CPPS IHI PRACTICE EXAM WITH QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS|| GUARANTEED PASS||
ALREADY GRADED A+|| LATEST VERSION
2026
At the conclusion of a surgical procedure at your hospital, the instrument count
is incorrect. The hospital policy does not stipulate that the surgeon must remain
on the premises until an x-ray is obtained to check for retained foreign objects.
By the time the x-ray results come in to reveal that there is, in fact, a retained
instrument, the original surgeon has left the hospital to catch a flight. Another
surgeon is contacted to remove the retained instrument. How should leadership
respond to this event?
A. Re-educate the OR nursing staff on keeping track of instruments on the
sterile field.
B. Revise the hospital policy to make it clear that surgeons must stay in the
operating room (OR) until instrument count issues are resolved.
C. Using an appropriate accountability system, counsel the surgeon about
customary clinical standards.
D. Create a process map of how instruments are managed during surgery,
looking for la - ANSWER-C. Using an appropriate accountability system,
counsel the surgeon about customary clinical standards.
The surgeon made a choice to leave for personal reasons before receiving
confirmation that his patient was safe. In the substitution test, other surgeons
would likely consider it their responsibility to stay and assure the patient was
object-free.Although the policy could clearly outline that a surgeon must stay
until counts are confirmed, it is unrealistic for leaders to regulate every step of
every process and practice: As health care professionals, surgeons already have
a pre-existing, overarching duty to avoid causing unjustifiable risk or harm.
,In this case, counseling the surgeon likely does not mean pulling his privileges;
it means having a conversation with him about the inappropriateness of the
action he took and the potential impact on his patient. Sometimes individuals do
share the responsibility for a deviation, and we need to hold professionals
accountable for their portion of a situation even when system factors may also
need improvement.
The human resources department at your organization has asked your patient
safety specialist for recommendations on new policies to help support safety
culture. Which recommendation sounds best?
A. Sending human resources all event data so that they can record involvement
in adverse events in personnel files
B. Including human resources in all root cause analyses so that they can provide
guidance on recommended training updates for staff
C. Implementing routine use of a tool to determine which events are attributed
to human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior
D. Implementing routine use of a tool to determine which events are attributed
to human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior AND consulting with
human resources on at-risk and reckless behavior cases - ANSWER-C.
Implementing routine use of a tool to determine which events are attributed to
human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior AND consulting with
human resources on at-risk and reckless behavior cases
Your organization is preparing to change to a new electronic health record.
Many departments have been involved with the planning for this huge effort.
What would you suggest as part of the preparation strategy?
A. Offer to do a claims analysis for any related errors.
B. Suggest a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.
C. Conduct a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
D. Conduct a root cause analysis (RCA). - ANSWER-C. Conduct a failure
modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
,FMEA would be valuable step for anticipating gaps in the planning so that
people can address potential problems before implementing the new system. A
PDSA cycle would be a good way to test and implement any changes, but it
wouldn't help diagnose problems.
Why is it important to share lessons learned from RCAs?
A. It allows others to introduce workarounds to avoid the same situation.
B. It exposes the fallibility of the clinician(s) involved.
C. Sharing these events should not be encouraged because it increases the risk
of litigation.
D. It allows co-workers to learn the rationale for why an event occurred and
incorporate new lessons learned into practice. - ANSWER-D. It allows co-
workers to learn the rationale for why an event occurred and incorporate new
lessons learned into practice.
Sharing allows others to adopt new methods and to heighten risk awareness. In
regard to the other possible answers: The goal of an RCA is not to place blame
on individual clinicians, and workarounds are oftentimes unsafe practices that
ignore systems issues that require fixing. Sharing lessons learned from an RCA
may decrease the risk of litigation by improving patient safety and reducing the
likelihood of an adverse event occurring again.
A strategy used to overcome failure in a process is the use of a checklist. To
match the limit of working memory, a good rule when creating a checklist is to
keep the number of tasks between how many items?
A. 1 and 5
B. 3 and 10
C. 5 and 9
D. 10 and 15 - ANSWER-C. 5 and 9
, Psychologists who study human memory recommend keeping the number of
items between five and nine, which is the maximum number the human memory
can remember.
A nurse on a medical-surgical unit does not comply with the barcode
medication administration (BCMA) procedure while caring for one of her
patients. Her supervisor is deciding how to respond. As her supervisor, what
would you do?
A. Request that the pharmacy run a report of the BCMA compliance rates of the
unit.
B. Ask staff if there are adequate scanners to meet their needs.
C. Ask the nurse what was occurring at the time, and why she chose to bypass
the policy.
D. Counsel the nurse on the importance of following policy. - ANSWER-C.
Ask the nurse what was occurring at the time and why she chose to bypass the
policy.
In determining the appropriate response to a violation of policy, it is important
to learn what the incentive was for the behavior and what conditions led the
staff member to their action. The Just Culture algorithm can serve as a guide.
In this case, it is important to understand the nurse's rationale for diverting from
the policy. For example, did she think the benefit outweighed the risk for some
reason?
Which of the following is the best first step in changing the culture of safety in a
health care organization?
A. Develop policies, procedures, and checklists for safety.
B. Hire an experienced patient safety officer with a strong performance record.
C. Conduct an assessment and gather focused data.
D. Implement communication and teamwork tools. - ANSWER-C. Conduct an
assessment and gather focused data.
AND ANSWERS|| GUARANTEED PASS||
ALREADY GRADED A+|| LATEST VERSION
2026
At the conclusion of a surgical procedure at your hospital, the instrument count
is incorrect. The hospital policy does not stipulate that the surgeon must remain
on the premises until an x-ray is obtained to check for retained foreign objects.
By the time the x-ray results come in to reveal that there is, in fact, a retained
instrument, the original surgeon has left the hospital to catch a flight. Another
surgeon is contacted to remove the retained instrument. How should leadership
respond to this event?
A. Re-educate the OR nursing staff on keeping track of instruments on the
sterile field.
B. Revise the hospital policy to make it clear that surgeons must stay in the
operating room (OR) until instrument count issues are resolved.
C. Using an appropriate accountability system, counsel the surgeon about
customary clinical standards.
D. Create a process map of how instruments are managed during surgery,
looking for la - ANSWER-C. Using an appropriate accountability system,
counsel the surgeon about customary clinical standards.
The surgeon made a choice to leave for personal reasons before receiving
confirmation that his patient was safe. In the substitution test, other surgeons
would likely consider it their responsibility to stay and assure the patient was
object-free.Although the policy could clearly outline that a surgeon must stay
until counts are confirmed, it is unrealistic for leaders to regulate every step of
every process and practice: As health care professionals, surgeons already have
a pre-existing, overarching duty to avoid causing unjustifiable risk or harm.
,In this case, counseling the surgeon likely does not mean pulling his privileges;
it means having a conversation with him about the inappropriateness of the
action he took and the potential impact on his patient. Sometimes individuals do
share the responsibility for a deviation, and we need to hold professionals
accountable for their portion of a situation even when system factors may also
need improvement.
The human resources department at your organization has asked your patient
safety specialist for recommendations on new policies to help support safety
culture. Which recommendation sounds best?
A. Sending human resources all event data so that they can record involvement
in adverse events in personnel files
B. Including human resources in all root cause analyses so that they can provide
guidance on recommended training updates for staff
C. Implementing routine use of a tool to determine which events are attributed
to human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior
D. Implementing routine use of a tool to determine which events are attributed
to human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior AND consulting with
human resources on at-risk and reckless behavior cases - ANSWER-C.
Implementing routine use of a tool to determine which events are attributed to
human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior AND consulting with
human resources on at-risk and reckless behavior cases
Your organization is preparing to change to a new electronic health record.
Many departments have been involved with the planning for this huge effort.
What would you suggest as part of the preparation strategy?
A. Offer to do a claims analysis for any related errors.
B. Suggest a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.
C. Conduct a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
D. Conduct a root cause analysis (RCA). - ANSWER-C. Conduct a failure
modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
,FMEA would be valuable step for anticipating gaps in the planning so that
people can address potential problems before implementing the new system. A
PDSA cycle would be a good way to test and implement any changes, but it
wouldn't help diagnose problems.
Why is it important to share lessons learned from RCAs?
A. It allows others to introduce workarounds to avoid the same situation.
B. It exposes the fallibility of the clinician(s) involved.
C. Sharing these events should not be encouraged because it increases the risk
of litigation.
D. It allows co-workers to learn the rationale for why an event occurred and
incorporate new lessons learned into practice. - ANSWER-D. It allows co-
workers to learn the rationale for why an event occurred and incorporate new
lessons learned into practice.
Sharing allows others to adopt new methods and to heighten risk awareness. In
regard to the other possible answers: The goal of an RCA is not to place blame
on individual clinicians, and workarounds are oftentimes unsafe practices that
ignore systems issues that require fixing. Sharing lessons learned from an RCA
may decrease the risk of litigation by improving patient safety and reducing the
likelihood of an adverse event occurring again.
A strategy used to overcome failure in a process is the use of a checklist. To
match the limit of working memory, a good rule when creating a checklist is to
keep the number of tasks between how many items?
A. 1 and 5
B. 3 and 10
C. 5 and 9
D. 10 and 15 - ANSWER-C. 5 and 9
, Psychologists who study human memory recommend keeping the number of
items between five and nine, which is the maximum number the human memory
can remember.
A nurse on a medical-surgical unit does not comply with the barcode
medication administration (BCMA) procedure while caring for one of her
patients. Her supervisor is deciding how to respond. As her supervisor, what
would you do?
A. Request that the pharmacy run a report of the BCMA compliance rates of the
unit.
B. Ask staff if there are adequate scanners to meet their needs.
C. Ask the nurse what was occurring at the time, and why she chose to bypass
the policy.
D. Counsel the nurse on the importance of following policy. - ANSWER-C.
Ask the nurse what was occurring at the time and why she chose to bypass the
policy.
In determining the appropriate response to a violation of policy, it is important
to learn what the incentive was for the behavior and what conditions led the
staff member to their action. The Just Culture algorithm can serve as a guide.
In this case, it is important to understand the nurse's rationale for diverting from
the policy. For example, did she think the benefit outweighed the risk for some
reason?
Which of the following is the best first step in changing the culture of safety in a
health care organization?
A. Develop policies, procedures, and checklists for safety.
B. Hire an experienced patient safety officer with a strong performance record.
C. Conduct an assessment and gather focused data.
D. Implement communication and teamwork tools. - ANSWER-C. Conduct an
assessment and gather focused data.
