Share This Link

Ask a colleague to take over the patient's care due to conflicting beliefs is incorrect because withdrawing from patient care solely due to personal belief differences violates ethical and professional nursing obligations. Nurses have a duty to provide equitable care to all patients. Unless there is a severe moral conflict and reassignment is absolutely necessary (which is rare and must follow institutional policy), avoiding the patient is unprofessional and can compromise continuity and quality of care.

Attempt to educate the patient on why the nurse's beliefs might be more beneficial is incorrect because it constitutes imposing personal values on the patient. The nurse’s role is to support, educate, and advocate within the context of the patient’s own cultural, spiritual, and personal beliefs, not to persuade the patient to adopt the nurse's viewpoints. This undermines patient autonomy and can damage the therapeutic relationship.

Provide care based on the nurse's personal beliefs is incorrect because it disregards the foundational principles of patient-centered care. Nursing practice must be guided by professional standards, evidence-based practice, and the patient’s expressed needs and preferences. Allowing personal beliefs to dictate care can lead to biased, inappropriate, or even harmful interventions, diminishing trust and violating ethical codes such as the ANA Code of Ethics.

Focus solely on managing the patient’s physical symptoms through prescribed medications is incorrect because this approach addresses only the physical dimension of health. Holistic nursing requires consideration of emotional, spiritual, and social factors in addition to physical care. Limiting interventions to medication management fails to honor the patient’s whole-person needs.

Refer the patient only to conventional health care providers for treatment is incorrect because restricting care to conventional providers ignores the patient’s interest in holistic approaches. Holistic nursing integrates conventional and complementary therapies when appropriate, rather than limiting options.

Provide education on nutrition while ignoring the patient’s emotional and spiritual needs is incorrect because holistic care requires addressing all aspects of well-being. Focusing solely on nutrition neglects emotional and spiritual dimensions, which are essential components of holistic nursing practice.

Requiring nurses to report all errors to the administration only is incorrect because limiting reporting to administration may create fear of punishment and discourage open communication. Effective accountability is achieved through transparency, learning from mistakes, and fostering a non-punitive culture, rather than a purely hierarchical reporting system.

Mandating additional paperwork for every nursing task is incorrect because excessive documentation does not inherently increase accountability. While documentation is important, overburdening nurses with paperwork can reduce efficiency, increase stress, and distract from direct patient care, without improving professional responsibility.

Encouraging nurses to work independently without oversight is incorrect because accountability is reinforced through collaboration, supervision, and feedback. Allowing nurses to work without oversight may lead to inconsistent practices, errors, and diminished quality of care, which undermines accountability rather than enhancing it.

Nonmaleficence is incorrect because, while this principle involves “doing no harm,” it does not specifically address the patient’s right to make independent decisions. Supporting autonomy may sometimes involve interventions that the nurse perceives as causing harm, but ethically, the patient’s informed choice takes precedence.

Justice is incorrect because it relates to fairness and equitable distribution of resources and care. While important in healthcare, justice does not directly guide decisions about respecting an individual patient’s treatment preferences.

Beneficence is incorrect because it focuses on acting in the patient’s best interest to promote good. While beneficence is important, it can sometimes conflict with autonomy if the nurse or family believes life support continuation is “beneficial.” Ethical practice prioritizes respecting the patient’s autonomous decisions even when beneficence and the nurse’s personal judgment differ.

Developing a new protocol for emergency situations is incorrect because this scenario requires structured guidance, clear direction, and strong leadership to ensure patient safety and consistency. A laissez-faire style could lead to confusion, errors, or delays in critical care processes.

Training new graduates in clinical skills is incorrect because novice nurses need close supervision, mentoring, and feedback to build competence. Laissez-faire leadership would likely result in inadequate instruction and potential safety risks.

A team of nurses developing a patient care plan collaboratively is incorrect because while collaboration is important, this scenario benefits more from a democratic or participative leadership style, where guidance and structured discussion are provided. Laissez-faire leadership may lead to lack of coordination and unclear accountability in team-based planning.

Evaluate the research team's academic credentials is incorrect because while qualifications may influence study quality, the IRB’s primary responsibility is the protection of human subjects, not assessing the researchers’ academic prestige.

Determine the study's potential for high publication impact is incorrect because the IRB’s role is not to evaluate the academic or publication value of the study. Ethical oversight focuses on participant safety, risk minimization, and informed consent.

Review the study's budget to ensure financial feasibility is incorrect because financial considerations are administrative concerns, not ethical requirements. While important for project management, they do not directly protect human subjects or ensure ethical compliance.

The hospital can share PHI with internal researchers without restrictions is incorrect because HIPAA does not allow unrestricted sharing of PHI, even within the same organization. Research use requires patient authorization or an approved waiver.

The hospital can disclose PHI without patient consent for research purposes is incorrect because, in most cases, patient consent is mandatory unless a waiver has been granted by an IRB. Unauthorized disclosure would violate HIPAA regulations.

The hospital can use PHI for research as long as it is anonymized is partially correct but incomplete. Fully anonymized data (de-identified PHI) can be used without patient authorization, but if the data includes identifiable information, explicit HIPAA authorization is required. Therefore, relying solely on this assumption could lead to noncompliance.

Delegating the task to a nursing assistant without supervision is incorrect because delegation does not absolve the nurse of accountability. The nurse remains responsible for ensuring safe and appropriate medication administration and must provide proper oversight.

Relying solely on the electronic health record for dosing information is incorrect because while the EHR is a valuable tool, the nurse must also independently verify orders, calculate doses as needed, and consider patient-specific factors such as weight, age, and renal function. Accountability involves critical thinking and verification beyond automated systems.

Administering the medication without verifying the patient's identity is incorrect because failing to confirm the patient’s identity can lead to medication errors, posing significant risk to patient safety. Accountability requires following established safety protocols, including the “right patient” verification.

A client in heart failure with 2+ edema in the lower extremities is incorrect as this indicates mild fluid retention, which is concerning but not immediately life-threatening. The client should be monitored, but this is not the highest priority.

A client with pneumonia and a saturation of 92% is incorrect because while hypoxia requires attention, an SpO₂ of 92% is mildly decreased and can typically be managed with supplemental oxygen and monitoring. It is important but less urgent than severe electrolyte imbalance.

A post-op client with no bowel sounds in the last 12 hours is incorrect because absent bowel sounds may indicate ileus, which is concerning but generally not immediately life-threatening. It requires assessment and monitoring but is lower priority compared to severe electrolyte disturbances.

Provide detailed observations of the client's facial expressions is incorrect because while noting nonverbal cues can be helpful, facial expressions are objective observations, not the client’s subjective experience. Subjective data should reflect the client’s own report.

Avoid documenting subjective data unless supported by objective findings is incorrect because subjective data is valid and essential in the nursing assessment, even if it cannot be objectively measured. Ignoring the patient’s report could compromise care planning and patient-centered practice.

Summarize the client's symptoms using medical terms is incorrect because paraphrasing may inadvertently alter the meaning or intensity of the patient’s experience. Direct quotes are preferred to maintain the integrity of the patient’s subjective report.