, 1. The public health nurse is presenting a health promotion class to a group of new
mothers. How should the nurse best define health?
A) Health is being disease free.
B) Health is having fulfillment in all domains of life.
C) Health is having psychological and physiological harmony.
D) Health is being connected in body, mind, and spirit.
Ans: D
Feedback:
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health in the preamble to its
constitution as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” The other answers are incorrect because
they are not congruent with the WHO definition of health.
2. A nurse is speaking to a group of prospective nursing students about what it is like to be
a nurse. What is one characteristic the nurse would cite as necessary to possess to be an
effective nurse?
A) Sensitivity to cultural differences
B) Team-focused approach to problem-solving
C) Strict adherence to routine
D) Ability to face criticism
Ans: A
Feedback:
To promote an effective nurse-patient relationship and positive outcomes of care,
nursing care must be culturally competent, appropriate, and sensitive to cultural
differences. Team-focused nursing and strict adherence to routine are not characteristics
needed to be an effective nurse. The ability to handle criticism is important, but to a
lesser degree than cultural competence.
3. With increases in longevity, people have had to become more knowledgeable about
their health and the professional health care that they receive. One outcome of this
phenomenon is the development of organized self-care education programs. Which of
the following do these programs prioritize?
A) Adequate prenatal care
B) Government advocacy and lobbying
C) Judicious use of online communities
D) Management of illness
Ans: D
Feedback:
Organized self-care education programs emphasize health promotion, disease
prevention, management of illness, self-care, and judicious use of the professional
health care system. Prenatal care, lobbying, and Internet activities are secondary.
4. The home health nurse is assisting a patient and his family in planning the patient's
Page 1
, return to work after surgery and the development of postsurgical complications. The
nurse is preparing a plan of care that addresses the patient's multifaceted needs. To
which level of Maslow's hierarchy of basic needs does the patient's need for self-
fulfillment relate?
A) Physiologic
B) Transcendence
C) Love and belonging
D) Self-actualization
Ans: D
Feedback:
Maslow's highest level of human needs is self-actualization, which includes self-
fulfillment, desire to know and understand, and aesthetic needs. The other answers are
incorrect because self-fulfillment does not relate directly to them.
5. The view that health and illness are not static states but that they exist on a continuum
is central to professional health care systems. When planning care, this view aids the
nurse in appreciating which of the following?
A) Care should focus primarily on the treatment of disease.
B) A person's state of health is ever-changing.
C) A person can transition from health to illness rapidly.
D) Care should focus on the patient's compliance with interventions.
Ans: B
Feedback:
By viewing health and illness on a continuum, it is possible to consider a person as
being neither completely healthy nor completely ill. Instead, a person's state of health is
ever-changing and has the potential to range from high-level wellness to extremely poor
health and imminent death. The other answers are incorrect because patient care should
not focus just on the treatment of disease. Rapid declines in health and “compliance”
with treatment are not key to this view of health.
6. A group of nursing students are participating in a community health clinic. When
providing care in this context, what should the students teach participants about disease
prevention?
A) It is best achieved through attending self-help groups.
B) It is best achieved by reducing psychological stress.
C) It is best achieved by being an active participant in the community.
D) It is best achieved by exhibiting behaviors that promote health.
Ans: D
Feedback:
Today, increasing emphasis is placed on health, health promotion, wellness, and self-
care. Health is seen as resulting from a lifestyle oriented toward wellness. Nurses in
community health clinics do not teach that disease prevention is best achieved through
attending self-help groups, by reducing stress, or by being an active participant in the
community, though each of these activities is consistent with a healthy lifestyle.
Page 2
, 7. A nurse on a medical-surgical unit has asked to represent the unit on the hospital's
quality committee. When describing quality improvement programs to nursing
colleagues and members of other health disciplines, what characteristic should the
nurse cite?
A) These programs establish consequences for health care professionals' actions.
B) These programs focus on the processes used to provide care.
C) These programs identify specific incidents related to quality.
D) These programs seek to justify health care costs and systems.
Ans: B
Feedback:
Numerous models seek to improve the quality of health care delivery. A commonality
among them is a focus on the processes that are used to provide care. Consequences, a
focus on incidents, and justification for health care costs are not universal
characteristics of quality improvement efforts.
8. Nurses in acute care settings must work with other health care team members to
maintain quality care while facing pressures to care for patients who are hospitalized
for shorter periods of time than in the past. To ensure positive health outcomes when
patients return to their homes, what action should the nurse prioritize?
A) Promotion of health literacy during hospitalization
B) Close communication with insurers
C) Thorough and evidence-based discharge planning
D) Participation in continuing education initiatives
Ans: C
Feedback:
Following discharges that occur after increasingly short hospital stays, nurses in the
community care for patients who need high-technology acute care services as well as
long-term care in the home. This is dependent on effective discharge planning to a
greater degree than continuing education, communication with insurers, or promotion
of health literacy.
9. You are admitting a patient to your medical unit after the patient has been transferred
from the emergency department. What is your priority nursing action at this time?
A) Identifying the immediate needs of the patient
B) Checking the admitting physician's orders
C) Obtaining a baseline set of vital signs
D) Allowing the family to be with the patient
Ans: A
Feedback:
Among the nurse's important functions in health care delivery, identifying the patient's
immediate needs and working in concert with the patient to address them is most
important. The other nursing functions are important, but they are not the most
Page 3
mothers. How should the nurse best define health?
A) Health is being disease free.
B) Health is having fulfillment in all domains of life.
C) Health is having psychological and physiological harmony.
D) Health is being connected in body, mind, and spirit.
Ans: D
Feedback:
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health in the preamble to its
constitution as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” The other answers are incorrect because
they are not congruent with the WHO definition of health.
2. A nurse is speaking to a group of prospective nursing students about what it is like to be
a nurse. What is one characteristic the nurse would cite as necessary to possess to be an
effective nurse?
A) Sensitivity to cultural differences
B) Team-focused approach to problem-solving
C) Strict adherence to routine
D) Ability to face criticism
Ans: A
Feedback:
To promote an effective nurse-patient relationship and positive outcomes of care,
nursing care must be culturally competent, appropriate, and sensitive to cultural
differences. Team-focused nursing and strict adherence to routine are not characteristics
needed to be an effective nurse. The ability to handle criticism is important, but to a
lesser degree than cultural competence.
3. With increases in longevity, people have had to become more knowledgeable about
their health and the professional health care that they receive. One outcome of this
phenomenon is the development of organized self-care education programs. Which of
the following do these programs prioritize?
A) Adequate prenatal care
B) Government advocacy and lobbying
C) Judicious use of online communities
D) Management of illness
Ans: D
Feedback:
Organized self-care education programs emphasize health promotion, disease
prevention, management of illness, self-care, and judicious use of the professional
health care system. Prenatal care, lobbying, and Internet activities are secondary.
4. The home health nurse is assisting a patient and his family in planning the patient's
Page 1
, return to work after surgery and the development of postsurgical complications. The
nurse is preparing a plan of care that addresses the patient's multifaceted needs. To
which level of Maslow's hierarchy of basic needs does the patient's need for self-
fulfillment relate?
A) Physiologic
B) Transcendence
C) Love and belonging
D) Self-actualization
Ans: D
Feedback:
Maslow's highest level of human needs is self-actualization, which includes self-
fulfillment, desire to know and understand, and aesthetic needs. The other answers are
incorrect because self-fulfillment does not relate directly to them.
5. The view that health and illness are not static states but that they exist on a continuum
is central to professional health care systems. When planning care, this view aids the
nurse in appreciating which of the following?
A) Care should focus primarily on the treatment of disease.
B) A person's state of health is ever-changing.
C) A person can transition from health to illness rapidly.
D) Care should focus on the patient's compliance with interventions.
Ans: B
Feedback:
By viewing health and illness on a continuum, it is possible to consider a person as
being neither completely healthy nor completely ill. Instead, a person's state of health is
ever-changing and has the potential to range from high-level wellness to extremely poor
health and imminent death. The other answers are incorrect because patient care should
not focus just on the treatment of disease. Rapid declines in health and “compliance”
with treatment are not key to this view of health.
6. A group of nursing students are participating in a community health clinic. When
providing care in this context, what should the students teach participants about disease
prevention?
A) It is best achieved through attending self-help groups.
B) It is best achieved by reducing psychological stress.
C) It is best achieved by being an active participant in the community.
D) It is best achieved by exhibiting behaviors that promote health.
Ans: D
Feedback:
Today, increasing emphasis is placed on health, health promotion, wellness, and self-
care. Health is seen as resulting from a lifestyle oriented toward wellness. Nurses in
community health clinics do not teach that disease prevention is best achieved through
attending self-help groups, by reducing stress, or by being an active participant in the
community, though each of these activities is consistent with a healthy lifestyle.
Page 2
, 7. A nurse on a medical-surgical unit has asked to represent the unit on the hospital's
quality committee. When describing quality improvement programs to nursing
colleagues and members of other health disciplines, what characteristic should the
nurse cite?
A) These programs establish consequences for health care professionals' actions.
B) These programs focus on the processes used to provide care.
C) These programs identify specific incidents related to quality.
D) These programs seek to justify health care costs and systems.
Ans: B
Feedback:
Numerous models seek to improve the quality of health care delivery. A commonality
among them is a focus on the processes that are used to provide care. Consequences, a
focus on incidents, and justification for health care costs are not universal
characteristics of quality improvement efforts.
8. Nurses in acute care settings must work with other health care team members to
maintain quality care while facing pressures to care for patients who are hospitalized
for shorter periods of time than in the past. To ensure positive health outcomes when
patients return to their homes, what action should the nurse prioritize?
A) Promotion of health literacy during hospitalization
B) Close communication with insurers
C) Thorough and evidence-based discharge planning
D) Participation in continuing education initiatives
Ans: C
Feedback:
Following discharges that occur after increasingly short hospital stays, nurses in the
community care for patients who need high-technology acute care services as well as
long-term care in the home. This is dependent on effective discharge planning to a
greater degree than continuing education, communication with insurers, or promotion
of health literacy.
9. You are admitting a patient to your medical unit after the patient has been transferred
from the emergency department. What is your priority nursing action at this time?
A) Identifying the immediate needs of the patient
B) Checking the admitting physician's orders
C) Obtaining a baseline set of vital signs
D) Allowing the family to be with the patient
Ans: A
Feedback:
Among the nurse's important functions in health care delivery, identifying the patient's
immediate needs and working in concert with the patient to address them is most
important. The other nursing functions are important, but they are not the most
Page 3
