NU 170 MATERNAL–CHILD NURSING EXAM 3 COMPLETE PRACTICE EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | VERIFIED SOLUTIONS | COMPREHENSIVE STUDY
GUIDE | UPDATED 2026/2027
Examiner/Administrator: Galen College of Nursing
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NU 170 MATERNAL–CHILD NURSING EXAM 3
2026/2027 EDITION
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
COMPLETE PRACTICE EXAM
100+ MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
PASSING SCORE: 70%
TESTING TIME: 120 MINUTES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
TABLE OF CONTENTS
High-Risk Pregnancy Disorders
Antepartum Assessment & Fetal Surveillance
Labor and Delivery Complications
Postpartum Nursing Care
Postpartum Complications
Newborn Assessment & Adaptation
Newborn Complications & Emergencies
Pediatric Growth & Development
Pediatric Health Promotion
Family-Centered Maternal-Child Nursing Care
GALEN COLLEGE OF NURSING || ALIGNED WITH CURRENT MATERNAL-CHILD
NURSING BLUEPRINTS || PROFESSIONAL EXAM REVIEW GUIDE || COMPREHENSIVE
PRACTICE EXAMINATION || 100% VERIFIED EDUCATIONAL CONTENT || ADVANCED
CLINICAL APPLICATION QUESTIONS || PREPARED FOR NURSING EXAMINATION
SUCCESS || PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC USE ONLY
,High-Risk Pregnancy Disorders (Questions 1–8)
Q1. A 30-year-old gravida 2 para 1 at 34 weeks' gestation presents with blood pressure
of 168/104 mm Hg, proteinuria, and severe headache. Which nursing action should
receive the highest priority?
A. Encourage ambulation
B. Assess deep tendon reflexes and clonus
C. Increase oral fluid intake
D. Provide a high-sodium diet
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. Assess deep tendon reflexes and clonus
Explanation: 🔹 Severe hypertension, proteinuria, and headache indicate severe
preeclampsia. Assessment of neurologic status, including reflexes and clonus, helps
identify worsening disease and risk for eclampsia. Ambulation may increase injury
risk, increased fluids do not address the underlying pathology, and sodium restriction
—not increased sodium—is generally recommended.
Q2. A pregnant client with placenta previa reports painless bright-red vaginal
bleeding. Which intervention is contraindicated?
A. Monitoring maternal vital signs
B. External fetal monitoring
C. Digital vaginal examination
D. Establishing IV access
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Digital vaginal examination
Explanation: 🔹 In placenta previa, digital examination may disrupt the placenta and
precipitate massive hemorrhage. Maternal and fetal monitoring and IV access are
appropriate interventions. Avoiding vaginal examination is a critical safety measure.
Q3. A client with gestational diabetes asks why blood glucose control is important
during pregnancy. The nurse's best response is:
,A. "It prevents fetal congenital anomalies in the third trimester."
B. "It reduces the risk of fetal macrosomia and birth complications."
C. "It guarantees a vaginal birth."
D. "It eliminates the need for fetal surveillance."
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. It reduces the risk of fetal macrosomia and birth
complications.
Explanation: 🔹 Poor glycemic control increases fetal glucose exposure, leading to
excessive fetal growth, shoulder dystocia, neonatal hypoglycemia, and delivery
complications. While glucose control is important, it does not guarantee delivery
outcomes or eliminate monitoring needs.
Q4. Which assessment finding is most concerning in a pregnant client diagnosed with
severe preeclampsia?
A. Mild edema of the feet
B. Weight gain of 1 pound per week
C. Epigastric pain
D. Fetal movement after meals
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Epigastric pain
Explanation: 🔹 Epigastric or right upper quadrant pain may indicate hepatic
involvement and impending eclampsia or HELLP syndrome. Mild edema and modest
weight gain are common findings. Fetal movement is reassuring rather than
concerning.
Q5. A client with hyperemesis gravidarum is admitted with dehydration. Which
laboratory finding would the nurse anticipate?
A. Elevated urine ketones
B. Decreased hematocrit
C. Severe hypoglycemia in all cases
D. Increased serum albumin
, Correct Answer: 🔴 A. Elevated urine ketones
Explanation: 🔹 Persistent vomiting causes starvation and fat metabolism, resulting
in ketonuria. Hemoconcentration often raises hematocrit. Albumin levels are not
typically elevated, and hypoglycemia may occur but is not universally present.
Q6. A nurse is caring for a client diagnosed with abruptio placentae. Which assessment
finding is most characteristic?
A. Painless bleeding
B. Soft uterus
C. Sudden abdominal pain and uterine rigidity
D. Increased fetal activity with no distress
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Sudden abdominal pain and uterine rigidity
Explanation: 🔹 Abruptio placentae commonly presents with painful bleeding,
uterine tenderness, rigidity, and fetal distress. Placenta previa typically causes
painless bleeding. Rapid recognition is essential due to maternal and fetal risks.
Q7. Which pregnant client is at greatest risk for developing preeclampsia?
A. Multiparous client with normal BMI
B. Primigravida with chronic hypertension
C. Client at 20 weeks with no medical history
D. Multiparous client with previous uncomplicated pregnancies
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. Primigravida with chronic hypertension
Explanation: 🔹 Chronic hypertension is a major risk factor for preeclampsia.
Primigravidas also carry increased risk. Combining these factors significantly
elevates the likelihood of hypertensive complications.
Q8. A client receiving magnesium sulfate begins exhibiting absent reflexes and
respiratory rate of 8 breaths/minute. What is the nurse's priority action?
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | VERIFIED SOLUTIONS | COMPREHENSIVE STUDY
GUIDE | UPDATED 2026/2027
Examiner/Administrator: Galen College of Nursing
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NU 170 MATERNAL–CHILD NURSING EXAM 3
2026/2027 EDITION
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
COMPLETE PRACTICE EXAM
100+ MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
PASSING SCORE: 70%
TESTING TIME: 120 MINUTES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
TABLE OF CONTENTS
High-Risk Pregnancy Disorders
Antepartum Assessment & Fetal Surveillance
Labor and Delivery Complications
Postpartum Nursing Care
Postpartum Complications
Newborn Assessment & Adaptation
Newborn Complications & Emergencies
Pediatric Growth & Development
Pediatric Health Promotion
Family-Centered Maternal-Child Nursing Care
GALEN COLLEGE OF NURSING || ALIGNED WITH CURRENT MATERNAL-CHILD
NURSING BLUEPRINTS || PROFESSIONAL EXAM REVIEW GUIDE || COMPREHENSIVE
PRACTICE EXAMINATION || 100% VERIFIED EDUCATIONAL CONTENT || ADVANCED
CLINICAL APPLICATION QUESTIONS || PREPARED FOR NURSING EXAMINATION
SUCCESS || PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC USE ONLY
,High-Risk Pregnancy Disorders (Questions 1–8)
Q1. A 30-year-old gravida 2 para 1 at 34 weeks' gestation presents with blood pressure
of 168/104 mm Hg, proteinuria, and severe headache. Which nursing action should
receive the highest priority?
A. Encourage ambulation
B. Assess deep tendon reflexes and clonus
C. Increase oral fluid intake
D. Provide a high-sodium diet
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. Assess deep tendon reflexes and clonus
Explanation: 🔹 Severe hypertension, proteinuria, and headache indicate severe
preeclampsia. Assessment of neurologic status, including reflexes and clonus, helps
identify worsening disease and risk for eclampsia. Ambulation may increase injury
risk, increased fluids do not address the underlying pathology, and sodium restriction
—not increased sodium—is generally recommended.
Q2. A pregnant client with placenta previa reports painless bright-red vaginal
bleeding. Which intervention is contraindicated?
A. Monitoring maternal vital signs
B. External fetal monitoring
C. Digital vaginal examination
D. Establishing IV access
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Digital vaginal examination
Explanation: 🔹 In placenta previa, digital examination may disrupt the placenta and
precipitate massive hemorrhage. Maternal and fetal monitoring and IV access are
appropriate interventions. Avoiding vaginal examination is a critical safety measure.
Q3. A client with gestational diabetes asks why blood glucose control is important
during pregnancy. The nurse's best response is:
,A. "It prevents fetal congenital anomalies in the third trimester."
B. "It reduces the risk of fetal macrosomia and birth complications."
C. "It guarantees a vaginal birth."
D. "It eliminates the need for fetal surveillance."
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. It reduces the risk of fetal macrosomia and birth
complications.
Explanation: 🔹 Poor glycemic control increases fetal glucose exposure, leading to
excessive fetal growth, shoulder dystocia, neonatal hypoglycemia, and delivery
complications. While glucose control is important, it does not guarantee delivery
outcomes or eliminate monitoring needs.
Q4. Which assessment finding is most concerning in a pregnant client diagnosed with
severe preeclampsia?
A. Mild edema of the feet
B. Weight gain of 1 pound per week
C. Epigastric pain
D. Fetal movement after meals
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Epigastric pain
Explanation: 🔹 Epigastric or right upper quadrant pain may indicate hepatic
involvement and impending eclampsia or HELLP syndrome. Mild edema and modest
weight gain are common findings. Fetal movement is reassuring rather than
concerning.
Q5. A client with hyperemesis gravidarum is admitted with dehydration. Which
laboratory finding would the nurse anticipate?
A. Elevated urine ketones
B. Decreased hematocrit
C. Severe hypoglycemia in all cases
D. Increased serum albumin
, Correct Answer: 🔴 A. Elevated urine ketones
Explanation: 🔹 Persistent vomiting causes starvation and fat metabolism, resulting
in ketonuria. Hemoconcentration often raises hematocrit. Albumin levels are not
typically elevated, and hypoglycemia may occur but is not universally present.
Q6. A nurse is caring for a client diagnosed with abruptio placentae. Which assessment
finding is most characteristic?
A. Painless bleeding
B. Soft uterus
C. Sudden abdominal pain and uterine rigidity
D. Increased fetal activity with no distress
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Sudden abdominal pain and uterine rigidity
Explanation: 🔹 Abruptio placentae commonly presents with painful bleeding,
uterine tenderness, rigidity, and fetal distress. Placenta previa typically causes
painless bleeding. Rapid recognition is essential due to maternal and fetal risks.
Q7. Which pregnant client is at greatest risk for developing preeclampsia?
A. Multiparous client with normal BMI
B. Primigravida with chronic hypertension
C. Client at 20 weeks with no medical history
D. Multiparous client with previous uncomplicated pregnancies
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. Primigravida with chronic hypertension
Explanation: 🔹 Chronic hypertension is a major risk factor for preeclampsia.
Primigravidas also carry increased risk. Combining these factors significantly
elevates the likelihood of hypertensive complications.
Q8. A client receiving magnesium sulfate begins exhibiting absent reflexes and
respiratory rate of 8 breaths/minute. What is the nurse's priority action?
