MCQ Practice Flashcards
7 cards from real CHPN practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 MCQ Practice flashcards as text
A patient with end-stage renal disease on hospice develops severe, refractory agitation. Which opioid is generally AVOIDED in this population due to toxic metabolite accumulation?
Answer: Morphine
Morphine's active metabolite morphine-6-glucuronide accumulates in renal failure and can cause neuroexcitatory effects including agitation, myoclonus, and seizures.
The NURSE Act is relevant to palliative care nursing practice because it:
Answer: Provides a legal framework supporting nurses who advocate for adequate pain and symptom management
The NURSE Act (Nurses for the Understanding of Research, Science, and Education in pain management) supports nurses' advocacy for adequate pain treatment without fear of regulatory reprisal.
A terminally ill patient states, 'I've been thinking about taking all my pills at once.' The nurse's FIRST priority is:
Answer: Perform a thorough assessment of suicidal ideation including intent, plan, and access to means
Any statement suggesting suicidal ideation requires immediate, thorough assessment of intent, plan, and means before determining the appropriate intervention.
Palliative sedation for refractory suffering is ethically justified under which doctrine?
Answer: Doctrine of Double Effect
The Doctrine of Double Effect holds that an action intended to relieve suffering (sedation) is ethically permissible even if it may foreseeably hasten death as an unintended secondary effect.
A patient on hospice is found to have a new, painful vertebral compression fracture. Which palliative intervention would MOST directly address the underlying cause of pain?
Answer: Palliative radiation therapy to the affected vertebra
Palliative radiation therapy is highly effective at reducing bone pain from metastatic disease by targeting the underlying cause, and is consistent with hospice comfort goals.
Which of the following laboratory findings is MOST consistent with the expected physiologic changes of a patient in the final 24–48 hours of life?
Answer: Progressive azotemia with rising BUN and creatinine
Rising BUN and creatinine (azotemia) reflect declining renal perfusion and function as part of the normal multi-organ shutdown that occurs in the final days of life.
A hospice nurse is completing bereavement follow-up with a widow 14 months after her husband's death. The widow reports she still cannot accept the loss and is unable to function in daily life. This presentation is most consistent with:
Answer: Prolonged grief disorder (complicated grief)
Prolonged grief disorder is characterized by persistent, debilitating grief lasting more than 12 months with inability to accept the loss and significant functional impairment.