NUR 257 CHRONIC CONDITIONS EXAM 3 FALL 2025/2026 COMPLETE PRACTICE
TEST BANK QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | VERIFIED SOLUTIONS | UPDATED
2026/2027 COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
Examiner/Administrator: Galen College of Nursing
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NUR 257 CHRONIC CONDITIONS EXAM 3
GALEN COLLEGE OF NURSING – FALL 2025/2026
UPDATED 2026/2027 EDITION
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
COMPLETE PRACTICE EXAM
100 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
EXACT OFFICIAL COUNT: 100 QUESTIONS
PASSING SCORE: 70%
TESTING TIME: 120 MINUTES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
GOVERNING NURSING EDUCATION STANDARDS || ALIGNED WITH CURRENT
CHRONIC CONDITIONS NURSING BLUEPRINTS || ADULT HEALTH NURSING &
MEDICAL-SURGICAL CONCEPTS || PROFESSIONAL RN STUDY GUIDE || 100% VERIFIED
EDUCATIONAL CONTENT || COMPREHENSIVE EXAM PREPARATION || PREPARED FOR
ACADEMIC & CLINICAL SUCCESS || PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATION USE ONLY
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC REVIEW COPY
PREPARED FOR NURSING EXAMINATION PRACTICE
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Questions 1–10 → Cardiovascular Chronic Conditions & Heart Failure
Q1. A nurse is caring for a client admitted with chronic heart failure who suddenly
develops worsening dyspnea, crackles throughout both lung fields, and pink frothy
sputum. Which nursing intervention should be prioritized first?
,A. Encourage oral fluid intake
B. Place the client in high-Fowler’s position
C. Obtain a daily weight
D. Administer scheduled stool softener
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. Place the client in high-Fowler’s position
Explanation: 🔹 The client is exhibiting manifestations of acute pulmonary edema
secondary to worsening heart failure. Positioning the client in high-Fowler’s position
immediately reduces venous return, decreases preload, and improves lung expansion.
Option A would worsen fluid overload. Option C is important for long-term management
but is not the priority during acute respiratory distress. Option D is unrelated to the
emergent condition. Priority nursing care follows airway and breathing stabilization
principles.
Q2. A patient with chronic hypertension asks why left ventricular hypertrophy occurs
over time. Which response by the nurse is most accurate?
A. “The ventricle stretches because blood volume decreases.”
B. “The heart muscle thickens to pump against increased resistance.”
C. “The electrical conduction system enlarges from hypertension.”
D. “Valve leaflets enlarge because of decreased afterload.”
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. “The heart muscle thickens to pump against increased
resistance.”
Explanation: 🔹 Chronic hypertension increases systemic vascular resistance, creating
elevated afterload. The left ventricle compensates by thickening its muscular walls to
maintain cardiac output. Option A is incorrect because ventricular stretching is more
associated with volume overload. Option C incorrectly describes electrical changes rather
than muscular hypertrophy. Option D is inaccurate because hypertension increases—not
decreases—afterload.
Q3. A client with heart failure is prescribed furosemide. Which assessment finding
indicates the medication has been therapeutically effective?
,A. Jugular venous distention
B. Weight gain of 2 pounds overnight
C. Decreased peripheral edema
D. Presence of crackles at lung bases
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Decreased peripheral edema
Explanation: 🔹 Furosemide is a loop diuretic that promotes fluid removal. A reduction in
peripheral edema demonstrates effective fluid volume reduction. Jugular venous
distention and crackles suggest persistent fluid overload. Sudden weight gain indicates
worsening retention rather than improvement. Monitoring edema, lung sounds,
intake/output, and daily weight helps evaluate therapeutic response.
Q4. The nurse teaches a patient with chronic stable angina about nitroglycerin
administration. Which patient statement requires further teaching?
A. “I will sit down before taking the medication.”
B. “I can repeat the dose every 5 minutes up to three times.”
C. “I should store the tablets in the bathroom medicine cabinet.”
D. “I may experience a headache after taking nitroglycerin.”
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. “I should store the tablets in the bathroom medicine cabinet.”
Explanation: 🔹 Nitroglycerin tablets should be stored in their original dark container
away from heat, moisture, and light because these factors reduce potency. Bathrooms
are humid environments and are inappropriate storage locations. Options A, B, and D
reflect correct understanding of nitroglycerin administration and side effects.
Q5. A nurse is evaluating a patient with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Which
assessment finding is most consistent with this disorder?
A. Warm lower extremities with edema
B. Brown discoloration near the ankles
C. Diminished pedal pulses and leg pain with activity
D. Relief of discomfort when legs are dependent
, Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Diminished pedal pulses and leg pain with activity
Explanation: 🔹 Peripheral arterial disease results from impaired arterial blood flow.
Classic manifestations include intermittent claudication, diminished pulses, cool
extremities, and pain during activity. Venous disorders more commonly cause edema and
brown discoloration. Relief with dependent positioning may occur in arterial disease, but
diminished pulses with exertional pain is the hallmark finding.
Q6. A patient with chronic atrial fibrillation is prescribed warfarin therapy. Which
laboratory value should the nurse monitor most closely?
A. Hemoglobin A1C
B. INR
C. Serum potassium
D. Troponin level
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. INR
Explanation: 🔹 Warfarin effectiveness and bleeding risk are monitored using the
international normalized ratio (INR). Therapeutic INR levels help prevent
thromboembolic complications associated with atrial fibrillation. Hemoglobin A1C
monitors diabetes control. Potassium monitoring is important with certain cardiac
medications but is not the primary indicator for warfarin therapy. Troponin evaluates
myocardial injury.
Q7. A nurse caring for a client with chronic venous insufficiency should include which
intervention in the plan of care?
A. Keep legs in a dependent position continuously
B. Encourage use of compression stockings
C. Apply heating pads directly to lower legs
D. Restrict ambulation to prevent pain
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. Encourage use of compression stockings
TEST BANK QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | VERIFIED SOLUTIONS | UPDATED
2026/2027 COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
Examiner/Administrator: Galen College of Nursing
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NUR 257 CHRONIC CONDITIONS EXAM 3
GALEN COLLEGE OF NURSING – FALL 2025/2026
UPDATED 2026/2027 EDITION
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
COMPLETE PRACTICE EXAM
100 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
EXACT OFFICIAL COUNT: 100 QUESTIONS
PASSING SCORE: 70%
TESTING TIME: 120 MINUTES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
GOVERNING NURSING EDUCATION STANDARDS || ALIGNED WITH CURRENT
CHRONIC CONDITIONS NURSING BLUEPRINTS || ADULT HEALTH NURSING &
MEDICAL-SURGICAL CONCEPTS || PROFESSIONAL RN STUDY GUIDE || 100% VERIFIED
EDUCATIONAL CONTENT || COMPREHENSIVE EXAM PREPARATION || PREPARED FOR
ACADEMIC & CLINICAL SUCCESS || PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATION USE ONLY
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC REVIEW COPY
PREPARED FOR NURSING EXAMINATION PRACTICE
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Questions 1–10 → Cardiovascular Chronic Conditions & Heart Failure
Q1. A nurse is caring for a client admitted with chronic heart failure who suddenly
develops worsening dyspnea, crackles throughout both lung fields, and pink frothy
sputum. Which nursing intervention should be prioritized first?
,A. Encourage oral fluid intake
B. Place the client in high-Fowler’s position
C. Obtain a daily weight
D. Administer scheduled stool softener
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. Place the client in high-Fowler’s position
Explanation: 🔹 The client is exhibiting manifestations of acute pulmonary edema
secondary to worsening heart failure. Positioning the client in high-Fowler’s position
immediately reduces venous return, decreases preload, and improves lung expansion.
Option A would worsen fluid overload. Option C is important for long-term management
but is not the priority during acute respiratory distress. Option D is unrelated to the
emergent condition. Priority nursing care follows airway and breathing stabilization
principles.
Q2. A patient with chronic hypertension asks why left ventricular hypertrophy occurs
over time. Which response by the nurse is most accurate?
A. “The ventricle stretches because blood volume decreases.”
B. “The heart muscle thickens to pump against increased resistance.”
C. “The electrical conduction system enlarges from hypertension.”
D. “Valve leaflets enlarge because of decreased afterload.”
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. “The heart muscle thickens to pump against increased
resistance.”
Explanation: 🔹 Chronic hypertension increases systemic vascular resistance, creating
elevated afterload. The left ventricle compensates by thickening its muscular walls to
maintain cardiac output. Option A is incorrect because ventricular stretching is more
associated with volume overload. Option C incorrectly describes electrical changes rather
than muscular hypertrophy. Option D is inaccurate because hypertension increases—not
decreases—afterload.
Q3. A client with heart failure is prescribed furosemide. Which assessment finding
indicates the medication has been therapeutically effective?
,A. Jugular venous distention
B. Weight gain of 2 pounds overnight
C. Decreased peripheral edema
D. Presence of crackles at lung bases
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Decreased peripheral edema
Explanation: 🔹 Furosemide is a loop diuretic that promotes fluid removal. A reduction in
peripheral edema demonstrates effective fluid volume reduction. Jugular venous
distention and crackles suggest persistent fluid overload. Sudden weight gain indicates
worsening retention rather than improvement. Monitoring edema, lung sounds,
intake/output, and daily weight helps evaluate therapeutic response.
Q4. The nurse teaches a patient with chronic stable angina about nitroglycerin
administration. Which patient statement requires further teaching?
A. “I will sit down before taking the medication.”
B. “I can repeat the dose every 5 minutes up to three times.”
C. “I should store the tablets in the bathroom medicine cabinet.”
D. “I may experience a headache after taking nitroglycerin.”
Correct Answer: 🔴 C. “I should store the tablets in the bathroom medicine cabinet.”
Explanation: 🔹 Nitroglycerin tablets should be stored in their original dark container
away from heat, moisture, and light because these factors reduce potency. Bathrooms
are humid environments and are inappropriate storage locations. Options A, B, and D
reflect correct understanding of nitroglycerin administration and side effects.
Q5. A nurse is evaluating a patient with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Which
assessment finding is most consistent with this disorder?
A. Warm lower extremities with edema
B. Brown discoloration near the ankles
C. Diminished pedal pulses and leg pain with activity
D. Relief of discomfort when legs are dependent
, Correct Answer: 🔴 C. Diminished pedal pulses and leg pain with activity
Explanation: 🔹 Peripheral arterial disease results from impaired arterial blood flow.
Classic manifestations include intermittent claudication, diminished pulses, cool
extremities, and pain during activity. Venous disorders more commonly cause edema and
brown discoloration. Relief with dependent positioning may occur in arterial disease, but
diminished pulses with exertional pain is the hallmark finding.
Q6. A patient with chronic atrial fibrillation is prescribed warfarin therapy. Which
laboratory value should the nurse monitor most closely?
A. Hemoglobin A1C
B. INR
C. Serum potassium
D. Troponin level
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. INR
Explanation: 🔹 Warfarin effectiveness and bleeding risk are monitored using the
international normalized ratio (INR). Therapeutic INR levels help prevent
thromboembolic complications associated with atrial fibrillation. Hemoglobin A1C
monitors diabetes control. Potassium monitoring is important with certain cardiac
medications but is not the primary indicator for warfarin therapy. Troponin evaluates
myocardial injury.
Q7. A nurse caring for a client with chronic venous insufficiency should include which
intervention in the plan of care?
A. Keep legs in a dependent position continuously
B. Encourage use of compression stockings
C. Apply heating pads directly to lower legs
D. Restrict ambulation to prevent pain
Correct Answer: 🔴 B. Encourage use of compression stockings
