Patient Care Technician interview questions and answers

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Patient Care Technician Interview Questions

Patient care technicians (PCT) work in hospitals or healthcare facilities where they perform basic nursing tasks and help patients with their everyday needs. Their duties may sometimes differ depending on the department they work in (e.g. ICU vs ER).

Candidates should be graduates from accredited training programs relevant to the position (e.g. dialysis) and certified in CPR. If you’re hiring for a PCT I and intend to invest in coaching, you can look for recent graduates who can bring forth a lot of motivation and enthusiasm. If hiring for a PCT II, who’ll undertake more complex clinical tasks, experience and appropriate training is vital.

In the healthcare setting, there’s an abundance of both routine tasks and unforeseen incidents. While role specific questions will help you verify the candidate’s qualifications, situational and behavioral questions will help you discover important skills such as patience, positive attitude, reliability and ability to stay calm during emergencies.

Operational and Situational questions

• Imagine that one of the patients is rude and uncooperative. How would you handle this?
• If a PCT of the next shift called in sick when you’re about to leave, what would you do?
• What would you do differently when caring for different age groups?

Role-specific questions

• What are the vital signs?
• How often should you monitor vital signs? How would you know if there’s something wrong?
• What tools and equipment should a PCT know how to use?
• The PCT’s work is often demanding. How do you stay motivated?

PCT II

• How would you go about performing an EKG test?
• What’s your experience preparing patients for surgery?
• Have you used any software as part of your job?
• What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in the past as PCT?
• Are you trained in phlebotomy/dialysis?

Behavioral questions

• Tell me about a time you discovered a safety hazard in your job. What did you do?
• Recall a time when you had to take care of a difficult patient. How did you manage?
• Have you ever received orders from nurse you didn’t agree with? What did you do?
• Describe a time when one of your patient’s condition suddenly took a turn for the worse. What did you do? Where you emotionally involved?
• Give me an example of a time you educated a patient in a health or safety matter