7 Key Surgical Nurse Interview Questions to Ask

Surgical nurses provide essential patient support throughout the perioperative continuum — meaning, before, during, and after surgery. Because invasive procedures risk complications (like postoperative infections), these specialty nurses must have the clinical expertise and skillset necessary to ensure patient safety. The right surgical nurse interview questions can help identify candidates who possess the skills and knowledge to safely deliver the highest quality patient care within this specialty setting.

Asking position-specific interview questions for surgical nurses may be a key strategy to better hiring outcomes, but it’s not the only one. You can further enhance your chances of selecting the best fit by weighing market insights from current openings in addition to recruiting top talent with a well-crafted surgical nurse job description. Combined with the candidate evaluation form below, these hiring resources can help you to complete your surgical team, supporting long-term staffing wellness and productivity.

7 Key Surgical Nurse Interview Questions and Answers

The targeted questions below are designed to help you identify the strongest surgical nursing candidates. These specialty nurses drive better patient outcomes across the perioperative continuum (including the preoperative, intra-operative, and postoperative stages).

By using these specific questions (vs. say, medical-surgical nursing interview questions and answers), your hiring strategy can target candidates who are well-positioned to overcome the unique day-to-day challenges within this particular space while delivering optimal surgical patient care.

1. What motivated you to pursue nursing within the surgical setting?

Allow candidates to ease into the interview process by opening your surgical nurse interview questions with an opportunity to focus on professional strengths and ambition. This approach can help you to evaluate their passion for surgical patient care while fostering confidence and trust, encouraging more authentic responses across the remainder of the interview.

What to listen for:

• Genuine passion for practicing within this nursing specialty
• Dedication to learning more about surgical care through ongoing education (like journal subscriptions) or professional development

Potential follow-up questions:

• Was there a particular experience that drove you to choose this specialty?
• Do you have any professional certifications, and are you open to becoming CNAMB certified while in this role?

2. Do you have a preferred phase of perioperative care?

Many surgical nurses have a preferred operative stage, whether it’s preop nursing or postoperative recovery care. Depending on where your facility experiences the highest vacancies, this question can help determine whether a candidate’s preferences align with organizational needs. It’s also a good opportunity to evaluate their expertise across the perioperative continuum.

What to listen for:

• Experiences and comfort practicing within each perioperative stage
• Recognition of personal limitations and eagerness to strengthen clinical weaknesses

Potential follow-up questions:

• Is there a perioperative stage that you’re unwilling to work within? Why?
• How do you feel about floating across pre-op, intra-op, and post-operative care services as needed?

3. Explain the surgical nursing role within the multidisciplinary team and how it contributes to patient safety.

Safe, effective surgical care relies on the coordinated efforts of a multidisciplinary team. Within intraoperative spaces, this teamwork is highly visible, embedded within the daily workflow experience, and requires clear, efficient communication skills. Surgical ward interview questions and answers must therefore assess a candidate’s ability to commit to this high level of team-based care.

What to listen for:

• Clarity around the expectations and responsibilities of the surgical nursing role
• Appreciation for the value of interprofessional collaboration and how it contributes to better patient outcomes.

Potential follow-up questions:

• Can you tell me the value of surgical time out to team-based care, and how your role contributes to these events?
• What’s the significance of documentation within your responsibilities? Which charting tasks are your top priorities across each perioperative stage?

4. Which practices do you follow to help prevent surgical site infections?

Due to the inherent risk for infection within any invasive procedure, surgical nurse interview questions must touch on the responsibility to prevent these risk-laden complications. Answers should establish the candidate’s commitment to promoting better patient outcomes while also broadening the discussion to include the necessity of patient engagement and education.

What to listen for:

• Familiarity with protocols implemented to reduce the risk of postoperative complications
• Respect for the necessity of good patient education (like perisurgical smoking cessation and wound care adherence) to prevent surgical site infections

Potential follow-up questions:

• How do you stick to protocol or prioritize safety steps during an especially complicated or fast-paced procedure?
• What would you do if you were worried about a patient’s ability to take proper care of their surgical site after the procedure?

5. Walk me through your follow-up actions if you were to notice a break in the sterile field during a procedure.

Intraoperative (and procedural) spaces can become hectic due to the number of team members and the complexity of some interventions. Mistakes like a break in sterility happen. How staff members respond and correct the situation is the real test of quality surgical patient care. Use this question to gauge your candidate’s confidence and commitment to speaking up on behalf of patient safety.

What to listen for:

• A willingness to voice concerns, even in the face of possible power differentials (between a surgical nurse and physician, for example)
• Specific communication tools (like ARCC) to help balance assertiveness with professionalism

Potential follow-up questions:

• Can you tell me why good communication is so essential to positive patient outcomes in the surgical setting?
• Has speaking up about a safety issue ever led to a disagreement with another coworker? How did you resolve the dispute?

6. How do you engage your surgical patients and their families to ensure positive outcomes before, during, and after the surgery?

Better patient engagement results in improvements across outcomes, satisfaction surveys, and treatment adherence. Given the sometimes lengthy recovery period and the high level of vulnerability often associated with undergoing surgical care, positive patient interactions and results often depend on beneficial engagement strategies. Interview questions for surgical nurses should determine whether they’re ready to provide this level of outreach and support.

What to listen for:

• Strategies for assessing and tailoring care to meet individual patient needs
• A desire to include patients in their own treatment care plans, with especial emphasis on the value of patient education

Potential follow-up questions:

• Tell me how you’d approach getting informed consent from a patient who didn’t speak fluent English.
• Have you ever struggled to engage a patient in their treatment plan? How did you change your approach to promote understanding and participation?

7. Tell me about an experience where you provided exceptional emotional support to a surgical patient or patient family.

Close your surgical nurse interview questions by returning to the positive tone you set at the beginning of the meeting. Inviting reflection on an experience they’re proud of increases the likelihood of a favorable candidate experience, reinforcing both professional relationships and your organization’s brand, regardless of hiring outcomes.

What to listen for:

• Meaningful reflection on what contributed to this therapeutic connection
• Preservation of patient privacy and HIPAA rules, despite the use of personal anecdotes and specific patient care experiences

Potential follow-up questions:

• What was unique about this particular patient connection, and how has it changed the way you practice going forward?
• How do you balance providing person-centered care alongside the requirements of the surgical treatment plan?

Match With Today’s Top Nursing Talent

Using these key surgical nurse interview questions can help you identify the best fit for your perioperative, multidisciplinary care team. For other hiring resources, check our facility guides and best practice recommendations to help save money, time, and recruitment stress.