CLINICAL DECISION-MAKING REVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | CLINICAL
DECISION-MAKING STUDY GUIDE & PRACTICE TEST 2026/2027
1. Two patient deaths have occurred on a medical unit in the last month. The staff notices that everyone
feels pressured and team members are getting into more arguments. As a nurse on the unit, what will
best help you manage this stress?
1. Keep a journal
2. Participate in a unit meeting to discuss feelings about the patient deaths
3. Ask the nurse manager to assign you to less difficult patients
4. Review the policy and procedure manual on proper care of patients after death - ✔✔2.
2. A nurse has seen many cancer patients struggle with pain management because they are afraid of
becoming addicted to the medicine. Pain control is a priority for cancer care. By helping patients focus
on their values and beliefs about pain control, a nurse can best make clinical decisions. This is an
example of:
1. Creativity.
2. Fairness.
3. Clinical reasoning.
4. Applying ethical criteria. - ✔✔4.
3. A nurse prepares to insert a Foley catheter. The procedure manual calls for the patient to lie in the
dorsal recumbent position. The patient complains of having back pain when lying on her back. Despite
this, the nurse positions the patient supine with knees flexed as the manual recommends and begins to
insert the catheter. This is an example of:
1. Accuracy.
2. Reflection.
3. Risk taking.
4. Basic critical thinking. - ✔✔4.
5. A nurse on a busy medicine unit is assigned to four patients. It is 10 AM. Two patients have
medications due and one of those has a specimen of urine to be collected. One patient is having
complications from surgery and is being prepared to return to the operating room. The fourth patient
requires instructions about activity restrictions before going home this afternoon. Which of the following
,should the nurse use in making clinical decisions appropriate for the patient group? (Select all that
apply.)
1. Consider availability of assistive personnel to obtain the specimen
2. Combine activities to resolve more than one patient problem
3. Analyze the diagnoses/problems and decide which are most urgent based on patients' needs
4. Plan a family conference for tomorrow to make decisions about resources the patient will need to go
home
5. Identify the nursing diagnoses for the patient going home - ✔✔1, 2,3
6. By using known criteria in conducting an assessment such as reviewing with a patient the typical
characteristics of pain, a nurse is demonstrating which critical thinking attitude?
1. Curiosity
2. Adequacy
3. Discipline
4. Thinking independently - ✔✔3
7. A nurse just started working at a well-baby clinic. One of her recent experiences was to help a mother
learn the steps of breastfeeding. During the first clinic visit the mother had difficulty positioning the baby
during feeding. After the visit the nurse considers what affected the inability of the mother to
breastfeed, including the mother's obesity and inexperience. The nurse's review of the situation is called:
1. Reflection.
2. Perseverance.
3. Intuition.
4. Problem solving - ✔✔1.
8. Place the steps of the scientific method in their correct order with number 1 being the first step of the
process.
1. Formulate a question or hypothesis.
2. Evaluate results of the study.
3. Collect data.
4. Identify the problem.
, 5. Test the question or hypothesis. - ✔✔4,3,1,5,2
9. A nurse changed a patient's surgical wound dressing the day before and now prepares for another
dressing change. The nurse had difficulty removing the gauze from the wound bed yesterday, causing the
patient discomfort. Today he gives the patient an analgesic 30 minutes before the dressing change. Then
he adds some sterile saline to loosen the gauze for a few minutes before removing it. The patient reports
that the procedure was much more comfortable. Which of the following describes the nurse's approach
to the dressing change? (Select all that apply.)
1. Clinical inference
2. Basic critical thinking
3. Complex critical thinking
4. Experience
5. Reflection - ✔✔3,4
10. Which of the following describes a nurse's application of a specific knowledge base during critical
thinking? (Select all that apply.)
1. Initiative in reading current evidence from the literature
2. Application of nursing theory
3. Reviewing policy and procedure manual
4. Considering holistic view of patient needs
5. Previous time caring for a specific group of patients - ✔✔1,2,4,
12. An aspect of clinical decision making is knowing the patient. Which of the following is the most
critical aspect of developing the ability to know the patient?
1. Working in multiple health care settings
2. Learning good communication skills
3. Spending time establishing relationships with patients
4. Relying on evidence in practice - ✔✔3
13. In which of the following examples is a nurse applying critical thinking skills in practice? (Select all
that apply.)
1. The nurse thinks back about a personal experience before administering a medication subcutaneously.
DECISION-MAKING STUDY GUIDE & PRACTICE TEST 2026/2027
1. Two patient deaths have occurred on a medical unit in the last month. The staff notices that everyone
feels pressured and team members are getting into more arguments. As a nurse on the unit, what will
best help you manage this stress?
1. Keep a journal
2. Participate in a unit meeting to discuss feelings about the patient deaths
3. Ask the nurse manager to assign you to less difficult patients
4. Review the policy and procedure manual on proper care of patients after death - ✔✔2.
2. A nurse has seen many cancer patients struggle with pain management because they are afraid of
becoming addicted to the medicine. Pain control is a priority for cancer care. By helping patients focus
on their values and beliefs about pain control, a nurse can best make clinical decisions. This is an
example of:
1. Creativity.
2. Fairness.
3. Clinical reasoning.
4. Applying ethical criteria. - ✔✔4.
3. A nurse prepares to insert a Foley catheter. The procedure manual calls for the patient to lie in the
dorsal recumbent position. The patient complains of having back pain when lying on her back. Despite
this, the nurse positions the patient supine with knees flexed as the manual recommends and begins to
insert the catheter. This is an example of:
1. Accuracy.
2. Reflection.
3. Risk taking.
4. Basic critical thinking. - ✔✔4.
5. A nurse on a busy medicine unit is assigned to four patients. It is 10 AM. Two patients have
medications due and one of those has a specimen of urine to be collected. One patient is having
complications from surgery and is being prepared to return to the operating room. The fourth patient
requires instructions about activity restrictions before going home this afternoon. Which of the following
,should the nurse use in making clinical decisions appropriate for the patient group? (Select all that
apply.)
1. Consider availability of assistive personnel to obtain the specimen
2. Combine activities to resolve more than one patient problem
3. Analyze the diagnoses/problems and decide which are most urgent based on patients' needs
4. Plan a family conference for tomorrow to make decisions about resources the patient will need to go
home
5. Identify the nursing diagnoses for the patient going home - ✔✔1, 2,3
6. By using known criteria in conducting an assessment such as reviewing with a patient the typical
characteristics of pain, a nurse is demonstrating which critical thinking attitude?
1. Curiosity
2. Adequacy
3. Discipline
4. Thinking independently - ✔✔3
7. A nurse just started working at a well-baby clinic. One of her recent experiences was to help a mother
learn the steps of breastfeeding. During the first clinic visit the mother had difficulty positioning the baby
during feeding. After the visit the nurse considers what affected the inability of the mother to
breastfeed, including the mother's obesity and inexperience. The nurse's review of the situation is called:
1. Reflection.
2. Perseverance.
3. Intuition.
4. Problem solving - ✔✔1.
8. Place the steps of the scientific method in their correct order with number 1 being the first step of the
process.
1. Formulate a question or hypothesis.
2. Evaluate results of the study.
3. Collect data.
4. Identify the problem.
, 5. Test the question or hypothesis. - ✔✔4,3,1,5,2
9. A nurse changed a patient's surgical wound dressing the day before and now prepares for another
dressing change. The nurse had difficulty removing the gauze from the wound bed yesterday, causing the
patient discomfort. Today he gives the patient an analgesic 30 minutes before the dressing change. Then
he adds some sterile saline to loosen the gauze for a few minutes before removing it. The patient reports
that the procedure was much more comfortable. Which of the following describes the nurse's approach
to the dressing change? (Select all that apply.)
1. Clinical inference
2. Basic critical thinking
3. Complex critical thinking
4. Experience
5. Reflection - ✔✔3,4
10. Which of the following describes a nurse's application of a specific knowledge base during critical
thinking? (Select all that apply.)
1. Initiative in reading current evidence from the literature
2. Application of nursing theory
3. Reviewing policy and procedure manual
4. Considering holistic view of patient needs
5. Previous time caring for a specific group of patients - ✔✔1,2,4,
12. An aspect of clinical decision making is knowing the patient. Which of the following is the most
critical aspect of developing the ability to know the patient?
1. Working in multiple health care settings
2. Learning good communication skills
3. Spending time establishing relationships with patients
4. Relying on evidence in practice - ✔✔3
13. In which of the following examples is a nurse applying critical thinking skills in practice? (Select all
that apply.)
1. The nurse thinks back about a personal experience before administering a medication subcutaneously.
