CLINICAL DECISION MAKING PRACTICE
EXAM QUESTIONS AND DETAILED
SOLUTIONS 2026
▶ The National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission (NLNAC)
Answer: The National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission
(NLNAC) has defined critical thinking as "the deliberate nonlinear process
of collecting, interpreting, analyzing, drawing conclusions about,
presenting, and evaluating information that is both factually and belief
based
▶ What is the purpose of the nursing process? Answer: To identify a
client's health care status, and actual or potential health problems, to
establish plans to meet the identified needs, and to deliver specific nursing
interventions to address those needs.
The nursing process functions as a systematic guide to client-centered care
with 5 sequential steps. These are assessment, diagnosis, planning,
implementation, and evaluation.
Nursing process can be used to plan your day or when implementing report
to another nurse or calling a physician using SBAR.
▶ Assessment Answer: Assessment is the first step and involves critical
thinking skills and data collection; subjective and objective. Subjective data
involves verbal statements from the patient or caregiver. Objective data is
measurable, tangible data such as vital signs, intake and output, and height
and weight.
Data may come from the patient directly or from primary caregivers who
may or may not be direct relation family members. Friends can play a role
in data collection. Electronic health records may populate data in and assist
in assessment.
, Assessment begins with — what else — ABCDE: A=airway, B=breathing,
C=circulation, D=decreased consciousness, and E=everything else.
"Everything else" includes a visual head-to-toe check of the patient, looking
for abnormalities such as bleeding, bruising, hematomas, rashes or
fractures.
Critical thinking skills are essential to assessment, thus the need for
concept-based curriculum changes
▶ What is the purpose of the assessment phase of the nursing process?
Answer: The main purpose of the assessment phase is to validate
subjective and objective patient data and to document it. Important
methods of data collection are the patient interview, medical and drug-use
histories, the physical examination, observation of the patient, and
laboratory tests.
Ex: Height, Weight, O2 sat, Blood Pressure, Pain scale
Ask your patient questions that would help you get information.
*always assess first!
▶ Diagnosis Answer: A nursing diagnosis is a clinical judgment concerning
a human response to health conditions/life processes, or a vulnerability for
that response, by an individual, family, group or community.
The formulation of a nursing diagnosis by employing clinical judgment
assists in the planning and implementation of patient care.
▶ Nursing Diagnosis vs Medical Diagnosis Answer: Nursing Diagnosis:
• Nursing Judgment
• Refers to condition that nurses are licensed to treat
• Describes the patient's physical, sociocultural, psychological and spiritual
responses to illness or health condition
Medical Diagnosis:
Made by Licensed Provider ( Doctor, APRN, PA)
Refers to Disease Process ( Specific Pathophysiologic Responses)
▶ Nursing Diagnosis vs. Medical Diagnosis examples: Answer:
EXAM QUESTIONS AND DETAILED
SOLUTIONS 2026
▶ The National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission (NLNAC)
Answer: The National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission
(NLNAC) has defined critical thinking as "the deliberate nonlinear process
of collecting, interpreting, analyzing, drawing conclusions about,
presenting, and evaluating information that is both factually and belief
based
▶ What is the purpose of the nursing process? Answer: To identify a
client's health care status, and actual or potential health problems, to
establish plans to meet the identified needs, and to deliver specific nursing
interventions to address those needs.
The nursing process functions as a systematic guide to client-centered care
with 5 sequential steps. These are assessment, diagnosis, planning,
implementation, and evaluation.
Nursing process can be used to plan your day or when implementing report
to another nurse or calling a physician using SBAR.
▶ Assessment Answer: Assessment is the first step and involves critical
thinking skills and data collection; subjective and objective. Subjective data
involves verbal statements from the patient or caregiver. Objective data is
measurable, tangible data such as vital signs, intake and output, and height
and weight.
Data may come from the patient directly or from primary caregivers who
may or may not be direct relation family members. Friends can play a role
in data collection. Electronic health records may populate data in and assist
in assessment.
, Assessment begins with — what else — ABCDE: A=airway, B=breathing,
C=circulation, D=decreased consciousness, and E=everything else.
"Everything else" includes a visual head-to-toe check of the patient, looking
for abnormalities such as bleeding, bruising, hematomas, rashes or
fractures.
Critical thinking skills are essential to assessment, thus the need for
concept-based curriculum changes
▶ What is the purpose of the assessment phase of the nursing process?
Answer: The main purpose of the assessment phase is to validate
subjective and objective patient data and to document it. Important
methods of data collection are the patient interview, medical and drug-use
histories, the physical examination, observation of the patient, and
laboratory tests.
Ex: Height, Weight, O2 sat, Blood Pressure, Pain scale
Ask your patient questions that would help you get information.
*always assess first!
▶ Diagnosis Answer: A nursing diagnosis is a clinical judgment concerning
a human response to health conditions/life processes, or a vulnerability for
that response, by an individual, family, group or community.
The formulation of a nursing diagnosis by employing clinical judgment
assists in the planning and implementation of patient care.
▶ Nursing Diagnosis vs Medical Diagnosis Answer: Nursing Diagnosis:
• Nursing Judgment
• Refers to condition that nurses are licensed to treat
• Describes the patient's physical, sociocultural, psychological and spiritual
responses to illness or health condition
Medical Diagnosis:
Made by Licensed Provider ( Doctor, APRN, PA)
Refers to Disease Process ( Specific Pathophysiologic Responses)
▶ Nursing Diagnosis vs. Medical Diagnosis examples: Answer:
