PN 125 EXAM UPDATED QUESTIONS
AND CORRECT ANSWERS.
A nurse working in radiology administers iodine to a patient who is having a computed
tomography(CT) scan. The nurse working on the oncology unit administers chemotherapy to
patients who have cancer. At the Public Health Department, a nurse administers a measles-
mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to a 14-month-old child as a routine immunization. Which
branch of pharmacology best describes the actions of all three nurses? -
ANS Pharmacotherapeutics
A physician has ordered intramuscular (IM) injections of morphine, a narcotic, every 4 hours as
neededfor pain in a motor vehicle accident victim. The nurse is aware this drug has a high abuse
potential. Under what category would morphine be classified? - ANS Schedule II
When involved in phase III drug evaluation studies, what responsibilities would the nurse have?
- ANS Monitoring and observing patients closely for adverse effects
What concept is considered when generic drugs are substituted for brand name drugs? -
ANS Bioavailability
A nurse is assessing the patient's home medication use. After listening to the patient list current
medications, the nurse asks what priority question? - ANS Do you take any over-the-counter
medications?
1 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
,After completing a course on pharmacology for nurses, what will the nurse know? -
ANS General drug information; the nurse can consult a drug guide for specific drug
information.
A nurse is instructing a pregnant patient concerning the potential risk to her fetus from a
Pregnancy Category B drug. What would the nurse inform the patient? - ANS Animal studies
have not demonstrated a risk to the fetus, but there have been no adequate studiesin pregnant
women.
Discharge planning for patients leaving the hospital should include instructions on the use of
over-the- counter (OTC) drugs. Which comment by the patient would demonstrate a good
understanding of OTC drugs? - ANS OTC drugs could cause serious harm if not taken
according to directions.
What would be the best source of drug information for a nurse? - ANS A nurse's drug guide
The nurse is preparing to administer a medication from a multidose bottle. The label is torn and
soiledbut the name of the medication is still readable. What is the nurse's priority action? -
ANS Discard the entire bottle and contents and obtain a new bottle.
What aspect of pharmacology does a nurse study? (Select all that apply.) - ANS Impact of
drugs on the body
The body's response to a drug
Adverse and anticipated drug effects
The nurse, providing patient teaching about home medication use to an older adult, explains
that evenwhen drugs are taken properly they can produce negative or unexpected effects.
What are these negative or unexpected effects called? - ANS Adverse effects
After administering a medication, for what would the nurse assess the patient? - ANS Drug
effects
2 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
,The nurse receives an order to administer an unfamiliar medication and obtains a nurse's drug
guide published four years earlier. What is the nurse's most prudent action? - ANS Find a
more recent reference source.
What would the nurse provide when preparing a patient for discharge and home medication
self- administration? - ANS Thorough medication teaching about drugs and the drug regimen
In response to the patient's question about how to know whether drugs are safe, the nurse
explains thatall medications undergo rigorous scientific testing controlled by what
organization? - ANS Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The nurse, assisting with Phase I drug studies, is talking with a woman who asks, Why can't I
participate in this study? What would be the nurse's best response? - ANS Drugs pose a
greater risk to women of reproductive age.
The patient tells the nurse about a new drug being tested to treat the disease she was
diagnosed with andasks the nurse whether the doctor can prescribe a medication still in the
preclinical phase of testing. What is the nurse's best response? - ANS Drugs in the preclinical
phase of testing are only tested on animals and so would not be available toyou.
The nurse is caring for a patient who had a severe, acute, previously unseen adverse effect of a
drug in Phase III testing. The patient asks, After all the testing done on this drug, didn't they
know this adverseeffect could occur? What is the nurse's best response? (Select all that apply.)
- ANS Your response to this medication will be reported to the drug company and the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA).
When a drug begins to be used by a large clinical market, new adverse effects may be found.
The telephone triage nurse receives a call from a patient asking for a prescription for a narcotic
to manage his surgical pain. The nurse explains that narcotic prescriptions must be written and
cannot becalled in to the pharmacy. The patient says, Why are narcotics so difficult to get a
prescription for? What is the nurse's best response? - ANS Controlled substances like
narcotics are controlled by the FDA and the DEA.
3 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
, The nurse explains the Drug Enforcement Agency's (DEA's) schedule of controlled substances to
the nursing assistant who asks, Do you ever get a prescription for Schedule I medications? What
is the nurse's best response? - ANS Schedule I medications have no medical use so they are
not prescribed.
The nurse, working on the maternity unit, receives a call from a pregnant woman asking how
she canknow whether a medication is safe to take while pregnant. What is the nurse's best
response? - ANS Never take medication until you receive approval from your health care
provider.
A patient asks the nurse, What is a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) number? What is the
nurse's best response? - ANS DEA Numbers are given to physicians and pharmacists when
they register with the DEA toprescribe and dispense controlled substances.
When moving to another state, what is the nurse responsible for becoming familiar with? -
ANS Local policies and procedures for controlled substance administration
The patient looks at the prescription provided by the doctor and asks the nurse whether he can
request a generic substitution. The nurse answers No when noting what on the prescription? -
ANS DAW
The patient asks the nurse why generic drugs would be used and voices concerns that only the
brandname product will be safe. What is the nurse's best response? - ANS Most generic
drugs are very safe and can be cost effective as well.
While studying for the test, the nursing student encounters the following drug: papaverine
(Pavabid).What does the nursing student identify the name Pavabid as? - ANS The brand
name
The patient is prescribed a medication that was just placed in Phase IV study. The patient tells
the nurse, This medication is too expensive. Could the doctor order a generic form of this
medication?What is the nurse's most accurate response? - ANS Medications are not
produced in generic form until the patent expires, which normally takesseveral years.
4 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
AND CORRECT ANSWERS.
A nurse working in radiology administers iodine to a patient who is having a computed
tomography(CT) scan. The nurse working on the oncology unit administers chemotherapy to
patients who have cancer. At the Public Health Department, a nurse administers a measles-
mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to a 14-month-old child as a routine immunization. Which
branch of pharmacology best describes the actions of all three nurses? -
ANS Pharmacotherapeutics
A physician has ordered intramuscular (IM) injections of morphine, a narcotic, every 4 hours as
neededfor pain in a motor vehicle accident victim. The nurse is aware this drug has a high abuse
potential. Under what category would morphine be classified? - ANS Schedule II
When involved in phase III drug evaluation studies, what responsibilities would the nurse have?
- ANS Monitoring and observing patients closely for adverse effects
What concept is considered when generic drugs are substituted for brand name drugs? -
ANS Bioavailability
A nurse is assessing the patient's home medication use. After listening to the patient list current
medications, the nurse asks what priority question? - ANS Do you take any over-the-counter
medications?
1 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
,After completing a course on pharmacology for nurses, what will the nurse know? -
ANS General drug information; the nurse can consult a drug guide for specific drug
information.
A nurse is instructing a pregnant patient concerning the potential risk to her fetus from a
Pregnancy Category B drug. What would the nurse inform the patient? - ANS Animal studies
have not demonstrated a risk to the fetus, but there have been no adequate studiesin pregnant
women.
Discharge planning for patients leaving the hospital should include instructions on the use of
over-the- counter (OTC) drugs. Which comment by the patient would demonstrate a good
understanding of OTC drugs? - ANS OTC drugs could cause serious harm if not taken
according to directions.
What would be the best source of drug information for a nurse? - ANS A nurse's drug guide
The nurse is preparing to administer a medication from a multidose bottle. The label is torn and
soiledbut the name of the medication is still readable. What is the nurse's priority action? -
ANS Discard the entire bottle and contents and obtain a new bottle.
What aspect of pharmacology does a nurse study? (Select all that apply.) - ANS Impact of
drugs on the body
The body's response to a drug
Adverse and anticipated drug effects
The nurse, providing patient teaching about home medication use to an older adult, explains
that evenwhen drugs are taken properly they can produce negative or unexpected effects.
What are these negative or unexpected effects called? - ANS Adverse effects
After administering a medication, for what would the nurse assess the patient? - ANS Drug
effects
2 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
,The nurse receives an order to administer an unfamiliar medication and obtains a nurse's drug
guide published four years earlier. What is the nurse's most prudent action? - ANS Find a
more recent reference source.
What would the nurse provide when preparing a patient for discharge and home medication
self- administration? - ANS Thorough medication teaching about drugs and the drug regimen
In response to the patient's question about how to know whether drugs are safe, the nurse
explains thatall medications undergo rigorous scientific testing controlled by what
organization? - ANS Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The nurse, assisting with Phase I drug studies, is talking with a woman who asks, Why can't I
participate in this study? What would be the nurse's best response? - ANS Drugs pose a
greater risk to women of reproductive age.
The patient tells the nurse about a new drug being tested to treat the disease she was
diagnosed with andasks the nurse whether the doctor can prescribe a medication still in the
preclinical phase of testing. What is the nurse's best response? - ANS Drugs in the preclinical
phase of testing are only tested on animals and so would not be available toyou.
The nurse is caring for a patient who had a severe, acute, previously unseen adverse effect of a
drug in Phase III testing. The patient asks, After all the testing done on this drug, didn't they
know this adverseeffect could occur? What is the nurse's best response? (Select all that apply.)
- ANS Your response to this medication will be reported to the drug company and the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA).
When a drug begins to be used by a large clinical market, new adverse effects may be found.
The telephone triage nurse receives a call from a patient asking for a prescription for a narcotic
to manage his surgical pain. The nurse explains that narcotic prescriptions must be written and
cannot becalled in to the pharmacy. The patient says, Why are narcotics so difficult to get a
prescription for? What is the nurse's best response? - ANS Controlled substances like
narcotics are controlled by the FDA and the DEA.
3 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
, The nurse explains the Drug Enforcement Agency's (DEA's) schedule of controlled substances to
the nursing assistant who asks, Do you ever get a prescription for Schedule I medications? What
is the nurse's best response? - ANS Schedule I medications have no medical use so they are
not prescribed.
The nurse, working on the maternity unit, receives a call from a pregnant woman asking how
she canknow whether a medication is safe to take while pregnant. What is the nurse's best
response? - ANS Never take medication until you receive approval from your health care
provider.
A patient asks the nurse, What is a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) number? What is the
nurse's best response? - ANS DEA Numbers are given to physicians and pharmacists when
they register with the DEA toprescribe and dispense controlled substances.
When moving to another state, what is the nurse responsible for becoming familiar with? -
ANS Local policies and procedures for controlled substance administration
The patient looks at the prescription provided by the doctor and asks the nurse whether he can
request a generic substitution. The nurse answers No when noting what on the prescription? -
ANS DAW
The patient asks the nurse why generic drugs would be used and voices concerns that only the
brandname product will be safe. What is the nurse's best response? - ANS Most generic
drugs are very safe and can be cost effective as well.
While studying for the test, the nursing student encounters the following drug: papaverine
(Pavabid).What does the nursing student identify the name Pavabid as? - ANS The brand
name
The patient is prescribed a medication that was just placed in Phase IV study. The patient tells
the nurse, This medication is too expensive. Could the doctor order a generic form of this
medication?What is the nurse's most accurate response? - ANS Medications are not
produced in generic form until the patent expires, which normally takesseveral years.
4 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED
