MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSING TEST B
PRACTICE TEST 2026 QUESTIONS WITH
ANSWERS GRADED A+
◉ The nurse is assessing a patient's functional ability. Which
activities most closely match the definition of functional ability?
A) Healthy individual, college educated, travels frequently, can
balance a checkbook
B) Healthy individual, works out, reads well, cooks and cleans house
C) Healthy individual, volunteers at church, works part time, takes
care of family and house
D) Healthy individual, works outside the home, uses a cane, well
groomed. Answer: C
Functional ability refers to the individual's ability to perform the
normal daily activities required to meet basic needs; fulfill usual
roles in the family, workplace, and community; and maintain health
and well-being. The other options are good; however, each option
has advanced or independent activities in the context of the option.
◉ Which action demonstrates that the nurse understands the
purpose of the Rapid Response Team?
,A) Documenting all changes observed in the client and maintaining a
postoperative flow sheet
B) Monitoring the client for changes in postoperative status such as
wound infection
C) Notifying the physician of the client's change in blood pressure
from 140 to 88 mm Hg systolic
D) Notifying the physician of the client's increase in restlessness
after medication change. Answer: C
The Rapid Response Team (RRT) saves lives and decreases the risk
for harm by providing care to clients before a respiratory or cardiac
arrest occurs. Although the RRT does not replace the Code Team,
which responds to client arrests, it intervenes rapidly for those who
are beginning to decline clinically. It would be appropriate for the
RRT to intervene when the client has experienced a 52-point drop in
blood pressure. Monitoring the client's postoperative status,
maintaining a postoperative flow sheet, and notifying the physician
of a change in the client's status after a medication change would not
be considered activities of the Rapid Response Team.
◉ An older client just returned from surgery and is rating pain as "8"
on a 0 to 10 scale. Which medications are unsafe choices for
treatment of severe pain in this older adult? (Select all that apply.)
A) Morphine (Durmorph)
,B) Meperidine (Demerol)
C) Propoxyphene (Darvocet)
D) Methadone (Dolophine)
E) Codeine. Answer: B,C,D,E
Meperidine, propoxyphene, and codeine are not recommended for
older clients because toxic metabolites may accumulate. Codeine
may cause constipation as well. Methadone has an extremely long
half-life (24 to 36 hours) and has a high potential for sedation and
respiratory depression. Morphine is considered the gold standard
and may be used in the older adult while monitoring for sedation
and respiratory depression is conducted.
◉ An emergency department (ED) nurse gives report on a client
who is being transferred to the medical-surgical floor. Because of an
identified risk for suicide, the ED nurse suggests that the floor nurse
contact a sitter and behavioral health. This statement represents
which part of the SBAR hand-off?
A) Situation
B) Recommendation
C) Background
D) Assessment. Answer: B
, The ED nurse is giving recommendations to the medical-surgical
floor nurse about interventions to start for the client who is being
transferred. No communication is provided in the SBAR report about
the situation, background, or assessment.
◉ Understanding classifications of pain helps nurses develop a plan
of care. A 62-year-old male has fallen while trimming tree branches
sustaining tissue injury. He describes his condition as an aching,
throbbing back. This is characteristic of:
A) mixed pain syndrome.
B) chronic pain.
C) neuropathic pain.
D) nociceptive pain.. Answer: D
Nociceptive pain refers to the normal functioning of physiological
systems that leads to the perception of noxious stimuli (tissue
injury) as being painful. Patients describe this type of pain as aching,
cramping, or throbbing. Neuropathic pain is pathologic and results
from abnormal processing of sensory input by the nervous system
as a result of damage to the brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nerves.
Patients describe this type of pain as burning, sharp, and shooting.
Chronic pain is constant and unrelenting such as pain associated
with cancer. Mixed pain syndrome is not easily recognized, is unique
with multiple underlying and poorly understood mechanisms like
fibromyalgia and low back pain.
PRACTICE TEST 2026 QUESTIONS WITH
ANSWERS GRADED A+
◉ The nurse is assessing a patient's functional ability. Which
activities most closely match the definition of functional ability?
A) Healthy individual, college educated, travels frequently, can
balance a checkbook
B) Healthy individual, works out, reads well, cooks and cleans house
C) Healthy individual, volunteers at church, works part time, takes
care of family and house
D) Healthy individual, works outside the home, uses a cane, well
groomed. Answer: C
Functional ability refers to the individual's ability to perform the
normal daily activities required to meet basic needs; fulfill usual
roles in the family, workplace, and community; and maintain health
and well-being. The other options are good; however, each option
has advanced or independent activities in the context of the option.
◉ Which action demonstrates that the nurse understands the
purpose of the Rapid Response Team?
,A) Documenting all changes observed in the client and maintaining a
postoperative flow sheet
B) Monitoring the client for changes in postoperative status such as
wound infection
C) Notifying the physician of the client's change in blood pressure
from 140 to 88 mm Hg systolic
D) Notifying the physician of the client's increase in restlessness
after medication change. Answer: C
The Rapid Response Team (RRT) saves lives and decreases the risk
for harm by providing care to clients before a respiratory or cardiac
arrest occurs. Although the RRT does not replace the Code Team,
which responds to client arrests, it intervenes rapidly for those who
are beginning to decline clinically. It would be appropriate for the
RRT to intervene when the client has experienced a 52-point drop in
blood pressure. Monitoring the client's postoperative status,
maintaining a postoperative flow sheet, and notifying the physician
of a change in the client's status after a medication change would not
be considered activities of the Rapid Response Team.
◉ An older client just returned from surgery and is rating pain as "8"
on a 0 to 10 scale. Which medications are unsafe choices for
treatment of severe pain in this older adult? (Select all that apply.)
A) Morphine (Durmorph)
,B) Meperidine (Demerol)
C) Propoxyphene (Darvocet)
D) Methadone (Dolophine)
E) Codeine. Answer: B,C,D,E
Meperidine, propoxyphene, and codeine are not recommended for
older clients because toxic metabolites may accumulate. Codeine
may cause constipation as well. Methadone has an extremely long
half-life (24 to 36 hours) and has a high potential for sedation and
respiratory depression. Morphine is considered the gold standard
and may be used in the older adult while monitoring for sedation
and respiratory depression is conducted.
◉ An emergency department (ED) nurse gives report on a client
who is being transferred to the medical-surgical floor. Because of an
identified risk for suicide, the ED nurse suggests that the floor nurse
contact a sitter and behavioral health. This statement represents
which part of the SBAR hand-off?
A) Situation
B) Recommendation
C) Background
D) Assessment. Answer: B
, The ED nurse is giving recommendations to the medical-surgical
floor nurse about interventions to start for the client who is being
transferred. No communication is provided in the SBAR report about
the situation, background, or assessment.
◉ Understanding classifications of pain helps nurses develop a plan
of care. A 62-year-old male has fallen while trimming tree branches
sustaining tissue injury. He describes his condition as an aching,
throbbing back. This is characteristic of:
A) mixed pain syndrome.
B) chronic pain.
C) neuropathic pain.
D) nociceptive pain.. Answer: D
Nociceptive pain refers to the normal functioning of physiological
systems that leads to the perception of noxious stimuli (tissue
injury) as being painful. Patients describe this type of pain as aching,
cramping, or throbbing. Neuropathic pain is pathologic and results
from abnormal processing of sensory input by the nervous system
as a result of damage to the brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nerves.
Patients describe this type of pain as burning, sharp, and shooting.
Chronic pain is constant and unrelenting such as pain associated
with cancer. Mixed pain syndrome is not easily recognized, is unique
with multiple underlying and poorly understood mechanisms like
fibromyalgia and low back pain.
