CELBAN Listening 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A charge nurse says during handover: 'Mr. Osei in Room 12 had a restless night — he was up three times complaining of epigastric pain, and his last set of vitals showed a BP of 148 over 92.' What is the primary concern being communicated?
- The patient has a documented allergy to pain medication
- The patient experienced disrupted sleep with elevated blood pressure and abdominal pain (Correct answer)
- The patient needs to be transferred to the ICU immediately
- The patient refused all nursing interventions overnight
Correct answer: The patient experienced disrupted sleep with elevated blood pressure and abdominal pain
The handover clearly reports disturbed sleep, epigastric pain, and hypertensive blood pressure readings as the night's key concerns.
Question 2: During a team huddle a physician says: 'We'll hold the metformin today — her creatinine came back at 180 and we're sending her for a contrast CT this afternoon.' What is the reason for withholding the medication?
- The patient is allergic to metformin
- Elevated creatinine and upcoming contrast imaging increase the risk of lactic acidosis with metformin (Correct answer)
- The patient refused to take oral medications this morning
- The CT scan requires the patient to be NPO including all medications
Correct answer: Elevated creatinine and upcoming contrast imaging increase the risk of lactic acidosis with metformin
Metformin is held before contrast CT in patients with elevated creatinine to prevent contrast-induced nephropathy and metformin-associated lactic acidosis.
Question 3: A patient says to a nurse: 'Every time I use this inhaler I get a bit shaky and my heart races for about twenty minutes.' Which CELBAN listening skill is most directly being tested when the nurse must summarize this back accurately?
- Identifying the speaker's professional role
- Extracting specific detail about medication side effects and their duration (Correct answer)
- Understanding idiomatic Canadian slang
- Recognizing the genre of a formal lecture
Correct answer: Extracting specific detail about medication side effects and their duration
The CELBAN Listening section frequently tests the ability to extract precise clinical detail — here the side effect (tremor, tachycardia) and its timeframe (20 minutes).
Question 4: A nurse educator presents a case: 'The patient's O2 sats were hovering around 91 percent on room air, so we up-titrated her oxygen to four litres via nasal prongs and reassessed in fifteen minutes.' What intervention was taken and why?
- Oxygen was decreased because saturations were too high
- Oxygen flow was increased from room air to 4 L/min because saturations were below the acceptable threshold (Correct answer)
- The patient was immediately intubated due to respiratory failure
- The nurse waited one hour before reassessing oxygen needs
Correct answer: Oxygen flow was increased from room air to 4 L/min because saturations were below the acceptable threshold
Oxygen was up-titrated to 4 L/min via nasal prongs in response to SpO2 of 91%, which is below the typical target range, with a 15-minute reassessment planned.
Question 5: During a recorded medical dialogue used in a CELBAN practice task, a surgeon says: 'We'll book her for an elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy once the acute inflammation settles — probably in six to eight weeks.' What does the patient need to understand?
- She will have emergency gallbladder surgery today
- Her gallbladder surgery will be scheduled in approximately six to eight weeks after inflammation resolves (Correct answer)
- The surgeon is recommending conservative management with no surgery
- She needs to return to the emergency department within 24 hours
Correct answer: Her gallbladder surgery will be scheduled in approximately six to eight weeks after inflammation resolves
The surgeon's statement indicates a planned (elective) minimally invasive gallbladder removal after the current inflammation subsides, with a 6–8 week timeline.
Question 6: A ward clerk overhead announcement states: 'Code Blue, fourth floor east, Room 418.' What does a nurse listening to this announcement know?
- A fire has been detected on the fourth floor east
- A cardiac or respiratory arrest is occurring in Room 418 on the fourth floor east (Correct answer)
- A violent patient situation requires security on the fourth floor
- A missing patient alert has been issued for Room 418
Correct answer: A cardiac or respiratory arrest is occurring in Room 418 on the fourth floor east
Code Blue universally signals a cardiac or respiratory arrest, and the location (4th floor east, Room 418) directs the response team.
Question 7: A pharmacist leaves a voicemail for a nurse: 'Just a heads-up — we're out of IV vancomycin until the morning delivery. The patient in 306 has their next dose due at 2100. Please call the on-call physician to discuss an alternative.' What action does the pharmacist expect the nurse to take?
- Administer the vancomycin from a different floor's supply without notifying anyone
- Contact the on-call physician to arrange an alternative antibiotic since IV vancomycin is temporarily unavailable (Correct answer)
- Delay the patient's antibiotic dose until the next morning without informing anyone
- Ask the patient's family to bring vancomycin from another hospital
Correct answer: Contact the on-call physician to arrange an alternative antibiotic since IV vancomycin is temporarily unavailable
The pharmacist explicitly instructs the nurse to call the on-call physician to discuss an alternative due to the supply shortage before the patient's scheduled 2100 dose.
CELBAN Listening 2
A charge nurse says during handover: 'Mr.
Osei in Room 12 had a restless night — he was up three times complaining of epigastric pain, and his last set of vitals showed a BP of 148 over 92.' What is the primary concern being communicated?