice's ethos, what they stand for and the various clinics that they run.

So for example, in my Practice, they have special diabetes clinics, they have special family planning clinics, and if there's any clinic that you've seen online that is interesting to you, hone in on this and explain to them why this has attracted you.

Be Open About Your Expectations

Another question that I was asked, which in many interviews, sometimes isn't always brought up, is salary expectation.

Now, unlike working within a hospital setting the salary within the GP Practice is very much dependent on the Practice.

They don't follow the banding system as they would in the hospital, they're run like a business.

I would say, be very honest with the salary expectations that you have, and you can negotiate the salary.

With the skills and experiences you have, you can use that as leverage to negotiate a better salary for yourself.

However, do not allow the salary to put you off and remember the goals that you have and work your way up with the various skills that you learn on the job.

Questions You May Want To Ask

Now, here are some questions you might want to ask your interviewer.

Number one, does your role involve working within a PCN?

Now PCN stands for Primary Care Network.

This consists of a group of Practices within the community coming together to improve quality of care.

Sometimes Practice Nurses are required to work within different Practices within their community, so it's important to ask whether your role will be a stationary role in just one Practice or you'll be moving around various roles during the week.

Be sure to ask for the career prospects within your role and what will be expected of you in the next few months or few years to come.

Ask if there are any progressive roles such as diabetes Nurse specialist, asthma specialist, or even whether the prescriber course is available to you.

And another important question is what are the training opportunities?

It's important to know that this Practice that you want to work for are going to support you in training and learning the various skills such as SMIs, diabetes reviews, asthma reviews, baby immunizations, travel clinic vaccinations, all these various skills that you're going to need to learn.

It's important to know whether your Practice will be supporting you in growing in these areas.

Conclusion

The most important tips I can give for any interview within a GP setting is to be honest, be unique, be yourself, and know your CV and experiences.

I hope this helps.