Top 7 Travel Nurse Interview Questions to Ask

Keeping a nursing unit fully staffed can seem like an impossible task. Whether core staff is retiring, burning out, or leaving to continue their education, your unit may feel like a revolving door. In this article, we’ll provide you with focused travel nurse interview questions to ask so you can get the help you need fast.

Getting the right, most-qualified candidates to interview starts with creating a well-written travel nurse job description to draw them in. Referencing our travel nurse job board can help you determine a competitive salary and benefits package to offer your candidates as well as ways to position your facility against others.

After compiling your research, it’s time to start crafting your questions for travel nurse interviews. Here, we’ll give you seven of our favorite examples, with follow-up response ideas and tips. You can download the following candidate evaluation form to keep track of your travel nurse candidates throughout the hiring process.

Why Hire Travel Nurses?

A travel nurse is a short-term contract worker hired for urgent staffing needs. Their contracts are typically 13 weeks long, give or take. This allows the unit to be fully staffed during the time it takes to train new staff nurses. Managers may also hire travelers for anticipated needs like:

• Staff leaves of absence.
• Busy periods, such as respiratory disease season.
• Technology upgrades, such as an electronic health record (EHR) conversion.

To hire a travel nurse, you may consider working with a third party such as a staffing agency. They vet candidates with their own nursing agency interview questions, usually confirming a nurses’ credentials, certifications, and experience before recommending them to a job.

What Is a Travel Nurse Interview Like?

Whether you’ve captured a candidate’s interest through an intriguing job description or with the help of an agency, the next step is an interview. This is a crucial opportunity to gauge the applicant’s temperament and readiness for the role.

Since you could potentially hire a nurse from thousands of miles away, the interview will most likely take place over the phone or virtual meeting space. Reserve an hour to conduct the interview and account for the time needed for additional conversations, such as a peer interview.

Most candidates go through some sort of pre-screening process before speaking to a facility manager. As a hiring manager, the interview is your chance to get a better sense of the nurse’s clinical skills and whether they align with the role. Asking strategic clinical nurse interview questions will help you make this determination.

7 Travel Nurse Interview Questions and Answers

During a travel nurse interview, you’ll want to determine whether a nurse has the clinical and non-clinical skills necessary to join your team. After a brief orientation (typically three days), the nurse should be equipped to:

• Navigate a new city, facility, and unit.
• Collaborate with a team of care providers.
• Take care of any patient on the unit (and other units, if floating is expected).

Here are seven travel nursing interview questions to ask that can help you determine whether the candidate is the right fit.

1. How has your previous nursing experience prepared you for this role?

The nurse’s response to this question should reveal how long they’ve been a nurse and the diversity of their experiences. Travel nurse interview questions like this one are important because there’s typically little time for on-the-job travel nurse training. Unlike staff nurses, whose training periods range anywhere from three to six months, travelers get just a few days to orient with a preceptor.

What to listen for:

• Personal or professional experience that aligns with your need
• A range of different clinical experiences, which often boosts adaptability and confidence

Potential follow-up questions:

• How do you stay current with best practices and nursing guidance updates?
• Is there a skill you’re looking to gain or hone from this particular assignment?

2. How have you handled being overwhelmed by compounding requests in past nursing assignments?

In a busy healthcare setting, nurses may be pulled in many directions at once. Interview questions for travel nurses that assess their coping mechanisms and time management skills can answer whether the candidate is able to handle the demands of a fast-paced healthcare setting.

What to listen for:

• Critical thinking around care prioritization (referencing clinical indicators or acuity, for example)
• Willingness to incorporate soft skills like teamwork into their daily practice

Potential follow-up questions:

• How do you determine who to seek help from, given the brief training period and often quick initiation into work?
• Do you have any specific tools that help you with time management? How will they translate to this role?

3. Have you ever had to solve a clinical problem with little guidance? What was the outcome?

Travel nurse interview questions should challenge the candidate to demonstrate critical thinking, a nursing skill that comes with time and experience. You’ll want to know that the traveler is capable of thinking independently and using their resources wisely.

What to listen for:

• Specific examples that reflect the breadth of their clinical work environment experiences and situational awareness
• Reflective takeaways that show a willingness to learn and grow from past challenges

Potential follow-up questions:

• Which decisions and steps would you utilize again and which would you change if faced with a similar situation?
• How did that situation affect the way that you approach patient advocacy?

4. Tell me about a time when a coworker disagreed with your decision regarding a patient’s care. How did you respond?

Disagreement in the workplace is common — especially in a high pressure climate like healthcare. This travel nurse interview question provides insight into the candidate’s sense of teamwork and conflict management.

What to listen for:

• A respectful and professional tone when discussing peers, even during instances of conflict
• Openness to engaging with feedback and taking action on suggested improvements

Potential follow-up questions:

• Are there any specific strategies for conflict resolution that you’ve had success with in the past?
• Do you feel comfortable engaging if you disagree with another coworker’s decision or approach to care?

5. What would you do if you disagreed with your patient assignment?

While this question addresses conflict management, it’s also a chance for assessing patient safety standards. Sharing your facility’s standard nurse-to-patient ratios and what type of assignment to expect on a typical shift can help keep this question’s discussion on track.

What to listen for:

• Prioritization of patient safety over pride
• Familiarity with the concept of the nursing chain of command, and how to escalate an issue appropriately

Potential follow-up questions:

• Are you familiar with any safety tools, like the ARCC safety acronym? Was there a time when one of these tools helped prevent a medical error or safety incident?
• If you saw another coworker was struggling with their caseload, how would you respond or help?

6. Are there any barriers or obstacles that could affect the completion of your travel nursing contract?

Before investing in a travel nurse, you’ll want to ensure they can commit to the terms of the contract. Avoid confusion by being clear about scheduling expectations like shift and weekend requirements, contract start and end dates, and requested time off.

What to listen for:

• Awareness of contract details and requirements, and confidence with meeting them
• Familiarity with travel nursing challenges and how to overcome them — like the best ways to find housing for the temporary assignment

Potential follow-up questions:

• Are you open to floating if necessary?
• If you encountered a scheduling conflict mid-contract, what steps would you take to address the issue?

7. What is the best healthcare work environment you’ve experienced? What made it such a good experience?

Important questions to ask during travel nurse interviews should include positive experiences — especially at the end of an interview. Travelers see everything — from healthcare facilities with minimal resources to leading medical centers. Asking for experience highlights not only allows them to confidently reflect on their personal workplace standards, but also gives you feedback for what might drive nurse satisfaction.

What to listen for:

• Awareness of policy and practice standard variances among different states and facilities
• Willingness to integrate and promote unit culture and workplace comradery

Potential follow-up questions:

• What attracts you to working for this organization?
• How can your leadership best support you in this position and facilitate a smooth onboarding and working experience?

Find Nurses to Fill Your Critical Staffing Shortages

Asking the right travel nurse interview questions can help you choose a qualified candidate. Yet, the hardest part often comes down to finding the right candidates to interview. That’s where IntelyCare can help. Connect with millions of nursing professionals and get your vacancy quickly filled by posting your position on our nationwide nursing job board.

IntelyCare writer Alexa Davidson, MSN, RN, contributed to the research and writing of this article.