CNOR (CERTIFIED PERIOPERATIVE NURSE)
CERTIFICATION EXAM COMPLETE PRACTICE
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | COMPREHENSIVE
CERTIFICATION PREPARATION | UPDATED 2026/2027
STUDY GUIDE
Examiner/Administrator: Competency & Credentialing Institute (CCI)
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CNOR CERTIFICATION EXAM
2026/2027 EDITION
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COMPLETE PRACTICE EXAM
120 ORIGINAL MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
PASSING SCORE: 70%
TESTING TIME: 210 MINUTES
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Preoperative Patient Assessment & Planning
2. Patient Safety & Advocacy
3. Aseptic Technique & Sterile Processing
4. Surgical Equipment & Technology
5. Intraoperative Patient Care
,6. Infection Prevention & Control
7. Emergency Situations & Crisis Management
8. Professional Accountability & Leadership
9. Quality Improvement & Evidence-Based Practice
10. Postoperative Care & Patient Handover
COMPETENCY & CREDENTIALING INSTITUTE (CCI) || ALIGNED WITH CURRENT
PERIOPERATIVE NURSING BLUEPRINTS || PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION STUDY
GUIDE || ORIGINAL PRACTICE QUESTIONS || COMPREHENSIVE EXAM PREPARATION ||
PREPARED FOR CERTIFICATION CANDIDATES || PROFESSIONAL EDUCATIONAL USE
</div>
Preoperative Patient Assessment & Planning
QUESTION 1
A 67-year-old patient with insulin-dependent diabetes and chronic kidney disease is
scheduled for an elective total knee arthroplasty. During the preoperative
assessment, the perioperative nurse discovers the patient has received long-acting
insulin that morning despite instructions to withhold it. Which nursing action is the
highest priority?
A. Notify the anesthesia provider and surgeon before proceeding.
B. Continue routine preparation because glucose will be monitored intraoperatively.
C. Administer intravenous dextrose immediately without further assessment.
D. Delay documentation until the patient reaches the operating room.
Correct Answer: A. Notify the anesthesia provider and surgeon before proceeding.
Explanation: The unexpected administration of long-acting insulin may significantly
alter perioperative glucose management and anesthesia planning. Prompt
,communication allows the interdisciplinary team to assess blood glucose, modify
anesthetic management, and determine whether surgery should proceed safely. Option
B minimizes a potentially significant risk. Option C may be inappropriate without
assessment of current glucose levels. Option D delays communication and
documentation of critical patient information.
QUESTION 2
Immediately before patient transfer into the operating room, the circulating nurse
identifies that the informed consent lists the right shoulder arthroscopy, while the
surgeon's schedule indicates the left shoulder. What is the most appropriate action?
A. Continue preparation because the surgeon can clarify the discrepancy after
induction.
B. Stop the process until the discrepancy is resolved before surgery proceeds.
C. Ask the scrub person which side is correct.
D. Mark both shoulders.
Correct Answer: B. Stop the process until the discrepancy is resolved before
surgery proceeds.
Explanation: Any discrepancy involving patient identity, procedure, or surgical site
requires immediate resolution before anesthesia induction or incision. Proceeding
despite conflicting documentation creates unacceptable risk for wrong-site surgery.
Consulting another staff member or marking both sites does not resolve the
discrepancy.
QUESTION 3
A patient reports a severe latex allergy during the preoperative interview. Which
intervention best reduces the risk of an intraoperative allergic reaction?
, A. Schedule the procedure as the first case of the day and remove latex-containing
products from the room.
B. Administer prophylactic antibiotics earlier than scheduled.
C. Perform the surgical skin preparation with alcohol only.
D. Substitute powdered gloves with non-powdered latex gloves.
Correct Answer: A. Schedule the procedure as the first case of the day and remove
latex-containing products from the room.
Explanation: First-case scheduling minimizes airborne latex exposure from previous
procedures. Removing latex-containing supplies is an essential component of latex-safe
care. Antibiotic timing does not affect latex exposure. Alcohol skin preparation is
unrelated to latex allergy, and non-powdered latex gloves still contain latex proteins
capable of triggering reactions.
QUESTION 4
The circulating nurse reviews laboratory results before surgery and notes a serum
potassium level of 6.1 mEq/L that was not previously acknowledged. What is the
nurse's priority action?
A. Notify the anesthesia provider and surgeon immediately.
B. Repeat the laboratory test after surgery.
C. Proceed because hyperkalemia is expected in older adults.
D. Document the result after patient transfer.
Correct Answer: A. Notify the anesthesia provider and surgeon immediately.
Explanation: Significant hyperkalemia increases the risk of life-threatening cardiac
dysrhythmias during anesthesia. Prompt communication is required before proceeding.
Delaying notification or assuming the value is expected places the patient at
unnecessary risk.
CERTIFICATION EXAM COMPLETE PRACTICE
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | COMPREHENSIVE
CERTIFICATION PREPARATION | UPDATED 2026/2027
STUDY GUIDE
Examiner/Administrator: Competency & Credentialing Institute (CCI)
<div align="center">
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CNOR CERTIFICATION EXAM
2026/2027 EDITION
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
COMPLETE PRACTICE EXAM
120 ORIGINAL MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
PASSING SCORE: 70%
TESTING TIME: 210 MINUTES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Preoperative Patient Assessment & Planning
2. Patient Safety & Advocacy
3. Aseptic Technique & Sterile Processing
4. Surgical Equipment & Technology
5. Intraoperative Patient Care
,6. Infection Prevention & Control
7. Emergency Situations & Crisis Management
8. Professional Accountability & Leadership
9. Quality Improvement & Evidence-Based Practice
10. Postoperative Care & Patient Handover
COMPETENCY & CREDENTIALING INSTITUTE (CCI) || ALIGNED WITH CURRENT
PERIOPERATIVE NURSING BLUEPRINTS || PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION STUDY
GUIDE || ORIGINAL PRACTICE QUESTIONS || COMPREHENSIVE EXAM PREPARATION ||
PREPARED FOR CERTIFICATION CANDIDATES || PROFESSIONAL EDUCATIONAL USE
</div>
Preoperative Patient Assessment & Planning
QUESTION 1
A 67-year-old patient with insulin-dependent diabetes and chronic kidney disease is
scheduled for an elective total knee arthroplasty. During the preoperative
assessment, the perioperative nurse discovers the patient has received long-acting
insulin that morning despite instructions to withhold it. Which nursing action is the
highest priority?
A. Notify the anesthesia provider and surgeon before proceeding.
B. Continue routine preparation because glucose will be monitored intraoperatively.
C. Administer intravenous dextrose immediately without further assessment.
D. Delay documentation until the patient reaches the operating room.
Correct Answer: A. Notify the anesthesia provider and surgeon before proceeding.
Explanation: The unexpected administration of long-acting insulin may significantly
alter perioperative glucose management and anesthesia planning. Prompt
,communication allows the interdisciplinary team to assess blood glucose, modify
anesthetic management, and determine whether surgery should proceed safely. Option
B minimizes a potentially significant risk. Option C may be inappropriate without
assessment of current glucose levels. Option D delays communication and
documentation of critical patient information.
QUESTION 2
Immediately before patient transfer into the operating room, the circulating nurse
identifies that the informed consent lists the right shoulder arthroscopy, while the
surgeon's schedule indicates the left shoulder. What is the most appropriate action?
A. Continue preparation because the surgeon can clarify the discrepancy after
induction.
B. Stop the process until the discrepancy is resolved before surgery proceeds.
C. Ask the scrub person which side is correct.
D. Mark both shoulders.
Correct Answer: B. Stop the process until the discrepancy is resolved before
surgery proceeds.
Explanation: Any discrepancy involving patient identity, procedure, or surgical site
requires immediate resolution before anesthesia induction or incision. Proceeding
despite conflicting documentation creates unacceptable risk for wrong-site surgery.
Consulting another staff member or marking both sites does not resolve the
discrepancy.
QUESTION 3
A patient reports a severe latex allergy during the preoperative interview. Which
intervention best reduces the risk of an intraoperative allergic reaction?
, A. Schedule the procedure as the first case of the day and remove latex-containing
products from the room.
B. Administer prophylactic antibiotics earlier than scheduled.
C. Perform the surgical skin preparation with alcohol only.
D. Substitute powdered gloves with non-powdered latex gloves.
Correct Answer: A. Schedule the procedure as the first case of the day and remove
latex-containing products from the room.
Explanation: First-case scheduling minimizes airborne latex exposure from previous
procedures. Removing latex-containing supplies is an essential component of latex-safe
care. Antibiotic timing does not affect latex exposure. Alcohol skin preparation is
unrelated to latex allergy, and non-powdered latex gloves still contain latex proteins
capable of triggering reactions.
QUESTION 4
The circulating nurse reviews laboratory results before surgery and notes a serum
potassium level of 6.1 mEq/L that was not previously acknowledged. What is the
nurse's priority action?
A. Notify the anesthesia provider and surgeon immediately.
B. Repeat the laboratory test after surgery.
C. Proceed because hyperkalemia is expected in older adults.
D. Document the result after patient transfer.
Correct Answer: A. Notify the anesthesia provider and surgeon immediately.
Explanation: Significant hyperkalemia increases the risk of life-threatening cardiac
dysrhythmias during anesthesia. Prompt communication is required before proceeding.
Delaying notification or assuming the value is expected places the patient at
unnecessary risk.
