Deck 5: Standards of Care

Question 1

What does the court consider in determining the nurse's legal liability for standards of care?

A) Professional conduct, but not experience or education
B) Professional education, experience, and specific conduct
C) Professional education, but not experience or conduct
D) Professional experience, but not education or conduct

Answer 1

Professional education, experience, and specific conduct

Question 2

The state board of nursing has brought action against a nurse's license based upon violation of a regulation. What is true about this scenario?

A) Violation of a rule or regulation is not the same as violation of the state nursing practice act.
B) Rules and regulations are only suggested standards of care and do not have to be followed.
C) Rules and regulations are internal to the state board, not the nurse.
D) These rules and regulations have the force of law.

Answer 2

These rules and regulations have the force of law.

Question 3

A lawsuit is brought against a nurse in a rural hospital. The nurse replies that the standard of care for rural nurses is different from that for nurses working in large urban facilities. Is this a defensible position?

A) No; rural nurses work in a slower paced environment, so they have more time to provide quality personal care.
B) Yes; the rural nurse does not have access to the same quality of inservice education as the urban nurse.
C) No; nurses in rural settings must meet the same standards as those practicing in large urban areas.
D) Yes; it is well known that rural health care is substandard as compared to urban health care.

Answer 3

No; nurses in rural settings must meet the same standards as those practicing in large urban areas.

Question 4

What would the nurse identify as the most basic purpose of standards of care?

A) To protect and safeguard the public as a whole
B) To ensure that all patients receive state-of-the-art care
C) To protect health care providers and prevent their giving less than quality care
D) To ensure administrative agencies are protected from frivolous lawsuits

Question 5

What is the single most critical factor in determining whether a particular nurse acted with reasonable care in a given situation?

A) The number of years the nurse has practiced as a professional nurse
B) How the nurse's conduct compares to that of nurses with similar background and experience
C) The experience the nurse has in the particular clinical setting in which the situation occurred
D) The ability of the nurse to perform according to his or her job description

Question 6

Which situation supports the charge of malpractice against a professional nurse?

A) A failure on the part of the nurse to allay a patient's fears about an upcoming procedure
B) A failure on the part of the nurse to ensure that patients only received care for which they could pay
C) A failure on the part of the nurse to establish a therapeutic relationship with the patient
D) A failure on the part of the nurse to exercise reasonable and prudent care in treating a patient

Question 7

The administration of a health care facility takes the ethical obligation of protecting patients very seriously. Which actions would help nurses meet standards of care?

A) Create clearly written policy and procedure manuals.
B) Encourage practitioners to find alternate, quicker ways to implement interventions.
C) Refuse to tolerate those who are slow to adapt new standards of care.
D) Emphasize protection of the hospital when developing internal standards and policies.
E) Schedule regular reviews of policy and procedure manuals.

Question 8

Which scenarios reflect the "two schools of thought" doctrine?

A) An honest error in judgment prevented a nurse from providing quality care.
B) The hospital policy and procedures manual lists both local and national nursing care quality standards.
C) Nurses on one unit vary in their choice of ways to deliver quality care.
D) The nurse manager insists that standards are uniform and all nurses must act in the same manner.
E) The nurse expert witness in a case describes two methods of providing the intervention in question.

Question 9

Hospital administration requires that the committee seeking to change nursing policy and procedures review external sources for these standards. Where should the committee look for these standards?

A) Current nursing literature
B) Individual nurse's experience and education
C) Federal organizations
D) The hospital's position job descriptions.
E) State boards of nursing

Question 10

The hospital policy and procedure manual states that medications should be charted immediately after administration. The nurse routinely charts the medications as they are being prepared for administration. What does this practice reflect?

A) Use of the two schools of thought doctrine
B) Logical and appropriate variation in practice
C) An honest error in judgment
D) A violation of hospital policy and procedure

Question 11

In given situations, the nature and degree of reasonable care expected of people providing care may differ depending upon which factor?

A) The individual's status as a professional
B) The individual's sense of ethical responsibility
C) The individual's sense of societal obligations
D) The individual's understanding of the law

Question 12

The nurse holds national certification as a wound care specialist and works in a small, rural hospital. What standard of skill and care applies to this nurse's practice?

A) It should be equal to that of any other wound care specialist in the nation.
B) It should be the same as that of any nurse who provides wound care.
C) It should be equal to the practice of a wound care specialist working in the largest facility in the state.
D) It should be the same as that of an average nurse who also holds national wound care certification.

Question 13

Which situation creates an ethical dilemma for the nurse serving as an expert witness in a jury trial?

A) The documentation in the medical record contradicts itself.
B) There are time lapses in the documentation of the event resulting in the suit.
C) The interventions implemented only minimally met the standards of care.
D) Outcomes for the patient were unexpected and severe.
E) Nurses from more than one department took care of the patient.

Question 14

The hospital nursing group has reviewed current nursing and federal literature to establish standards of care for a newly organized patient care unit. The final report generated by this group should assure hospital administration that the standards meet which level of care?

A) Mutually acceptable
B) Worldwide
C) National
D) Locality

Question 15

The survivors of a patient who unexpectedly died in a hospital contact an attorney regarding a wrongful death against the hospital and two nurses. Review of the hospital's pertinent policy and procedures found them to be current. Review of the medical record revealed that policy and procedures were followed by the nurses. Based on this information, what is the likely strength of this case?

A) The survivors have a good case since hospital policy and procedures do not supersede national standards.
B) The survivors have a good case since the death was unexpected.
C) Since the patient is dead and cannot report variation from the standards no case is possible.
D) The case against the nurses is weak since they followed hospital policy and procedures.
E) The case against the hospital is weak since policies and procedures are current.