Orthopaedic Nurse Test Professional Standards & Competencies 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An orthopaedic nurse is developing a care plan for a patient with a total hip arthroplasty. Involving the patient in setting realistic functional goals reflects which professional standard?
- Standard 1: Assessment
- Standard 3: Outcomes Identification (Correct answer)
- Standard 5b: Health Teaching
- Standard 7: Ethics
Correct answer: Standard 3: Outcomes Identification
Standard 3 (Outcomes Identification) requires identifying expected outcomes in partnership with the patient to ensure goals are individualized and achievable.
Question 2: Which best defines 'scope of practice' for an orthopaedic nurse?
- The range of procedures a nurse performs in a given shift
- The legally and professionally defined boundaries of nursing care the nurse is authorized to provide (Correct answer)
- The nurse's personal comfort level with various procedures
- The tasks delegated by the surgeon during the operative period
Correct answer: The legally and professionally defined boundaries of nursing care the nurse is authorized to provide
Scope of practice is defined by state nurse practice acts, professional standards, and institutional policies, not by personal preference or physician direction.
Question 3: A nurse manager observes that a staff nurse consistently skips neurovascular checks on patients in extremity casts. The manager's best response is to:
- Immediately terminate the nurse's employment
- Have another nurse perform the checks without addressing the observed behavior
- Address the performance deficit through education, coaching, and a follow-up plan (Correct answer)
- Document the observation but take no further action
Correct answer: Address the performance deficit through education, coaching, and a follow-up plan
Addressing competency gaps through education and structured follow-up supports patient safety while adhering to professional development standards.
Question 4: Which best describes the difference between a nursing diagnosis and a medical diagnosis?
- Nursing diagnoses are made only by advanced practice nurses
- Nursing diagnoses identify human responses to health conditions; medical diagnoses identify disease processes (Correct answer)
- A nursing diagnosis requires a physician's order to document
- Medical diagnoses focus on patient coping; nursing diagnoses focus on pathology
Correct answer: Nursing diagnoses identify human responses to health conditions; medical diagnoses identify disease processes
Nursing diagnoses (e.g., Impaired Physical Mobility) describe patient responses to illness, while medical diagnoses (e.g., femoral fracture) identify pathological conditions.
Question 5: A nurse identifies that a patient with a long leg cast is experiencing compartment syndrome. Advocating for immediate intervention reflects which ethical principle?
- Non-maleficence (Correct answer)
- Justice
- Autonomy
- Fidelity
Correct answer: Non-maleficence
Non-maleficence—doing no harm—obligates the nurse to prevent avoidable injury by acting swiftly when compartment syndrome is suspected.
Question 6: Which type of continuing education activity is most likely to satisfy NAON's ONC renewal requirements?
- General business management courses
- Contact hours in musculoskeletal nursing practice (Correct answer)
- Any accredited nursing course regardless of topic
- Leadership courses from a non-nursing organization
Correct answer: Contact hours in musculoskeletal nursing practice
ONC renewal requires contact hours that are relevant to orthopaedic/musculoskeletal nursing to ensure maintenance of specialty-specific competency.
Question 7: When delegating cast application teaching to an orthopaedic technician, the nurse remains responsible for:
- Nothing, once the task is delegated
- Supervising the teaching and evaluating the patient's understanding (Correct answer)
- Documenting that the technician completed the teaching
- Obtaining physician approval before delegating
Correct answer: Supervising the teaching and evaluating the patient's understanding
Delegation does not transfer the nurse's accountability; the nurse retains responsibility for oversight and verification of patient learning outcomes.
Orthopaedic Nurse Test Professional Standards & Competencies 4
An orthopaedic nurse is developing a care plan for a patient with a total hip arthroplasty.
Involving the patient in setting realistic functional goals reflects which professional standard?