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In this guide
A nursing selection-criteria response needs to show what you did, how you exercised judgement and where your responsibility began and ended. “I provide patient-centred care” is a starting claim. The useful detail is how you listened, checked information, involved the right person and followed the matter through.
Below are two complete fictional answers: one from an experienced registered nurse and one from a student on placement. They demonstrate application writing, not treatment instructions. Use your own experience and the exact criteria and limits in your advertisement.
Start with the criterion and your level of practice
NSW Health’s application guidance asks applicants to support their responses with examples. Read every part of the criterion before choosing yours. A question about both written and verbal communication needs evidence of both; a teamwork question may also ask how you dealt with disagreement.
The NMBA registered nurse standards for practice provide useful professional context, including communication, documentation and collaborative practice. They do not replace the requirements of the vacancy. Explain your own scope accurately, especially when describing work completed under supervision.
For qualifications or registration, state the relevant facts and provide the evidence requested. You do not need to turn a straightforward eligibility requirement into a STAR story. For broader guidance across clinical and non-clinical roles, see our NSW Health selection-criteria guide.
Registered nurse example: communication and coordination
Original practice criterion: Describe how you communicate with a person receiving care and work with colleagues to resolve conflicting information.
Fictional teaching example. This is an original scenario, not a client application or an official model answer.
While working as a registered nurse on a rehabilitation ward, I supported a patient who was anxious about the arrangements for returning home. The patient described one follow-up arrangement, while an older information sheet beside the bed showed another. I was responsible for clarifying the information relevant to my care and coordinating with the team before reinforcing the discharge advice.
I asked the patient to explain what they understood and which part concerned them most. With their agreement, I included the family member they wanted involved. I checked the current documented plan and contacted the discharge coordinator to clarify the appointment arrangements. I also asked the relevant treating team member to confirm the instructions that were outside my responsibility, rather than trying to resolve those from the old sheet.
Once the team had confirmed the plan, I explained the arrangements in plain language and invited the patient to describe the next steps back to me. That conversation showed they were still unsure who would contact them about one appointment. I returned to the coordinator, obtained that clarification and made sure the patient had the appropriate contact information.
I documented the discussion and the outstanding action using our local process, then highlighted it at handover. The patient could explain the confirmed arrangements, and the incoming nurse knew what still required follow-up. My contribution was to identify the conflicting information, obtain clarification from the responsible people and close the communication gaps without making promises on another team’s behalf.
Why this works: The answer shows listening, verification, coordination, written documentation and a usable handover. It gives an observable outcome without claiming that the applicant independently determined the discharge plan or prevented a medical complication. The limits of the nurse’s responsibility are part of the evidence.
Adapt it: Choose a real occasion when communication affected what someone understood or what the team needed to do next. Explain what was unclear, which information you checked, who could confirm it and how you established that the clarification had reached the right people. Keep patient details deidentified.
Student or graduate example: teamwork under supervision
Original practice criterion: Give an example of recognising a gap in your knowledge and working with others to complete an activity appropriately.
Fictional teaching example. The supervision described is part of the scenario and should not be removed when using it to understand the structure.
During a supervised nursing placement, I was asked to help prepare information for a patient’s planned transfer to another ward. I noticed that one of the documents referred to an earlier version of the transfer arrangements. I understood the importance of accurate information, but I was unfamiliar with the local process for confirming and updating those details.
I showed the discrepancy to my supervising registered nurse and explained exactly what I had found. I asked which information source we should use and which parts of the preparation I could complete. The nurse checked the arrangements with the receiving ward and confirmed what needed updating. I did not change the clinical plan or make assumptions about the transfer timing.
Under supervision, I checked the administrative details on the documents I had been allocated and identified the material that needed replacing. I read back the corrected details to my supervisor and asked them to review the preparation before it was used. I also told the colleague helping with the transfer which version had been confirmed, so we were working from the same information.
The documents were checked before the transfer proceeded. At the end of the shift, I discussed the incident with my supervisor and wrote a deidentified reflection on when to stop and ask for clarification. In later placement activities, I checked the relevant information source at the beginning instead of waiting until I found conflicting paperwork. The experience strengthened my habit of making uncertainty visible and using supervision constructively.
Why this works: The student notices a specific problem, asks a focused question and completes an allocated task with review. The supervising nurse retains the decisions described. The learning is visible in a later change to the student’s approach, rather than a broad claim of becoming more confident.
Adapt it: Be precise about what you observed, what you were authorised to do and who reviewed your work. A placement example can demonstrate learning and teamwork; it does not establish independent practice you have not undertaken. For GradStart, check the separate current application criteria and document requirements.
If the question asks about quality improvement
Choose an improvement you contributed to and can explain accurately. You might have identified inconsistent orientation information, helped review a handover resource or collected information for an agreed audit. State what you found, the action you proposed or completed, who approved it and what happened after the change.
Keep the result within your evidence. If a revised resource was trialled, say that it was trialled. If you did not measure an effect on patient outcomes, do not claim one. A clear account of a small, completed contribution is more useful than taking credit for a whole ward’s performance.
Check your answers before submitting
- Have you answered every part of the criterion, including any reference to written communication, evaluation or learning?
- Is your own contribution clear, with supervision and other people’s decisions identified?
- Can you support the outcome, without invented percentages or patient details?
- Have you used the advertisement’s limit and removed details that do not help answer the question?
You can reuse an experience where it genuinely fits another criterion, but the answer still needs to address that criterion directly. For help developing the detail, read our written STAR examples. Avoid copying the wording of these fictional answers into your application.
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