NMC Leadership and Teamwork 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A nurse witnesses a healthcare assistant behaving rudely toward a patient. According to NMC principles, what is the nurse's responsibility?
- Assume the patient will report it themselves
- Intervene to stop the behaviour, support the patient, and report the incident through the appropriate channels (Correct answer)
- Wait until the end of the shift to decide whether to act
- Speak only to the healthcare assistant privately and take no further action
Correct answer: Intervene to stop the behaviour, support the patient, and report the incident through the appropriate channels
The NMC Code requires nurses to intervene and report when they witness behaviour that could harm patients or undermine their dignity.
Question 2: Which structured communication tool is widely recommended in NHS settings to improve handover safety and team communication?
- PDSA
- SBAR (Correct answer)
- SWOT
- RACI
Correct answer: SBAR
SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) provides a standardised framework for clear, concise clinical communication during handovers and escalations.
Question 3: When a newly formed ward team is experiencing conflict and low morale, which stage of Tuckman's team development model does this reflect?
- Forming
- Storming (Correct answer)
- Norming
- Performing
Correct answer: Storming
The storming stage is characterised by interpersonal conflict, power struggles, and low morale as team members negotiate roles and working styles.
Question 4: A ward manager notices that incident reporting has declined since a staff member was publicly criticised after filing a report. What leadership action would best reverse this trend?
- Mandate a minimum number of incident reports per month per nurse
- Create a blame-free reporting culture by acknowledging reports positively and focusing on system improvement (Correct answer)
- Investigate why fewer incidents are occurring
- Increase mandatory training on documentation
Correct answer: Create a blame-free reporting culture by acknowledging reports positively and focusing on system improvement
Blame-free cultures increase reporting by removing the fear of personal repercussions, enabling organisations to learn from near-misses and errors.
Question 5: A registered nurse is asked to supervise three student nurses simultaneously during a complex clinical session. What should the nurse consider first?
- Accept the assignment as supervision is a standard nursing duty
- Assess whether the number of students and complexity of tasks allow for safe supervision and patient care (Correct answer)
- Refuse unless a second registered nurse is present
- Assign the students to self-directed learning tasks to reduce the workload
Correct answer: Assess whether the number of students and complexity of tasks allow for safe supervision and patient care
Nurses must assess their capacity to supervise safely; agreeing to supervise more students than can be safely managed compromises both patient care and student learning.
Question 6: In servant leadership, the primary focus of the leader is to:
- Achieve organisational targets through authoritative direction
- Serve the needs of team members so they can perform their roles effectively (Correct answer)
- Minimise conflict by making all key decisions independently
- Maintain strict hierarchical control to ensure standards are upheld
Correct answer: Serve the needs of team members so they can perform their roles effectively
Servant leadership prioritises meeting team members' needs, removing barriers, and enabling staff to fulfil their roles and develop professionally.
Question 7: A nurse identifies that the shift handover consistently runs over time, causing late starts and increased stress. As an informal team leader, what is the most constructive response?
- Accept the situation as standard ward practice
- Propose a structured handover format to the ward manager and pilot it with the team (Correct answer)
- Encourage staff to leave before handover is complete to prevent overtime
- Raise a formal grievance about working conditions
Correct answer: Propose a structured handover format to the ward manager and pilot it with the team
Proposing and testing a structured solution demonstrates proactive leadership and quality improvement, directly addressing the root cause of the problem.
NMC Leadership and Teamwork 3
A nurse witnesses a healthcare assistant behaving rudely toward a patient.
According to NMC principles, what is the nurse's responsibility?