ANM Leadership Skills & Staff Supervision 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An ANM delegates a complex wound care procedure to an LPN. The LPN's scope of practice in this state does not include this procedure. What should the ANM do?
- Allow it since the LPN has experience with similar tasks
- Reassign the task to an RN within the appropriate scope of practice (Correct answer)
- Document that the LPN accepted the task voluntarily
- Ask the charge nurse to supervise the LPN during the procedure
Correct answer: Reassign the task to an RN within the appropriate scope of practice
Delegation must remain within the delegatee's legal scope of practice; assigning otherwise creates legal and patient safety liability.
Question 2: Which conflict resolution style involves both parties giving up something to reach an agreement quickly?
- Collaborating
- Avoiding
- Competing
- Compromising (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Compromising
Compromising requires mutual concession and is useful when a quick resolution is needed and both parties have equal power.
Question 3: A staff nurse witnesses a colleague make a medication error but does not report it. An ANM promotes a culture of safety BEST by:
- Implementing a punitive policy for unreported errors
- Creating anonymous reporting channels and emphasizing no-blame incident review (Correct answer)
- Holding mandatory meetings after every error
- Requiring nurses to sign liability waivers for all medication administration
Correct answer: Creating anonymous reporting channels and emphasizing no-blame incident review
Anonymous reporting and non-punitive review encourage transparency, which is the foundation of a safety culture.
Question 4: When building a high-performing team, the ANM should FIRST:
- Identify each member's strengths and assign roles accordingly
- Set team performance benchmarks and publish them publicly
- Establish team norms and expectations collaboratively (Correct answer)
- Rotate leadership responsibilities among all team members
Correct answer: Establish team norms and expectations collaboratively
Collaboratively establishing norms creates shared ownership of team standards and behaviors from the outset.
Question 5: An ANM observes that night-shift nurses frequently miss documentation deadlines. The root cause analysis reveals they lack access to updated training. The BEST intervention is to:
- Issue written warnings for non-compliance
- Provide targeted just-in-time training accessible during night hours (Correct answer)
- Transfer the underperforming nurses to day shift
- Increase supervisory rounds during night shift
Correct answer: Provide targeted just-in-time training accessible during night hours
Addressing the identified root cause — lack of accessible training — directly resolves the performance gap.
Question 6: Which principle of effective delegation requires the ANM to ensure the staff member has the authority to accomplish the assigned task?
- Accountability
- Parity of authority and responsibility (Correct answer)
- Unity of command
- Span of control
Correct answer: Parity of authority and responsibility
Parity of authority and responsibility means the delegatee must have sufficient authority to carry out the responsibility assigned.
Question 7: An ANM wants to reduce staff turnover. Research indicates the MOST powerful retention factor for nurses is:
- Competitive salary increases
- Flexible scheduling options
- Feeling valued and having a voice in decisions (Correct answer)
- Access to advanced clinical equipment
Correct answer: Feeling valued and having a voice in decisions
Studies consistently show that nurses leave managers, not hospitals — feeling respected and included is the top retention driver.
ANM Leadership Skills & Staff Supervision 3
An ANM delegates a complex wound care procedure to an LPN.
The LPN's scope of practice in this state does not include this procedure.
What should the ANM do?