NCSBN Clinical Judgment and Decision Making

Question 1

According to the NCSBN Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (NCJMM), which cognitive skill involves organizing and linking recognized cues to understand the patient's clinical situation?

Accepted Answer

Analyze Cues

Answer

Analyze Cues is the cognitive skill where the nurse processes and links recognized cues to determine their significance and relationship to the patient's condition.

Question 2

A nurse is caring for a post-operative patient who suddenly becomes tachycardic and hypotensive. Using clinical judgment, which action should the nurse take FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Perform a focused assessment to gather more data

Answer

Performing a focused assessment first allows the nurse to gather additional cues to determine the most likely cause before taking action, which is fundamental to sound clinical judgment.

Question 3

Which layer of the NCSBN Clinical Judgment Measurement Model describes the factors that influence a nurse's clinical judgment, such as environment and individual characteristics?

Accepted Answer

The external and internal factors layer

Answer

The NCJMM outer layer represents external factors (e.g., time pressure, resources) and internal factors (e.g., nurse's knowledge, experience) that influence clinical judgment.

Question 4

A nurse identifies that a patient's respiratory rate has increased from 16 to 28 breaths/min over two hours. Which NCJMM cognitive skill is the nurse applying when noting this change?

Accepted Answer

Recognize Cues

Answer

Recognize Cues is the initial skill of noticing and identifying relevant patient information that may require attention, such as a significant change in vital signs.

Question 5

When prioritizing hypotheses in the NCJMM, the nurse should rank potential patient problems based on which criteria?

Accepted Answer

Urgency, likelihood, and risk to the patient

Answer

Prioritize Hypotheses requires the nurse to rank problems by their urgency, how likely they are, and the degree of harm they pose to the patient.

NCSBN - National Council of State Boards of Nursing Practice Test

NCSBN - National Council of State Boards of Nursing Practice Test

NCSBN Clinical Judgment and Decision Making