NR 302 PRACTICE QUESTION & ANSWER: HEAD, FACE, NECK, AND REGIONAL
LYMPHATICS
1. A physician tells the nurse that a patient’s vertebra prominens is tender and asks the nurse to
reevaluate the area in 1 hour. The area of the body the nurse will assess is:
A. Just above the diaphragm.
B. Just lateral to the knee cap.
C. At the level of the C7 vertebra.
D. At the level of the T11 vertebra.
2. A mother brings her 2-month-old daughter in for an examination and says, “My daughter rolled
over against the wall, and now I have noticed that she has this spot that is soft on the top of her
head. Is something terribly wrong?” The nurse’s best response would be:
A. “Perhaps that could be a result of your dietary intake during pregnancy.”
B. “Your baby may have craniosynostosis, a disease of the sutures of the brain.”
C. “That ‘soft spot’ may be an indication of cretinism or congenital hypothyroidism.”
D. “That ‘soft spot’ is normal, and actually allows for growth of the brain during the
first year of your baby’s life.”
3. The nurse notices that a patient’s palpebral fissures are not symmetric. On examination, the nurse
may find that damage has occurred to which cranial nerve (CN)?
A. III
B. V
C. VII
D. VIII
4. A patient is unable to differentiate between sharp and dull stimulation to both sides of her face.
The nurse suspects:
A. Bell palsy.
B. Damage to the trigeminal nerve.
C. Frostbite with resultant paresthesia to the cheeks.
D. Scleroderma.
, 5. When examining the face of a patient, the nurse is aware that the two pairs of salivary glands that
are accessible to examination are the ___________ and ___________ glands.
A. Occipital; submental
B. Parotid; jugulodigastric
C. Parotid; submandibular
D. Submandibular; occipital
6. A patient comes to the clinic complaining of neck and shoulder pain and is unable to turn her
head. The nurse suspects damage to CN ______ and proceeds with the examination by
_____________.
A. XI; palpating the anterior and posterior triangles
B. XI; asking the patient to shrug her shoulders against resistance
C. XII; percussing the sternomastoid and submandibular neck muscles
D. XII; assessing for a positive Romberg sign
7. When examining a patient’s CN function, the nurse remembers that the muscles in the neck that
are innervated by CN XI are the:
A. Sternomastoid and trapezius.
B. Spinal accessory and omohyoid.
C. Trapezius and sternomandibular.
D. Sternomandibular and spinal accessory.
8. A patient’s laboratory data reveal an elevated thyroxine (T4) level. The nurse would proceed with
an examination of the _____ gland.
A. Thyroid
B. Parotid
C. Adrenal
D. Parathyroid
9. A patient says that she has recently noticed a lump in the front of her neck below her “Adam’s
apple” that seems to be getting bigger. During the assessment, the finding that leads the nurse to
suspect that this may not be a cancerous thyroid nodule is that the lump (nodule):
LYMPHATICS
1. A physician tells the nurse that a patient’s vertebra prominens is tender and asks the nurse to
reevaluate the area in 1 hour. The area of the body the nurse will assess is:
A. Just above the diaphragm.
B. Just lateral to the knee cap.
C. At the level of the C7 vertebra.
D. At the level of the T11 vertebra.
2. A mother brings her 2-month-old daughter in for an examination and says, “My daughter rolled
over against the wall, and now I have noticed that she has this spot that is soft on the top of her
head. Is something terribly wrong?” The nurse’s best response would be:
A. “Perhaps that could be a result of your dietary intake during pregnancy.”
B. “Your baby may have craniosynostosis, a disease of the sutures of the brain.”
C. “That ‘soft spot’ may be an indication of cretinism or congenital hypothyroidism.”
D. “That ‘soft spot’ is normal, and actually allows for growth of the brain during the
first year of your baby’s life.”
3. The nurse notices that a patient’s palpebral fissures are not symmetric. On examination, the nurse
may find that damage has occurred to which cranial nerve (CN)?
A. III
B. V
C. VII
D. VIII
4. A patient is unable to differentiate between sharp and dull stimulation to both sides of her face.
The nurse suspects:
A. Bell palsy.
B. Damage to the trigeminal nerve.
C. Frostbite with resultant paresthesia to the cheeks.
D. Scleroderma.
, 5. When examining the face of a patient, the nurse is aware that the two pairs of salivary glands that
are accessible to examination are the ___________ and ___________ glands.
A. Occipital; submental
B. Parotid; jugulodigastric
C. Parotid; submandibular
D. Submandibular; occipital
6. A patient comes to the clinic complaining of neck and shoulder pain and is unable to turn her
head. The nurse suspects damage to CN ______ and proceeds with the examination by
_____________.
A. XI; palpating the anterior and posterior triangles
B. XI; asking the patient to shrug her shoulders against resistance
C. XII; percussing the sternomastoid and submandibular neck muscles
D. XII; assessing for a positive Romberg sign
7. When examining a patient’s CN function, the nurse remembers that the muscles in the neck that
are innervated by CN XI are the:
A. Sternomastoid and trapezius.
B. Spinal accessory and omohyoid.
C. Trapezius and sternomandibular.
D. Sternomandibular and spinal accessory.
8. A patient’s laboratory data reveal an elevated thyroxine (T4) level. The nurse would proceed with
an examination of the _____ gland.
A. Thyroid
B. Parotid
C. Adrenal
D. Parathyroid
9. A patient says that she has recently noticed a lump in the front of her neck below her “Adam’s
apple” that seems to be getting bigger. During the assessment, the finding that leads the nurse to
suspect that this may not be a cancerous thyroid nodule is that the lump (nodule):
