7 Key STNA Interview Questions to Ask

As Ohio’s population quickly ages, demand for healthcare support will rise alongside the growth of this vulnerable, service-intensive patient population. That means facilities will increasingly need the support of skilled state tested nursing assistants (STNAs) to ensure they’re positioned to maintain quality and safety standards. Well-crafted STNA interview questions are one way to promote optimal hiring outcomes and build resilient, high-performing care teams.

By asking targeted interview questions for STNAs (Ohio’s equivalent of other states’ certified nursing assistants), you can better evaluate candidates and identify top talent. Pair these with our helpful follow-up prompts to gain deeper candidate insights. To further strengthen your recruiting efforts, consider customizing an STNA job description template to match your facility’s specific requirements in addition to reviewing current market trends.

Finally, keep your interviews on track with the STNA candidate evaluation form below. Together, these recruitment resources can boost your ability to build nursing support teams that deliver consistent, high-quality patient care.

7 Key STNA Interview Questions and Answers

STNAs spend most of their shifts at the bedside, serving as frontline representatives for your organization. The care that they provide will shape how patients and their families perceive your facility (whether it’s a hospital or a long-term care institution). This is why it’s essential that you ask well-rounded STNA interview questions that evaluate a candidate’s ability to provide compassionate, skill-based care.

1. What drove you to become trained as an STNA?

Opening with a more conversational question helps candidates to ease into the interview, establishing their confidence from the outset. This specific question is effective for evaluating personal motivations and professional values. Candidate answers can reveal whether their reasons for becoming an STNA align with your organization’s culture and care philosophy.

What to listen for:

• A passion for helping others and providing quality patient care
• Personal connections (or motivators) that reveal a deeper commitment to this line of work

Potential follow-up questions:

• How will working here specifically help you to fulfill your professional goals?
• Where do you see your career heading in the next five years?

2. How do you establish trust with the patients (or residents) in your care as an STNA?

Many common care tasks for STNAs involve helping patients at their most vulnerable (like bathing). A highly skilled STNA will not only recognize the value of a trusting relationship with patients or residents, but will also be diligent about honing the skills that deepen that trust.

What to listen for:

• Acknowledgment of a positive therapeutic relationship’s significance and value
• Good communication skills (or techniques) that lend toward easy, quick rapport with patients

Potential follow-up questions:

• When assisting patients with bathing or toileting, how do you protect their dignity?
• Have you ever struggled to develop a trusting therapeutic relationship with a patient? How did you handle that situation?

3. Can you walk me through your follow-up steps if a patient’s presentation worries you?

Especially in residential environments, an STNA may spend more face-to-face time with patients than anyone else. So, they may be the first to notice a change in a patient’s condition. The best interview questions to ask STNAs evaluate whether an STNA knows the boundaries of their scope, the nursing chain of command, and how to escalate care when needed.

What to listen for:

• Full comprehension of their STNA scope of practice
• A concept of the nursing hierarchy and how to engage the proper help for escalating patient care

Potential follow-up questions:

• Why do you believe communication is so important to effective teamwork and safer patient care?
• If a nurse asked you to do something outside of your scope, how would you respond?

4. If a patient became resistant to care or combative, how would you handle that situation?

STNAs work across a spectrum of environments and will likely encounter difficult situations to include rejected care or a patient’s growing agitation. Therefore, STNA interview questions should evaluate a candidate’s ability to use practical problem-solving while maintaining a calm, professional demeanor during these day-to-day challenges.

What to listen for:

• Experience with de-escalating tense situations
• Familiarity with conflict resolution techniques that encourage patient engagement in a respectful, productive manner

Potential follow-up questions:

• If tensions continued to rise, who would you turn to for help?
• Say the conflict was actually with another staff member. How would you resolve that dispute?

5. What helps you stay on top of patient care tasks amid a stressful shift?

Nursing support work is often very busy. It involves assisting with activities of daily living and completing additional duties like point of care (POC) testing. A lot of times, patient needs (such as an impromptu toileting trip) can disrupt the most carefully laid plan. Use this question to determine how a candidate manages heavy assignments and responds to disrupted workflows.

What to listen for:

• Awareness of the multitasking demands of STNA work
• Time management skills and resources (like something akin to the nursing brain sheet)

Potential follow-up questions:

• How do you prioritize among your STNA duties?
• What would you do if you disagreed with a nurse-directed priority?

6. Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond for a patient.

Now that you’ve asked about experiences that were difficult for the STNA, it’s time to give them the opportunity to speak to their strengths, highlighting moments where they shone within their field. This provides an additional chance to also review their work ethos and to evaluate what they consider exceptional service.

What to listen for:

• Maintenance of patient privacy and HIPAA rules amid personal anecdotes
• Eagerness to provide this level of care and compassionate service to all patients

Potential follow-up questions:

• What were you most proud of in that instance of excellent patient care?
• How has that situation changed the way you approach your job or developmental goals going forward?

7. Nursing assistants are at high risk for burnout, how do you protect your wellbeing while working?

Patient care assistants suffer from burnout at alarming rates, and it’s important that your employees are engaging in the self-care necessary to protect themselves. This will not only prompt the conversations that safeguard retention, but also sets the foundations for a healthy workplace.

What to listen for:

• Understanding regarding the necessity for self-care
• Boundaries and rituals for protecting work-life balance and post shift recovery

Potential follow-up questions:

• Do you have any specific stress first aid tools (like meditation) that help you?
• What would you do if you noticed a fellow STNA exhibiting signs of stress or burnout?

Need Help Building Your Ideal Care Team?

Now that you’re equipped with some key STNA interview questions, you may be looking for candidates to interview. Use our industry-leading job board as your hub for healthcare talent and start connecting with some of the nation’s best nursing support personnel today.