Professional Practice Issues 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 Professional Practice Issues flashcards as text
Under HIPAA, a hospice nurse may share a patient's health information with a family member who is NOT the designated healthcare proxy when:
Answer: The patient has given explicit permission or the disclosure is necessary for care
HIPAA allows disclosure only with patient permission or when necessary for treatment, not simply because someone is family.
Which action best demonstrates the hospice nurse's role in supporting staff wellness and preventing burnout?
Answer: Facilitating regular debriefing sessions after difficult patient deaths
Structured debriefing after losses provides psychological support and is a recognized strategy for reducing compassion fatigue.
A nurse suspects a colleague is diverting controlled substances. The most appropriate action is to:
Answer: Document observations and report to the nurse manager or compliance officer
Diversion is a patient safety and legal issue requiring immediate documentation and reporting to supervisory or compliance staff.
What best describes the concept of 'double effect' in hospice and palliative nursing?
Answer: An action intended to relieve suffering may hasten death as a foreseen but unintended consequence
The doctrine of double effect holds that an action to relieve suffering is ethically permissible even if it may foreseeably hasten death, provided death is not the intended outcome.
A hospice nurse is offered a gift of significant monetary value from a grateful patient's family. The most appropriate response is to:
Answer: Politely decline and follow agency policy on gifts
Accepting substantial gifts creates ethical and professional conflicts of interest; most agencies prohibit it and nurses should follow their agency's policy.
A palliative nurse is asked to witness a patient signing their will. What is the most appropriate action?
Answer: Decline, as nurses should not act as witnesses to legal documents for their own patients
Nurses caring for a patient have a conflict of interest and should not witness legal documents such as wills for that patient.
The CHPN certification credential must be renewed every:
Answer: 4 years
CHPN certification is valid for four years, after which renewal through continued education or re-examination is required.