The nurse received handoff report at the change of shift in the conference room from the night shift nurse. Nursing students
assigned to the nurse ask to review the medical records of the patients assigned to them. The nurse begins assessing the
assigned patients and lists the nursing care information for each patient on each patient's message board in the patient
rooms. Later in the day, the nurse discusses the plan of care for a patient who is dying with the patient's family. Which
of these actions describes a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)?
• Posting medical information about the patient on a message board in the patient's room.
• Allowing nursing students to review the patient charts before caring for patients to whom they are assigned.
• Releasing patient information regarding terminal illness to family when the patient has given permission for the
information to be shared.
• Discussing patient conditions in the nursing report at change of shift.
2. You are taking care of a patient in the terminal stages of disease. The family does not want the patient to know the prognosis.
You feel strongly that the patient should know. This is an example of an ethical dilemma of conflicting ethical principles.
Which of the following principles is most likely in conflict for the nurse?
• paternalism
• justice
• veracity
• utility
3. A nurse is participating in a quality improvement study of a procedure frequently performed on the unit. Which of the
following will provide the most relevant information regarding the efficacy of the procedure?
• incidence of complications related to the procedure
• client satisfaction with the procedure
• frequency with which the procedure is performed
• accurate documentation of how the procedure was performed
4. A nurse manager is planning a performance appraisal of an employee who has a number of performance deficiencies. What
is the best approach to use with this employee?
• Recognize the employee's strengths, focus on one of two of the key deficiencies, and create a long term coaching
plan.
• Prepare a list of the employee's deficiencies and give him/her time to look it over before asking for a response.
• Tell the employee that he/she is not performing well and ask the employee where improvement is needed.
• Tell the employee that he/she is a nice person but is not meeting the requirements of the job.
5. As a new graduate applying for your first professional position, you will need to interview. Which of the following actions by
the interviewer will promote a valid reliable interview?
• Develops a structured interview format.
• Conducts single, rather than mulitple interviews.
• Trusts his/her impression of an applicant.
• Avoids taking notes during an interview.
6. Of the following, which should be emphasized by a nurse when functioning in a coaching role?
• Showing new nurses how to work within the system
• Solving problems for the newly employed nurse
• Identifying those nurses who will not be of much help on the unit
• Helping a new nurse reach an optimum level of performance