CDP Ethics & Patient Safety 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A dementia patient repeatedly asks to go home despite living in a memory care facility for two years. What is the most ethical response?
- Tell them they are home
- Acknowledge their feelings and redirect to a meaningful activity (Correct answer)
- Remind them firmly that they no longer live at their old home
- Ignore the request and change the subject without engaging
Correct answer: Acknowledge their feelings and redirect to a meaningful activity
Acknowledging feelings and redirecting is a person-centered approach that validates emotion without causing distress from blunt correction.
Question 2: Which ethical principle is most directly applied when a care team ensures a resident with dementia is free from unnecessary physical restraints?
- Beneficence
- Justice
- Non-maleficence (Correct answer)
- Fidelity
Correct answer: Non-maleficence
Non-maleficence means 'do no harm,' and unnecessary restraints cause physical and psychological harm to persons with dementia.
Question 3: A family member insists on withholding a dementia diagnosis from their loved one. The care team's ethical obligation is to:
- Comply with the family's wishes without question
- Support the patient's right to know their diagnosis while working sensitively with the family (Correct answer)
- Immediately disclose the diagnosis without family consent
- Defer entirely to the attending physician's preference
Correct answer: Support the patient's right to know their diagnosis while working sensitively with the family
Patients have an ethical right to their own diagnosis, and practitioners must balance truth-telling with family dynamics and cultural sensitivity.
Question 4: During a care conference, a surrogate decision-maker requests a treatment that the care team believes is not in the patient's best interest. The best first step is to:
- Refuse the treatment without discussion
- Proceed with the treatment to avoid conflict
- Facilitate a meeting to clarify goals of care and explore the surrogate's reasoning (Correct answer)
- Immediately involve the ethics committee
Correct answer: Facilitate a meeting to clarify goals of care and explore the surrogate's reasoning
Open dialogue to understand the surrogate's perspective and clarify goals of care is the appropriate first step before escalation.
Question 5: Which action best demonstrates respect for the dignity of a person with advanced dementia during personal care?
- Completing care as quickly as possible to minimize disruption
- Explaining each step of care before and during the process even if the patient cannot respond verbally (Correct answer)
- Performing care only when family members are present
- Using medical terminology so documentation is accurate
Correct answer: Explaining each step of care before and during the process even if the patient cannot respond verbally
Narrating care preserves dignity by treating the person as a communicative individual regardless of cognitive status.
Question 6: A certified dementia practitioner notices a colleague using a demeaning nickname for a resident. The practitioner should:
- Ignore it to avoid workplace conflict
- Report it directly to law enforcement
- Address the colleague respectfully and report the behavior per facility policy if it continues (Correct answer)
- Document it only in personal notes without taking action
Correct answer: Address the colleague respectfully and report the behavior per facility policy if it continues
Addressing disrespectful behavior directly and through proper channels upholds the resident's dignity and professional standards.
Question 7: What is the primary safety concern with using antipsychotic medications in older adults with dementia?
- They are universally ineffective for behavioral symptoms
- They carry a black box warning for increased risk of death in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis (Correct answer)
- They cause permanent memory loss
- They are only approved for patients under age 65
Correct answer: They carry a black box warning for increased risk of death in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis
The FDA black box warning specifically notes increased mortality risk when antipsychotics are used in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis.
CDP Ethics & Patient Safety 2
A dementia patient repeatedly asks to go home despite living in a memory care facility for two years.
What is the most ethical response?