Question 1

Which situation is an example of an unintentional tort?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Administering a medication that unintentionally causes harm constitutes negligence or malpractice — an unintentional tort. The other options involve deliberate actions or breaches of confidentiality, which are intentional torts.

Question 2

A nurse is performing a procedure on a patient without an informed image protocol. Identify which charges can be applied to the nurse?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Performing any procedure without the patient’s informed consent constitutes battery. If the patient did not consent, it may also be considered assault because it violates autonomy and bodily integrity. Breach of confidentiality concerns information privacy, and neglect of duty involves omission of care — neither applies here.

Question 3

The charge nurse witnesses the nursing assistant hitting the client in the long-term care facility. The nursing assistant can be charged with?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Hitting a client constitutes an intentional wrongful act (battery), which is an intentional tort. Negligence and malpractice involve unintentional harm, and assault is a threat without physical contact.

Question 4

The best definition of a tort is?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: A tort is a civil wrong such as negligence or assault, addressed in civil court rather than criminal law.

Question 5

Code of ethics of the nursing profession is prescribed by?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The nursing code of ethics defines professional conduct grounded in service, compassion, and respect for all individuals regardless of background. Providing care to individuals, families, and communities reflects the profession’s ethical duty to promote health without discrimination.

Question 6

If the client is female and the doctor is male, and the patient is about to undergo a vaginal and cervical examination, why is it necessary to have a female nurse in attendance?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The presence of a female nurse protects client dignity, prevents misunderstanding, and upholds ethical standards.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT part of the code of ethics for psychiatrists?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Professional ethics require that the patient's welfare and interests take precedence over the clinician's self-interest; therefore the statement that self-interest precedes the patient's interest is not part of the ethical code.

Question 8

The distribution of nurses to areas of “most need” in the time of a nursing shortage is an example of?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Justice refers to fairness in the distribution of resources. Allocating nurses to the areas of greatest need reflects distributive justice, ensuring equitable access to care during shortages.

Question 9

Which of the following takes priority in planning nursing care for a client?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Nursing care plans are individualized and prioritized based on the client’s assessed condition and needs; orders and policies guide care but do not supersede the client’s current status.

Question 10

Which action by a nurse would be considered an act of euthanasia?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Euthanasia includes acts or omissions intended to hasten death. Failing to intervene when aware a client is deliberately overmedicating facilitates death and constitutes euthanasia. Implementing a DNR, honoring advance directive processes, or assisting with power of attorney are patient-rights actions, not euthanasia.

Question 11

A client arrives in the emergency room and is staggering, confused, and verbally abusive. The client complains of a headache from drinking alcohol and is asking for medication. The nurse explains that the physician must assess before medication is given. When the client becomes abusive, the nurse obtains leather restraints and threatens to apply them. With which of the following can the client legally charge the nurse?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Threatening unwanted physical contact constitutes assault, even if restraints were not applied.

Question 12

The concept of 'the greatest good for the greatest number' is based on which theory?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The phrase “the greatest good for the greatest number” is the classic definition of utilitarianism, an ethical framework that bases decisions on maximizing overall benefit.

Question 13

The principle of fairness is known as?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: In healthcare ethics, the principle of justice refers to fairness in the distribution of benefits, risks, and resources and to treating similar cases similarly. It guides equitable access to care and unbiased decision-making. Autonomy concerns a patient’s right to self-determination, advocacy is the nurse acting on the client’s behalf, and accountability refers to being responsible for one’s actions.

Question 14

What bio-ethical principle is violated by a nurse if he provides his patient fraudulent information about his diagnosis and prognosis?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Providing fraudulent (false or misleading) information violates the ethical principle of veracity, which requires truthfulness in communication with patients. Honest disclosure is essential for trust and for patients to make informed choices about their care. While deceptive information can also undermine autonomy, the principle directly breached by lying is veracity.

Question 15

A nurse promises to return in 10 minutes with pain medication, and actually returns on time. This demonstrates which ethical principle?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Fidelity is the ethical principle of keeping promises and being faithful to one’s commitments to the client. Returning at the stated time after promising to do so demonstrates reliability and follow-through. Veracity refers to telling the truth, autonomy to respecting the client’s self-determination, and justice to fairness in distribution of care and resources.

Question 16

Nurse Blanca brought her patient to the chapel by wheelchair as promised after checking the blood pressure of another patient in the ward, is an example of what ethical principle?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Fidelity refers to keeping promises and being faithful to commitments made to the client. The nurse promised to take the patient to the chapel and followed through, demonstrating reliability and trustworthiness in the nurse–patient relationship. Veracity is truth-telling, justice is fairness/equitable treatment, and beneficence is acting for the patient’s good, but the key behavior described is keeping a promise.

Question 17

What would be the first response if the wrong medication was given?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Notify the MD The priority after a medication error is client safety—promptly assess the patient and notify the provider to obtain orders for monitoring and any needed treatment (e.g., antidote, labs, vital sign frequency). Completing an incident report and notifying a supervisor are important but do not address immediate clinical risk. Assisting the patient to vomit is unsafe and not a routine or appropriate first action because emesis may be contraindicated and can cause aspiration.

Question 18

A client is being treated for chest pain. Which of the following medication orders should the nurse question?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Ampicillin. For acute chest pain/angina management, expected medication orders commonly include antianginals (e.g., nitroglycerin) and may include agents that decrease myocardial oxygen demand (e.g., beta-blockers like propranolol) or certain calcium channel blockers (e.g., verapamil) depending on the clinical picture. Ampicillin is an antibiotic and is not a typical medication for treating chest pain unless there is a clear infectious indication, which is not provided in the stem. Because it appears unrelated to the presenting problem, the nurse should question this order and clarify the indication.

Question 19

A nurse can refuse to care for a patient based on personal beliefs?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: False Nurses have an ethical and professional duty to provide nonjudgmental care and cannot deny care solely due to personal beliefs, as this can constitute patient abandonment and discrimination. If a conflict exists (e.g., moral objection), the nurse should follow institutional policy to request reassignment in advance while ensuring uninterrupted, safe patient care. Emergency care and immediate patient safety needs must still be met until appropriate coverage is arranged. This supports client rights and the nurse’s legal-ethical responsibilities.

Question 20

A client who is 34 weeks pregnant is admitted to the labor and delivery unit in preterm labor. The physician orders indomethacin as a tocolytic agent. Which is the most appropriate nursing action regarding this medication order?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Indomethacin (an NSAID) used for tocolysis is generally avoided after about 32 weeks’ gestation because it can cause premature closure/constriction of the fetal ductus arteriosus and oligohydramnios from decreased fetal renal perfusion. At 34 weeks, this order raises a significant fetal safety concern, so the nurse should clarify the prescription rather than administer it. Checking maternal vital signs is not the key safety issue for this drug, and calcium gluconate is the reversal agent for magnesium sulfate toxicity, not indomethacin. The most appropriate action is to question the order to protect maternal-fetal safety.

Question 21

Which of the following is most commonly omitted in medical practice?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: A complete history is a foundational element of safe clinical decision-making and is frequently underperformed due to time constraints, poor communication, or inadequate documentation practices. Missing key history increases risk of misdiagnosis, inappropriate testing, and unsafe prescribing (e.g., allergies, comorbidities, current medications). By comparison, wrong prescriptions are considered overt errors rather than a routine omission, and confidentiality is typically a mandated standard with established institutional safeguards.

Question 22

Mrs. Jordan, RN, believes that a patient should be treated as an individual. This ethical principle that the patient referred to?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: This principle emphasizes acknowledging each patient’s inherent dignity, values, and uniqueness and providing individualized care without bias. Beneficence and nonmaleficence focus on doing good and avoiding harm, respectively, rather than individualization. Autonomy is specifically about supporting the patient’s right to make informed decisions, which is related but narrower than treating the person holistically as an individual.

Question 23

Which of the following ethical principles good to the client?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: The wording “good to the client” directly aligns with this principle, emphasizing actions intended to help the patient. By contrast, nonmaleficence focuses on avoiding harm rather than actively doing good, which is a different emphasis. Autonomy refers to respecting the patient’s right to make decisions, and justice concerns fairness in treatment and resource distribution, neither of which specifically means “doing good” for the client.

Question 24

If an ethical dilemma regarding care for Sarah arises, the solution to the dilemma requires negotiation among members of the healthcare team. Your point of view is about the healthcare?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason:  Ethical decision-making in client care is interprofessional, but nursing’s role is grounded in the nurse–client relationship and advocacy developed through continuous bedside presence and holistic assessment. That sustained relationship uniquely positions the nurse to identify value conflicts, elicit the client’s preferences, and bring client-centered information to team negotiations. Option A is inaccurate because licensure does not confer a special mandate to attend ethical deliberations; it defines scope and accountability. Option D overstates prescriptive requirements, while the code emphasizes advocacy and ethical practice rather than guaranteeing attendance at every ethics discussion.

Question 25

During the change-of-shift report the assigned nurse notes a Catholic client is scheduled to be admitted for the delivery of a ninth child. Which comment stated angrily to a colleague by this nurse indicates an attitude of prejudice?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: " Prejudice in nursing is demonstrated by stereotyping and making generalized, biased judgments about a group rather than focusing on the individual patient’s needs. This statement explicitly uses a broad, disparaging generalization (“those people”) tied to the client’s religious/cultural context and assigns a negative character judgment. The other remarks are inappropriate and judgmental, but they are framed more as opinions about resources or contraception rather than a clear blanket stereotype about an entire group. Such bias can undermine therapeutic communication and lead to inequitable, non–patient-centered care.

Question 26

The nurse calls the physician regarding a new medication order because the dosage prescribed is higher than the recommended dosage. The nurse is unable to locate the physician, and the medication is due to be administered. Which action should the nurse take?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: A dose higher than recommended represents a potential prescribing error; administration without clarification could cause harm and places the nurse at risk for negligence. Escalating to the nursing supervisor enables timely review, access to alternative providers (e.g., on-call), and documentation of appropriate risk management steps. Simply holding the medication may delay necessary therapy without initiating required escalation, and independently changing the dose constitutes practicing medicine. Administering the ordered dose ignores a safety concern and violates the duty to question unsafe orders.

Question 27

In the health care setting, the ethical principle of “justice” refers to which aspect of client care?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Justice is the ethical principle of fairness, emphasizing equitable distribution of benefits and burdens across patients. In clinical settings this most directly applies to allocating limited resources (e.g., ICU beds, donor organs, staff time) using consistent, ethically justified criteria. This focuses on population-level fairness rather than an individual right to records (more aligned with autonomy/confidentiality). “Equal care regardless of condition” is an overstatement because justice supports equitable—not necessarily identical—care based on need and clinical criteria.

Question 28

The child with ARF has not had a stool for a week. The resident physician prescribes a sodium biprosprlate and sodium phosphate enema. What should the nurse do?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: In acute renal failure, the kidneys cannot reliably excrete phosphate and manage electrolytes, so sodium phosphate enemas can precipitate severe hyperphosphatemia with secondary hypocalcemia, leading to dysrhythmias, seizures, and cardiovascular collapse. A nurse must withhold a potentially dangerous order when it poses an immediate, serious safety risk and promptly notify the prescriber to obtain a safer alternative. Teaching the parent or consulting another provider does not mitigate the imminent physiologic danger of administering the ordered product in this condition. The safest action is to question the order and advocate for a non–phosphate-based bowel regimen appropriate for renal impairment.

Question 29

The adolescent with a history of a renal transplant has not been taking medications as prescribed. The result has been loss of the kidney. The multidisciplinary team, which includes the nurse, is considering whether the client should receive a second transplant. What should be the next course of action?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Allocation of scarce organs and decisions about retransplantation after documented nonadherence are ethical questions that require an impartial, policy-based process. An ethics committee can evaluate autonomy, beneficence, justice, capacity/developmental factors, and adherence barriers, and can recommend a fair plan consistent with institutional and transplant program standards. Leaving the decision solely to the provider or the client bypasses the structured ethical review needed for high-stakes resource allocation and can introduce bias. Making retransplant contingent on ability to pay is ethically inappropriate and conflicts with principles of justice and equitable access to care.

Question 30

The nurse is planning a staff development conference about changing the process of how clients are seen at a clinic to a first come, first served basis. This proposed change will model which ethical principle?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason:  Justice is the ethical principle of fairness and equitable treatment in the distribution of healthcare resources and services. A first-come, first-served process applies the same access rule to everyone, aiming to remove preferential treatment and promote equal opportunity for care. Nonmaleficence focuses on avoiding harm, which is not the primary issue in scheduling order. Veracity concerns truth-telling, and paternalism involves overriding client autonomy “for their good,” neither of which is the central concept in this process change.

Question 31

The nurse in the outpatient care clinic cares for a client diagnosed with heart failure. Which of the following orders, if written by the physician, should the nurse question?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Administer 0.9% NS solution IV at a rate of 125mL/hr Heart failure management prioritizes preventing fluid volume overload and pulmonary congestion. An infusion rate of 125 mL/hr of isotonic saline represents a relatively large continuous fluid load that can worsen edema, increase preload, and precipitate decompensation, so it warrants clarification against the client’s volume status and indication. A much lower maintenance rate can be appropriate in select cases, and diuretic therapy is commonly used to control fluid retention. Potassium supplementation may be appropriate if loop diuretics are used or labs show hypokalemia, but it should be guided by serum potassium and renal function rather than being inherently unsafe.

Question 32

The nurse working in a long-term care facility is orientating a new nurse to the facility. The nurse should tell the new nurse that which of the following is the priority reason that health care issues of older adults become an ethical dilemma?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: In older adults, complex comorbidities, variable decision-making capacity, quality-of-life considerations, and family goals often make benefits and burdens closely balanced. This creates situations where each available plan can be ethically defensible yet carries significant trade-offs. A value system influences preferences, but the defining feature of a dilemma is the absence of a single obviously right action; speed of decision-making is not inherently what makes it ethical.

Question 33

A client asks why a diagnostic test has been prescribed and the nurse replies, "I'm unsure but will find out for you." When the nurse later returns and provides an explanation, the nurse is acting under which principle?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Veracity refers to truth-telling and honesty. The nurse acknowledges uncertainty rather than giving incorrect information and follows through by providing accurate information later, demonstrating commitment to truthful communication. Nonmaleficence focuses on avoiding harm, beneficence on doing good, and fidelity on keeping promises, but the primary principle demonstrated here is honesty with the client.

Question 34

A patient asks their nurse if the shot they are going to receive will hurt. The nurse tells the truth by stating, “You may feel a quick pinch.” Which ethical principle is this nurse following?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Veracity is the ethical principle of telling the truth and providing honest, accurate information to the patient. The nurse answers realistically about expected discomfort (“quick pinch”) rather than falsely reassuring, which supports trust and informed participation in care. Autonomy relates to the patient’s right to make decisions, but the action described is truth-telling rather than choice-making. Nonmaleficence focuses on avoiding harm, and justice focuses on fairness in care delivery, neither of which is the central issue here.

Question 35

Nurse Maria is studying different approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas in patient care. She learns that the philosophy known as the ethics of care emphasizes solving ethical issues by focusing on what aspect?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: In nursing, this approach prioritizes understanding the patient’s lived experience and the impact of choices on trust, vulnerability, and ongoing support. This differs from rule-based frameworks that primarily apply abstract principles or formal codes to determine the right action. Because it evaluates what is most caring within the specific relational context, focusing on interpersonal relationships best fits this philosophy.

Question 36

The Medical Director but the chief nurse and some other officers of the hospital believe that patient relation is important in risk management because a dissatisfied customer is likely to sue. Which is NOT the way to handle complaints?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Point-by-point rebuttal is confrontational, can invalidate the patient’s feelings, and tends to escalate anger, increasing the likelihood of formal grievances or litigation. Allowing the patient to express concerns, avoiding defensiveness, and listening for verbal/nonverbal cues help clarify the issue and demonstrate respect and responsiveness. A common pitfall is focusing on proving the patient wrong instead of acknowledging concerns and moving toward resolution and safety improvement.

Question 37

When a nurse makes an untrue statement to a patient, the nurse is violating which of the following principles?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Making an untrue statement directly violates this obligation and undermines informed decision-making and trust in the nurse-patient relationship. Confidentiality concerns protecting private information rather than truth-telling. Fidelity refers to keeping promises and being faithful to commitments, while slander involves making false statements that damage a person’s reputation (typically to a third party), not simply being untruthful to the patient.

Question 38

The nurse is preparing to administer IV cefazolin to a client with cellulitis. The client's allergies are listed as amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, and sulfa drugs. What should the nurse do first?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: Cefazolin is a cephalosporin, and a reported penicillin allergy (amoxicillin) does not automatically contraindicate cephalosporins; risk depends on reaction severity (e.g., anaphylaxis/angioedema vs mild rash/GI upset) and specific history. Clarifying the reaction details first provides the critical data needed to decide whether to hold the drug and contact the prescriber for an alternative. Immediately giving the medication could be unsafe if the reaction was severe, while contacting pharmacy or the provider is best done after the nurse has gathered complete allergy information to communicate accurately.

Question 39

An adolescent client is brought to the emergency department after being in a serious motor vehicle crash. The client is undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The nurse calls the family to inform them to come to the hospital and a family member asks how the client is doing. Which is an example of the ethical principle of beneficence when responding to the client's family?

Accepted Answer

Answer reason: " Beneficence means acting to promote the patient’s good and to help by providing supportive, therapeutic communication while minimizing avoidable harm. This response is honest but appropriately general, offers reassurance that care is being provided, and avoids providing graphic or overly specific clinical details over the phone in a high-stress emergency. Stating the precise arrest status is not necessary for the goal of getting the family to the hospital and can increase distress without adding benefit. The other options either provide insufficient support, potentially inappropriate disclosure, or deflect without addressing the family’s immediate need for compassionate information.

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