COHN Community Public Health Nursing 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A nurse is implementing a community-wide smoking cessation program. Which strategy reflects a POPULATION-BASED approach?
- Counseling individual patients who smoke at clinic visits
- Advocating for smoke-free workplace legislation (Correct answer)
- Prescribing nicotine replacement therapy
- Referring heavy smokers to pulmonologists
Correct answer: Advocating for smoke-free workplace legislation
Advocating for policy change creates an environment that affects smoking behavior across the entire population.
Question 2: According to the COHN scope of practice, occupational health nurses collaborate with which team member to identify workplace chemical hazards?
- Social worker
- Industrial hygienist (Correct answer)
- Ergonomist
- Physical therapist
Correct answer: Industrial hygienist
Industrial hygienists specialize in recognizing, evaluating, and controlling occupational chemical, physical, and biological hazards.
Question 3: A community nurse is evaluating program effectiveness using the logic model. Which component represents the long-term desired change?
- Inputs
- Activities
- Outputs
- Outcomes/Impact (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Outcomes/Impact
In a logic model, outcomes/impact represent the long-term changes in conditions, behaviors, or status resulting from a program.
Question 4: When a public health nurse identifies a cluster of tuberculosis cases in a shelter, the FIRST action is to:
- Administer BCG vaccine to all residents
- Report the cluster to the local health department (Correct answer)
- Place all residents on isoniazid prophylaxis
- Conduct a mass chest X-ray campaign
Correct answer: Report the cluster to the local health department
Mandatory reporting to the local health department initiates the official public health response and contact investigation.
Question 5: Health literacy is BEST defined as:
- The ability to read medical textbooks
- The capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information to make informed decisions (Correct answer)
- Completion of at least a high school education
- Fluency in both English and a second language
Correct answer: The capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information to make informed decisions
Health literacy encompasses finding, understanding, and using health information — it is a cognitive and social skill, not simply reading ability.
Question 6: Which community assessment data source provides age, race, income, and household composition at the neighborhood level?
- Vital statistics registry
- US Census Bureau / American Community Survey (Correct answer)
- Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
- National Health Interview Survey
Correct answer: US Census Bureau / American Community Survey
The US Census and ACS provide detailed sociodemographic data at geographic levels as small as census tracts.
Question 7: A nurse is teaching a group of migrant farmworkers about heat illness prevention. Cultural competence requires the nurse to FIRST:
- Provide written materials in English
- Assess language preferences and health literacy of the group (Correct answer)
- Demonstrate cooling techniques using a mannequin
- Schedule teaching sessions during midday breaks
Correct answer: Assess language preferences and health literacy of the group
Culturally competent education begins with assessing the audience's language, literacy, and cultural context before selecting teaching methods.
COHN Community Public Health Nursing 3
A nurse is implementing a community-wide smoking cessation program.
Which strategy reflects a POPULATION-BASED approach?