Clinical Decision Making Review Questions And Answers

1. Two patient deaths have occurred in a medical unit in the last month. The staff notices that everyone feels pressured and team members are getting into more arguments. As a nurse on the unit, what will best help you manage this stress? 1. Keep a journal 2. Participate in a unit meeting to discuss feelings about the patient deaths 3. Ask the nurse manager to assign you to less difficult patients 4. Review the policy and procedure manual on proper care of patients after death - ANS 2. 2. A nurse has seen many cancer patients struggle with pain management because they are afraid of becoming addicted to the medicine. Pain control is a priority for cancer care. By helping patients focus on their values and beliefs about pain control, a nurse can best make clinical decisions. This is an example of: 1. Creativity. 2. Fairness. 3. Clinical reasoning. 4. Applying ethical criteria. - ANS 4. 3. A nurse prepares to insert a Foley catheter. The procedure manual calls for the patient to lie in the dorsal recumbent position. The patient complains of having back pain when lying on her back. Despite this, the nurse positions the patient supine with knees flexed as the manual recommends and begins to insert the catheter. This is an example of: 1. Accuracy. 2. Reflection. 3. Risk taking. 4. Basic critical thinking. - ANS 4. 5. A nurse on a busy medicine unit is assigned to four patients. It is 10 AM. Two patients have medications due and one of those has a specimen of urine to be collected. One patient is having complications from surgery and is being prepared to return to the operating room. The fourth patient requires instructions about activity restrictions before going home this afternoon. Which of the following should the nurse use in making clinical decisions appropriate for the patient group? (Select all that apply.) 1. Consider availability of assistive personnel to obtain the specimen 2. Combine activities to resolve more than one patient problem 3. Analyze the diagnoses/problems and decide which are most urgent based on patients' needs 4. Plan a family conference for tomorrow to make decisions about resources the patient will need to go home 5. Identify the nursing diagnoses for the patient going home - ANS 1, 2,3 6. By using known criteria in conducting an assessment such as reviewing with a patient the typical characteristics of pain, a nurse is demonstrating which critical thinking attitude? 1. Curiosity 2. Adequacy 3. Discipline 4. Thinking independently - ANS 3 7. A nurse just started working at a well-baby clinic. One of her recent experiences was to help a mother learn the steps of breastfeeding. During the first clinic visit the mother had difficulty positioning the baby during feeding. After the visit the nurse considers what affected the inability of the mother to breastfeed, including the mother's obesity and inexperience. The nurse's review of the situation is called: 1. Reflection. 2. Perseverance. 3. Intuition. 4. Problem solving - ANS 1. 8. Place the steps of the scientific method in their correct order with number 1 being the first step of the process. 1. Formulate a question or hypothesis. 2. Evaluate results of the study. 3. Collect data. 4. Identify the problem. 5. Test the question or hypothesis. - ANS 4,3,1,5,2