NCLEX-RN Practice Questions (with complete solution)

A client is referred to a surgeon by the general practitioner. After meeting the surgeon, the client decides to find a different surgeon to continue treatment. The nurse supports the client's action, utilizing which ethical principle? 1. Beneficence 2. Veracity 3. Autonomy 4. Privacy - Answer: 3 Rationale: Autonomy is the right of individuals to take action for themselves. Beneficence is an ethical principle to do good and applies when the nurse has a city to help others by doing what is best for them. Veracity refers to truthfulness. Privacy is the nondisclosure of information by the health care team. Cognitive Level: Applying Client Need: Management of Care Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Implementation Content Area: Fundamentals Strategy: The core issue of the question is the ability to interpret which ethical principle is operating in a specific situation. Eliminate beneficence and veracity next because they focus on the obligation of the nurse rather than on a right of the client. A nurse forgets to administer a client's diuretic and the client experiences an episode of pulmonary edema. The charge nurse would consider the medication error to constitute negligence because the situation contains which element? 1. Purposeful failure to perform a health care procedure 2. Unintentional failure to perform a health care procedure 3. Act of substituting a different medication for the one ordered 4. Failure to follow a direct order by a physician - Answer: 2