40 Questions to Ask a Potential Nurse or Other Caregiver

Many of our children require home nursing or care from another type of caregiver, such as a home health aide, certified nursing aide, or personal care attendant. It can be overwhelming to find and interview someone to take care of your most precious possession, your child, especially when that child has medical needs.

To help you out, we’ve compiled 40 of the best questions to ask a potential caregiver. We hope they help.

20 General Questions

  1. nurseHave you ever worked in a home care situation before?
  2. Why are you interested in this position?
  3. How long have you been with this nursing/staffing agency?
  4. Have you ever worked with children before?
  5. Why did you become a nurse/CNA/PCA?
  6. What is your educational background?
  7. What days and times would you be available to work?
  8. Where do you see yourself in 1/5/10 years?
  9. Do you plan on working anywhere else in addition to this position?
  10. Do you have any of your own children?
  11. How long do you plan on working in this job?
  12. Do you have reliable transportation?
  13. How often do you typically need to miss work?
  14. Have you ever been disciplined, sanctioned, or lost your license?
  15. Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
  16. Are you willing to undergo fingerprinting and a background check?
  17. How long were you in your previous position and why did you leave?
  18. Would you consider yourself reliable?
  19. Would you consider yourself organized?
  20. Are you able to lift a child who weighs [insert weight] pounds?

10 Experience Questions

  1. Are you trained in CPR, advanced pediatric life support, or other relevant rescue techniques?
  2. Have you been trained in first aid?
  3. Have you ever cared for a child with [insert your child’s medical condition]?
  4. Have you ever used [insert your child’s medical technology, such as ventilator, trach, feeding tube, oxygen, central line, etc.]?
  5. How do you learn about things such as medications, therapies, or technologies you may be unfamiliar with?
  6. How would you handle it if my child [insert emergency, such as stopped breathing, had a seizure, was accidentally decannulated]?
  7. Are you comfortable caring for my child without having a backup, such as a doctor/nurse, in the house?
  8. Do you feel comfortable in your ability to assess my child and make appropriate decisions about his/her care based on your assessment?
  9. Do you know how to take vital signs?
  10. Have you ever worked in a [insert setting appropriate to your child, such as school, hospital, hospice, or skilled nursing facility]?

10 Other Questions

  1. Do you feel comfortable working for a family in which the parent may know more about the child’s medical condition than you do?
  2. Are you able to alter your usual care practices to follow our standard routine and procedures, such as [insert situation here, such as following central line access protocol, follow therapy protocol]?
  3. How do you feel about caring for a child who may die?
  4. Do you feel comfortable interacting with a child who is [insert condition here, such as nonverbal, cognitively impaired, autistic]?
  5. Are you willing and able to accompany my child to [insert places here, such as the park, school, doctor appointment, etc.]?
  6. Are you willing to do laundry, clean medical equipment, or [insert other tasks] here?
  7. Are you comfortable working with bodily fluids, such as saliva, gastric output, stool, and urine?
  8. Are you willing to spend time researching and learning about my child’s condition and technology?
  9. Are you able to make fast and correct decisions in an emergency?
  10. How would you handle it if you made a mistake?
Author: Susan Agrawal • Date: 2/17/2012

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