Deck 50: Quality Improvement

Question 1

A newly licensed nurse is passing medications with a nurse preceptor.Which action taken by the newly licensed nurse would be inappropriate and require the nurse preceptor to intervene?

A) The newly licensed nurse verifies tube placement prior to administering medications.
B) The newly licensed nurse checks for known allergies prior to administering medication.
C) The newly licensed nurse combines medications with the same active ingredient.
D) The newly licensed nurse has a second nurse check the medication order.

Answer 1

The newly licensed nurse combines medications with the same active ingredient.

Question 2

The nurse on a medical-surgical unit is asked to participate in data collection on skin care for the unit.Which is the rationale for cooperating with this request?

A) Participate in the quality improvement process
B) Advance the nurse's practice
C) Prevent problems from arising in the unit
D) Fulfill legal requirements

Answer 2

Participate in the quality improvement process

Question 3

The nurse manager is conducting audits to help increase efficiency and reduce costs to enhance the quality of client care.Which suggestion by the manager may occur as a result of these audits?

A) Conduct a wound care study to enhance client outcomes.
B) Install cameras to detect abuse of the clients.
C) Acquire new client care equipment.
D) Decrease staffing on the unit.

Answer 3

Conduct a wound care study to enhance client outcomes.

Question 4

The nurse provides medication to a client at the wrong time.No harm came to the client as a result of the nurse's error and the nurse files a report about the medication error.Which response by the risk management team is most appropriate?

A) Discipline the nurse appropriately.
B) Report the nurse to the board of nursing.
C) Monitor all nurses on the unit to ensure this does not occur again.
D) Attempt to implement policy changes to prevent future errors.

Question 5

The nursing instructor is speaking to a group of nursing students about standards of care.Which comment made by the nursing student indicates the need for further education about the standards of care?

A) "Standards of care are based on models of high-quality performance."
B) "Process standards focus on the steps used to lead to a particular outcome."
C) "Process standards focus on human resources, and general organizational structure."
D) "Outcome standards focus on the performance of a process."

Question 6

The nurse manager is considering increasing the number of RN staff because studies have shown that this decreases infection rates.Which purpose will decreasing infection rates serve?

A) An increased use of overtime
B) A decrease in client satisfaction
C) An increase in client care supplies
D) A decreased cost of care

Question 7

The nurse instructor is preparing a teaching session for staff nurses on intradisciplinary assessments.Which information should the instructor consider when preparing this presentation? Select all that apply.

A) Utilization reviews
B) Peer review
C) Audits
D) Performance appraisals
E) Outcomes management

Question 8

The nurse manager at an acute care facility is educating the staff nurses on the definition of a sentinel event.Which examples of sentinel events would be appropriate for the nurse manager to present to the staff nurses? Select all that apply.

A) Delivery of radiation to the wrong body region
B) Invasive surgical procedure at the wrong site
C) Homicide of a staff member while at the facility
D) Homicide of a patient while at the facility
E) Administration of a compatible blood transfusion

Question 9

A novice nurse,who has read several articles about the need to contain healthcare costs,asks how a quality improvement program can contain cost of care.Which responses by the more seasoned nurse are appropriate? Select all that apply.

A) "Promoting safety increases the cost of care."
B) "Medication errors decrease the cost of care."
C) "High nurse-to-client ratios result in decreased length of stay."
D) "Increased nursing staff has been linked to decreased infection rates."
E) "Use of computers increases the number of lawsuits."

Question 10

While preparing a client for surgery,the nurse marks the arm that is to be amputated and participates in a "time out" procedure before the surgery begins.Which sentinel event should the "time out" procedure prevent?

A) Ineffective control of the client's pain
B) The lack of healing of the stump
C) The client being mildly over-sedated
D) The removal of the wrong arm

Question 11

The quality assurance officer notes that one particular nursing unit has received a higher-than-usual number of negative client responses about aspects of the nursing care during the previous quarter.Based on this data,which benchmarking issue should the quality assurance officer pay particular attention during the review process?

A) Structure
B) Process
C) Outcome
D) Competency

Question 12

The nurse manager is planning to implement the Lean Six Sigma system on the nursing unit to improve the quality of care.Which should the manager implement when following this model?

A) Shortening break time
B) Ordering more supplies than needed on the unit to ensure they never run out
C) Replacing a licensed staff member with unlicensed assistive personnel
D) Decreasing staff when the census is low