ANCC Nurse Executive and Leadership Certification 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A nurse leader implementing shared governance is most focused on which goal?
- Centralizing all clinical decisions with nursing administration
- Empowering bedside nurses to participate in decision-making (Correct answer)
- Reducing the number of nursing committees
- Eliminating nurse manager roles
Correct answer: Empowering bedside nurses to participate in decision-making
Shared governance distributes decision-making authority to frontline nurses, promoting autonomy and professional practice.
Question 2: Which ethical principle is most relevant when a nurse manager allocates scarce staffing resources during a surge?
- Autonomy
- Justice (Correct answer)
- Beneficence
- Nonmaleficence
Correct answer: Justice
Justice requires fair and equitable distribution of resources, which is the guiding ethical principle in resource allocation decisions.
Question 3: The Institute of Medicine (IOM) 'To Err is Human' report identified which major patient safety concern?
- Nurse-to-patient ratios are too high nationwide
- Medical errors cause tens of thousands of preventable deaths annually in US hospitals (Correct answer)
- Hospital infection rates have reached epidemic levels
- Physician licensing standards are insufficient
Correct answer: Medical errors cause tens of thousands of preventable deaths annually in US hospitals
The landmark 1999 IOM report estimated 44,000–98,000 deaths per year from preventable medical errors in US hospitals.
Question 4: Which leadership style is most appropriate when managing a highly experienced and motivated nursing team?
- Autocratic leadership
- Delegative (laissez-faire) leadership (Correct answer)
- Transactional leadership
- Bureaucratic leadership
Correct answer: Delegative (laissez-faire) leadership
Delegative leadership is most effective with expert, self-motivated teams who require minimal direction but maximum autonomy.
Question 5: A root cause analysis (RCA) is primarily used after a sentinel event to:
- Assign blame and discipline responsible staff
- Identify system-level factors contributing to the event and prevent recurrence (Correct answer)
- Document the event for malpractice liability purposes
- Satisfy state licensing board requirements
Correct answer: Identify system-level factors contributing to the event and prevent recurrence
RCA is a systematic process for identifying underlying system causes of adverse events rather than blaming individuals.
Question 6: The SBAR communication tool stands for:
- Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation (Correct answer)
- Safety, Background, Assessment, Response
- Situation, Brief, Assessment, Report
- Status, Background, Action, Resolution
Correct answer: Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation
SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) is a standardized communication framework used to convey critical patient information.
ANCC Nurse Executive and Leadership Certification 2
A nurse leader implementing shared governance is most focused on which goal?