Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN / LVN) Screening Interview Template

Tell me about your nursing experience. What settings have you worked in (skilled nursing, long-term care, assisted living, memory care, hospital, clinic, home health), what was the acuity of your patients, and roughly how many did you carry on a typical shift?

What this assesses: Establishes whether the candidate has nursed at the acuity and load the role requires, since an LPN running a 30-resident med pass in a skilled nursing facility and one supporting a low-volume clinic are doing different jobs. Strong answers name the settings, give a real patient-load number, and describe the acuity (total-care residents, dementia, wound and IV patients, post-acute rehab); be cautious with a candidate who only says they 'worked in nursing,' cannot put a number on their load, or has only clinic experience and assumes a long-term-care floor at full census is the same work.

Is your LPN or LVN license active and in good standing, and in which state? Are you licensed in a compact state or will you need to endorse into ours? Walk me through what falls inside your scope of practice and what has to go to an RN or provider, and do you hold IV certification?

What this assesses: Confirms the credential and scope that gate the whole role, since an expired or out-of-state license, or an LPN who does not know their own scope, is a nonstarter and a liability. Strong answers state an active license, the state and compact status, a clear line on what they can and cannot do without RN or provider oversight, and whether they are IV-certified where the role needs it; be cautious with a candidate who is vague about license status or renewal date, unsure whether they can practice in your state, or fuzzy on scope, which shows up fast at the med cart or when a delegation question lands.

Walk me through how you run a med pass for a full assignment. How do you keep it accurate and on time, work the MAR, handle a resident who refuses or a hold parameter, and what do you do when you catch a medication error, whether it is yours or someone else's?

What this assesses: Tests the single highest-risk, highest-frequency task an LPN owns in long-term care. Strong answers describe the rights of medication administration in practice, keeping the pass on schedule without cutting corners, documenting refusals and holds in the MAR, checking parameters before giving a rate-or-pressure-sensitive med, and reporting an error honestly and immediately rather than hiding it; be cautious with a candidate who is casual about timing or documentation, has no method for a large pass, or treats an error as something to quietly fix, which is exactly the culture that turns a near-miss into an incident.

Which hands-on clinical skills are you confident performing on your own? Think wound care and dressing changes, catheter insertion and care, tube feedings, injections and insulin, glucose checks, oxygen and nebulizers, and specimen collection. Where are you strong, and where would you want a refresher?

What this assesses: Maps the specific skills the role needs against what the candidate actually owns, since a facility with a heavy wound-care or IV load cannot afford to discover a gap after the offer. Strong answers give an honest, specific inventory, name the procedures they do routinely, and flag the ones they would want to recheck rather than overclaiming; be cautious with a candidate who says they can 'do everything' with no specifics, or who is thin on a skill the role depends on and does not acknowledge it. Self-awareness about a gap is a better signal than false confidence at the bedside.

Tell me about a time you noticed a resident's condition changing, whether it was a change in mental status, a fall, a drop in intake, a fever, or a wound that was not healing. What did you observe, what did you do, and when did you escalate to the RN, provider, or family?

What this assesses: Reveals clinical judgment and escalation instinct, which is the difference between catching a decline early and finding out at the hospital. Strong answers describe concrete observations, the immediate nursing actions they took inside their scope, clear vitals and documentation, and a real sense of when a change crosses the line into a call to the RN or provider; be cautious with a candidate who cannot produce an example, either escalates everything reflexively or waits too long, or describes noticing a change without acting on it, which points at thin bedside time or shaky judgment.

How do you handle charting and documentation? Which EMR systems have you used (PointClickCare, MatrixCare, or others), how do you keep notes accurate and timely across a busy shift, and how do you handle an incident report or a change-in-condition note?

What this assesses: Determines how quickly the candidate can be productive and whether their documentation will hold up, since a facility on PointClickCare does not want to lose a week teaching the system, and incomplete or late charting is both a compliance and a survey risk. Strong answers name the systems they have used, describe charting in real time rather than piling it up at the end of the shift, and treat an incident report as a factual, prompt account; be cautious with a candidate who cannot name an EMR, admits to charting from memory hours later, or is casual about documentation, which regulators and plaintiffs both read closely.

You work alongside CNAs and report to RNs. Tell me how you direct and support the aides on your unit, how you handle a resident or family member who is upset, and what you do when you disagree with an RN or provider about a resident's care.

What this assesses: Tests teamwork, delegation within scope, and the interpersonal judgment that decides whether a unit runs smoothly. Strong answers describe giving CNAs clear direction and backing them up, de-escalating an upset family member without getting defensive, and raising a care disagreement through the right channel with facts rather than either staying silent or going around the chain; be cautious with a candidate who talks down to aides, avoids hard conversations with families, or describes either blindly deferring or openly clashing with an RN, all of which show up as friction and turnover on the floor.

Long-term care runs around the clock, and one call-out puts extra residents on every remaining nurse. What is your availability, including nights, weekends, holidays, and doubles, are you comfortable with the possibility of mandation, how reliable is your transportation for a night shift, and what are your pay expectations?

What this assesses: Determines scheduling fit and reliability, the most common reason a qualified LPN falls through, since the shifts a facility most needs covered are exactly the ones candidates most often cannot or will not work. Strong answers give clear, specific availability, confirm they can work the nights, weekends, and holidays the role needs, are honest about how they feel about mandation, have dependable transportation for an overnight, and understand the pay band; be cautious with 'whatever you need,' which often collapses once a real weekend rotation, a holiday, or a mandated double lands. Confirm hard constraints like childcare, a second job, school, or a transportation gap here rather than after the offer.