Orthopaedic Nurse Test Professional Standards & Competencies 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient asks the nurse to explain a surgical consent form. The nurse's response should be guided by which ethical principle?
- Fidelity
- Veracity
- Autonomy (Correct answer)
- Beneficence
Correct answer: Autonomy
Autonomy supports the patient's right to receive clear information to make an informed, self-directed decision about their care.
Question 2: When a nurse identifies a gap between current unit practice and evidence-based guidelines for VTE prophylaxis after joint replacement, the best professional response is to:
- Continue current practice to avoid conflict with the team
- Document the concern in the patient's chart only
- Bring the evidence to the attention of the clinical team or quality improvement committee (Correct answer)
- Implement the new guideline independently without notifying others
Correct answer: Bring the evidence to the attention of the clinical team or quality improvement committee
Raising practice concerns through appropriate channels aligns with the professional standard of quality improvement and evidence-based practice.
Question 3: Which component is NOT part of the nursing process as defined in professional nursing standards?
- Diagnosis
- Billing and coding (Correct answer)
- Evaluation
- Planning
Correct answer: Billing and coding
Billing and coding is an administrative function, not one of the five steps (Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation) of the nursing process.
Question 4: A certified orthopaedic nurse is asked to float to a medical-oncology unit. Before accepting an assignment, the nurse should first:
- Refuse the assignment entirely
- Assess personal competency for the assigned patient population (Correct answer)
- Accept without question because hospital policy requires floating
- Request a pay increase for the unfamiliar assignment
Correct answer: Assess personal competency for the assigned patient population
Nurses are professionally accountable for practicing within their competency; identifying gaps before accepting an assignment protects patients.
Question 5: Under HIPAA, an orthopaedic nurse may share a patient's post-operative status with:
- A curious neighbor who asks in the hallway
- The patient's employer
- A family member the patient has designated as an authorized contact (Correct answer)
- Another patient in the same room
Correct answer: A family member the patient has designated as an authorized contact
HIPAA permits sharing protected health information only with individuals the patient has authorized or those directly involved in the patient's care.
Question 6: Which action by a nurse demonstrates adherence to the standard of professional practice evaluation (peer review)?
- Reviewing only self-identified errors
- Providing and receiving constructive feedback on clinical performance with colleagues (Correct answer)
- Reporting peers only when patient harm has occurred
- Avoiding feedback conversations to maintain unit harmony
Correct answer: Providing and receiving constructive feedback on clinical performance with colleagues
Peer review involves mutual, constructive evaluation of practice to promote continuous professional growth and safe patient care.
Question 7: A nurse notices a colleague documenting care that was not performed. The most appropriate action is to:
- Ignore the behavior since it does not involve the nurse's own patients
- Correct the colleague's documentation yourself
- Report the concern through the appropriate chain of command or ethics process (Correct answer)
- Post about it on social media to raise awareness
Correct answer: Report the concern through the appropriate chain of command or ethics process
Falsified documentation is a patient safety and professional ethics issue that must be reported through established institutional and regulatory channels.
Orthopaedic Nurse Test Professional Standards & Competencies 3
A patient asks the nurse to explain a surgical consent form.
The nurse's response should be guided by which ethical principle?