CHPN CHPN - Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse Professional Practice Issues Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A hospice nurse discovers that a colleague has been diverting controlled substances from the medication supply. What is the nurse's most appropriate first action?
- Confront the colleague privately and ask them to stop
- Report the concern to the nursing supervisor or compliance officer (Correct answer)
- Document the observation and wait to see if it happens again
- Contact law enforcement directly
Correct answer: Report the concern to the nursing supervisor or compliance officer
Suspected drug diversion must be reported immediately through proper institutional channels, typically to a supervisor or compliance officer, to protect patient safety.
Question 2: Which federal regulation requires hospice programs to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the patient's needs within a specific timeframe of admission?
- Medicare Conditions of Participation (Correct answer)
- HIPAA Privacy Rule
- OSHA Workplace Safety Standards
- Americans with Disabilities Act
Correct answer: Medicare Conditions of Participation
The Medicare Conditions of Participation mandate that hospice programs complete a comprehensive assessment within 5 days of the election of hospice care.
Question 3: A hospice nurse is caring for a patient whose family insists on pursuing aggressive curative treatment despite the patient's documented wishes for comfort care only. What ethical principle is most at risk of being violated?
- Beneficence
- Justice
- Autonomy (Correct answer)
- Fidelity
Correct answer: Autonomy
Autonomy, the patient's right to self-determination and to make decisions about their own care, is the principle most at risk when family members attempt to override the patient's documented wishes.
Question 4: In hospice care, what is the primary purpose of the interdisciplinary group (IDG) meeting?
- To assign nursing tasks for the upcoming week
- To review and update each patient's plan of care collaboratively (Correct answer)
- To evaluate staff performance and productivity metrics
- To coordinate billing and insurance documentation
Correct answer: To review and update each patient's plan of care collaboratively
The IDG meeting is required to review, revise, and document updates to each patient's individualized plan of care with input from all disciplines involved.
Question 5: A hospice nurse receives a subpoena requesting a deceased patient's complete medical record. What should the nurse do first?
- Immediately provide all requested records to comply with the subpoena
- Destroy any sensitive information before releasing the records
- Notify the agency's legal counsel or privacy officer before releasing any records (Correct answer)
- Refuse to release records because the patient is deceased
Correct answer: Notify the agency's legal counsel or privacy officer before releasing any records
Any subpoena for medical records should be directed to the agency's legal counsel or privacy officer to ensure compliance with HIPAA and applicable state laws before any records are released.
Question 6: Which situation best illustrates a boundary violation in the hospice nurse-patient relationship?
- Attending a patient's memorial service at the family's invitation
- Accepting a large monetary gift from a patient's family during active care (Correct answer)
- Sharing appropriate personal experiences to build therapeutic rapport
- Providing the family with community bereavement resource information
Correct answer: Accepting a large monetary gift from a patient's family during active care
Accepting significant financial gifts from patients or families during active care constitutes a professional boundary violation that could compromise the therapeutic relationship.
CHPN CHPN - Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse Professional Practice Issues Questions and Answers 2
A hospice nurse discovers that a colleague has been diverting controlled substances from the medication supply.
What is the nurse's most appropriate first action?