7 Key Patient Transporter Interview Questions to Ask

Patient transporters perform the crucial function of safely and efficiently moving patients throughout a healthcare facility, or from one service location to another. If you’re building your facility’s transport team, asking thoughtful patient transporter interview questions is essential for narrowing your candidate pool and ultimately hiring the right person for the job.

Those who apply for the position may not have experience in healthcare, since this is an entry-level role. We’ll share seven interview questions, along with helpful ways to adjust them for candidates without patient-facing experience. Our questions dig into the candidate’s attitude toward safety, communication, and teamwork — all vital components of delivering excellent patient care.

If you’re hiring for other positions at your facility, take advantage of our collection of interview questions that are tailored to specific healthcare roles. Before you sit down with potential hires, download our printable patient transport candidate evaluation form so that you’re prepared to take notes.

7 Essential Patient Transport Interview Questions

Staffing your facility with skilled, collaborative, compassionate individuals is fundamental to the delivery of high-quality care. Each member of the healthcare team — from cleaning staff to physicians — contributes to patient outcomes, and patient transporters are no exception. They interact directly with patients, mitigate safety hazards, and even provide infection control measures.

Transporter job duties may vary slightly from one organization to the next. It’s a good idea to review your facility’s patient transporter job description to get a clear understanding of the responsibilities this individual will be expected to carry out. The following patient transporter interview questions (and answers to look for) will help you select a candidate who will best contribute to positive patient outcomes at your facility.

1. What motivated you to apply for the patient transport position at our facility?

Begin the interview with a question that allows your candidate to warm up to the conversation. Rather than asking them about their interest in the role of transporting patients in general, this question gets at their motivation for joining the team at your facility. Is there something about your organization’s values and culture that resonates? How much do they know about the patient population you serve?

What to listen for:

• Awareness of your facility’s mission, values, and patient population
• An understanding of the role of a patient transporter on the healthcare team

Potential follow-up questions:

• Why are you interested in working in healthcare?
• How does this transporter position relate to your long-term career goals?

2. What experience do you have assisting individuals who have mobility challenges?

The individual you hire will likely need to receive on-the-job training regarding the specific assistive devices you use at your facility. However, candidates with experience helping those with limited mobility might catch on faster or be more skilled on the job. This question will build on knowledge you’ve gathered from the candidate’s resume, and may reveal valuable personal experiences as well as professional ones.

What to listen for:

• Experience helping individuals with mobility issues
• Willingness to learn techniques, strategies, and best practices for safely assisting patients with transfers (for example, from a bed to a wheelchair)

Potential follow-up questions:

• What patient population do you most enjoy working with?
• What is a technique you’ve used in the past to ensure safety when moving a patient?

3. Tell me about a time when you faced a communication barrier with an elderly individual. What steps did you take to overcome it, and what was the result?

Conveying instructions and guidance to elderly patients is a challenge that your patient transport team members will face again and again. Whether it’s asking a geriatric patient with hearing loss if they can transfer to a wheelchair or trying to comfort an octogenarian who has dementia, common principles apply. Your transporter should approach situations with compassion and patience above all else.

It’s crucial to gain an understanding of how your candidate will act in a variety of patient care situations. If you pick up on indications of anger, impatience, impulsivity, or aggression, it may be warning signs of a bad hire. Because safety is so important, this and other patient transport interview questions (and answers to listen for) touch on a range of potential interactions.

What to listen for:

• Ability to maintain composure and a positive, professional attitude when overcoming communication barriers with elderly patients
• Strong communication skills

Potential follow-up questions:

• What are some extra steps you could take to ensure the comfort of elderly patients during a transport?
• How do you communicate with other members of the healthcare team to learn about the health conditions that are relevant to your transport task?

4. How would you prioritize tasks if a member of the healthcare team asked for your help while you were in the middle of an assigned transport?

The movement of patients and equipment around the hospital is crucial for efficient workflows. Due to the unpredictable nature of healthcare services, it can be challenging to optimize this process. Your transporters may have to deal with bursts of transfers happening at once, delays in patient pickups, changing procedure schedules, and many other factors influencing their work. It’s important they’re team players and have a firm understanding of priorities.

What to listen for:

• An understanding that patient safety comes first when prioritizing tasks
• A helpful and cooperative attitude

Potential follow-up questions:

• What is your understanding of the chain of command at a hospital?
• Can you tell me about a time you had to ask your supervisor for direction when you were faced with uncertainty about your work tasks?

5. How do you communicate with patients who are anxious or upset?

While physical endurance and strength are important for the transporter role, they’re not the only qualities necessary. In addition to the ability to lift weight and walk several miles per shift, your transport team members need to have emotional intelligence to contribute to a positive experience for the patient.

If your interviewee doesn’t have experience with direct patient care, you can adjust this patient transporter interview question to focus on communication with customers, clients, or simply people in general.

What to listen for:

• Ability to address patients with empathy, understanding, and respect
• An understanding of patient’s need for emotional support during transfers
• Awareness of conflict de-escalation techniques

Potential follow-up questions:

• A patient you’re transferring in his bed becomes upset when you’re in the elevator with him and tries to pull out his IV. What do you do?
• How do you involve a patient’s support network, such as family members, when you discuss your next steps with a patient?

6. Describe a time when workplace equipment you were expected to use was broken, soiled, or out of service. What was the outcome?

Healthcare staff relies on many different types of equipment, from bariatric lifts to oxygen canisters to stretchers. Transporters should understand the importance of reporting faulty and suspect equipment. Though your candidate may not know the exact steps to take according to your facility’s policies, their attitude about broken and unclean equipment will give you helpful information about how they may handle these situations if hired.

If you’re hiring for a position that involves driving patients, it’s also important to ask about the candidate’s skills and experience related to vehicle operation. Non-emergency medical transportation interview questions should be tailored to routine driving duties, such as performing vehicle maintenance checks.

What to listen for:

• Detail-oriented approach to checking and cleaning equipment before using it
• Understanding about the safety implications of using faulty and damaged equipment

Potential follow-up questions:

• Tell me about a time when you had to adapt your strategy for moving a patient because of equipment malfunction.
• You notice that a wheelchair is set aside in an alcove that’s not usually used for storage. What steps would you take before putting it back in service?

7. What are the top three qualities you would bring to our facility’s patient transporter team?

Conclude your interview by giving the candidate a chance to share their biggest strengths. This is a great way to learn more about their character and the qualities they hope to bring to your organization.

What to listen for:

• Attributes consistent with the delivery of excellent patient care, such as empathy, attention to detail, kindness, honesty, and reliability
• Qualities that align with your facility’s values

Potential follow-up questions:

• What has been the greatest achievement of your career in healthcare (or customer service)?
• Why would you be a good fit for this role?

Connect With Qualified Support Staff Today

Preparing a list of patient transporter interview questions is only one step in building your healthcare team, and finding qualified workers can be challenging. Need some support? Post your open positions to our nationwide healthcare job board to quickly and easily reach qualified care providers looking for their next great gig.