Never work with children or animals?

This is the first time that I’ve started a pre-interview brief with “When the candidates are in the room, you need to keep the bouncy ball in your pocket please”.   But this is the first time I’ve been on an interview panel with a six year old and an eleven year old.  

Honestly, I’m not quite sure what to expect.   I just know this is the right thing.  These are the people who matter most in my world.   If we’re talking about stakeholders, these are the ones who really count.   These two remarkable children are regulars on the ward.  ‘Season ticket holders’,  ‘frequent fliers’, whatever you might call them,  they know the ins and outs of the service and they know the best kind of person to make things right for them when they come in.   We’ll call them Star Wars and Arsenal,  after their respective passions. 

Our fabulous play specialists have helped them to prepare for today.   They’ve spent time thinking about what makes a good nurse and what is important to them.  They understand that they are part of something important and that this is a responsible job.   I had never seen them looking as smart as when they arrived today.  They are clearly taking this seriously.   Nevertheless, the 6 year old’s Arsenal shirt has stayed on!

We have agreed that the children will stay in the room for their questions and then go out for the remainder of the interview.   As the first candidate comes in, we introduce ourselves and I explain the format of the interview.   The knew they were being interviewed by young people as part of the panel today but I can see its an added pressure.

Star Wars, my 11 year old panellist, asks “why do you think its important to keep me informed and how will you do that?”.   He listens to the answer and I nod to let him know to ask his next question: “How will you keep me entertained on the ward?”.   He listens attentively to the answers and passes over to his brother, who has dutifully resisted all temptation to get the bouncy ball out of his pocket.   “I don’t like having the needle in my portacath.   How can you make that better?”.

My colleagues and I listen to each of the candidates in turn, watching how they interact with the children.   Can they listen to them and really answer then questions?   Are they able to modify their approach for each one?   And, most importantly, what do Star Wars and Arsenal think of their answers?

My worry before the interview was that this would be a gimmick,  that I would be able to say we’d had patient representation on the interview panel but it wouldn’t have meant anything.   Yes, I’d had some other lower level niggles about whether the kids would find it too nerve-wracking or boring, or that the candidates would find it awkward,  but this concern about meaningfulness was key.  

I needn’t have worried.  

The ability of these two children to cut to the chase was truly phenomenal.   In that way that children have of really getting to the crux of the matter they gave great insight into how each candidates answers had made them feel.   This added a new dimension to our post-interview discussions and helped with the decision-making.   With their questions, they covered what we would broadly term ‘patient experience’.   They might call it ‘stuff that matters’.  Either way, a job well done, a remarkable experience for me,  and not a bouncy ball in sight.