NCLEX Practice Questions – Patient Education 2026 – Study Guide and
Review
1. A nurse is asked about the goal of patient education. What is the nurse's best response? The
goal of educating others is to help people
a. Meet standards of the Nurse Practice Act.
b. Achieve optimal levels of health.
c. Become dependent on the health care team.
d. Provide self-care only in the hospital. - correct answer ✔✔ ANS: B
The goal of educating others about their health is to help individuals, families, or communities
achieve optimal levels of health. Although all state Nurse Practice Acts acknowledge that patient
teaching falls within the scope of nursing practice, this is the nurse's standard, not the goal of
education. Patient education helps patients make informed decisions about their care and
become healthier and more independent, not dependent. Nurses provide patients with
information needed for self-care to ensure continuity of care from the hospital to the home.
2. A nurse is teaching a group of healthy adults about the benefits of flu immunizations. Which
purpose of patient education is the nurse fulfilling?
a. Restoration of health
b. Coping with impaired functions
c. Promotion of health and illness prevention
d. Health analogies - correct answer ✔✔ ANS: C
As a nurse, you are a visible, competent resource for patients who want to improve their
physical and psychological well-being. In the school, home, clinic, or workplace, you promote
health and prevent illness by providing information and skills that enable patients to assume
healthier behaviors. Injured and ill patients need information and skills to help them regain or
maintain their level of health; this is referred to as restoration of health. Not all patients fully
recover from illness or injury. Many have to learn to cope with permanent health alterations;
this is known as coping with impaired functions. Analogies supplement verbal instruction with
familiar images that make complex information more real and understandable. For example,
when explaining arterial blood pressure, use an analogy of the flow of water through a hose.
, 3. A nurse provides teaching about coping with long-term impaired functions. Which situation
serves as the best example?
a. Teaching a family member to give medications through the patient's permanent gastric tube
b. Teaching a woman who recently had a hysterectomy about her pathology reports
c. Teaching expectant parents about physical and psychological changes in childbearing women
d. Teaching a teenager with a broken leg how to use crutches - correct answer ✔✔ ANS: A
Not all patients fully recover from illness or injury. Many have to learn to cope with permanent
health alterations. New knowledge and skills are often necessary for patients and/or family
members to continue activities of daily living. Teaching family members to help the patient with
health care management (e.g., giving medications through gastric tubes, doing passive range-of-
motion exercises) is an example of coping with long-term impaired functions. Injured and ill
patients need information and skills to help them regain or maintain their levels of health. Some
examples of this include teaching a woman who recently had a hysterectomy about her
pathology reports and expected length of recovery and teaching a teenager with a broken leg
how to use crutches. In childbearing classes, you teach expectant parents about physical and
psychological changes in the woman and about fetal development; this is part of health
maintenance.
4. Which statement indicates that the nurse has a good understanding of teaching/learning?
a. "Teaching and learning can be separated."
b. "Learning is an interactive process that promotes teaching."
c. "Learning consists of a conscious, deliberate set of actions designed to help the teacher."
d. "Teaching is most effective when it responds to the learner's needs." - correct answer ✔✔
ANS: D
Teaching is most effective when it responds to the learner's needs. It is impossible to separate
teaching from learning. Teaching is an interactive process that promotes learning. Teaching
consists of a conscious, deliberate set of actions that help individuals gain new knowledge,
change attitudes, adopt new behaviors, or perform new skills.
5. Which action best indicates that learning has occurred?
Review
1. A nurse is asked about the goal of patient education. What is the nurse's best response? The
goal of educating others is to help people
a. Meet standards of the Nurse Practice Act.
b. Achieve optimal levels of health.
c. Become dependent on the health care team.
d. Provide self-care only in the hospital. - correct answer ✔✔ ANS: B
The goal of educating others about their health is to help individuals, families, or communities
achieve optimal levels of health. Although all state Nurse Practice Acts acknowledge that patient
teaching falls within the scope of nursing practice, this is the nurse's standard, not the goal of
education. Patient education helps patients make informed decisions about their care and
become healthier and more independent, not dependent. Nurses provide patients with
information needed for self-care to ensure continuity of care from the hospital to the home.
2. A nurse is teaching a group of healthy adults about the benefits of flu immunizations. Which
purpose of patient education is the nurse fulfilling?
a. Restoration of health
b. Coping with impaired functions
c. Promotion of health and illness prevention
d. Health analogies - correct answer ✔✔ ANS: C
As a nurse, you are a visible, competent resource for patients who want to improve their
physical and psychological well-being. In the school, home, clinic, or workplace, you promote
health and prevent illness by providing information and skills that enable patients to assume
healthier behaviors. Injured and ill patients need information and skills to help them regain or
maintain their level of health; this is referred to as restoration of health. Not all patients fully
recover from illness or injury. Many have to learn to cope with permanent health alterations;
this is known as coping with impaired functions. Analogies supplement verbal instruction with
familiar images that make complex information more real and understandable. For example,
when explaining arterial blood pressure, use an analogy of the flow of water through a hose.
, 3. A nurse provides teaching about coping with long-term impaired functions. Which situation
serves as the best example?
a. Teaching a family member to give medications through the patient's permanent gastric tube
b. Teaching a woman who recently had a hysterectomy about her pathology reports
c. Teaching expectant parents about physical and psychological changes in childbearing women
d. Teaching a teenager with a broken leg how to use crutches - correct answer ✔✔ ANS: A
Not all patients fully recover from illness or injury. Many have to learn to cope with permanent
health alterations. New knowledge and skills are often necessary for patients and/or family
members to continue activities of daily living. Teaching family members to help the patient with
health care management (e.g., giving medications through gastric tubes, doing passive range-of-
motion exercises) is an example of coping with long-term impaired functions. Injured and ill
patients need information and skills to help them regain or maintain their levels of health. Some
examples of this include teaching a woman who recently had a hysterectomy about her
pathology reports and expected length of recovery and teaching a teenager with a broken leg
how to use crutches. In childbearing classes, you teach expectant parents about physical and
psychological changes in the woman and about fetal development; this is part of health
maintenance.
4. Which statement indicates that the nurse has a good understanding of teaching/learning?
a. "Teaching and learning can be separated."
b. "Learning is an interactive process that promotes teaching."
c. "Learning consists of a conscious, deliberate set of actions designed to help the teacher."
d. "Teaching is most effective when it responds to the learner's needs." - correct answer ✔✔
ANS: D
Teaching is most effective when it responds to the learner's needs. It is impossible to separate
teaching from learning. Teaching is an interactive process that promotes learning. Teaching
consists of a conscious, deliberate set of actions that help individuals gain new knowledge,
change attitudes, adopt new behaviors, or perform new skills.
5. Which action best indicates that learning has occurred?
