Orthopaedic Nurse Test Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An orthopaedic nurse calculates a Number Needed to Treat (NNT) of 4 for a compression bandage protocol. This means:
- 4% of patients benefit from the treatment
- 4 patients must be treated for 1 to benefit (Correct answer)
- The treatment is 4 times more effective than placebo
- 4 adverse events occurred per treatment
Correct answer: 4 patients must be treated for 1 to benefit
NNT of 4 means 4 patients need to receive the intervention for one additional patient to benefit compared to control.
Question 2: Which qualitative research method is most appropriate for exploring orthopaedic nurses' lived experience of caring for trauma patients?
- Randomized controlled trial
- Phenomenology (Correct answer)
- Cohort study
- Meta-analysis
Correct answer: Phenomenology
Phenomenology examines the lived experience of participants, making it ideal for exploring nurses' subjective perspectives.
Question 3: A nurse evaluates a clinical practice guideline for post-fracture osteoporosis management. The GRADE system is used to:
- Assign authorship credit to researchers
- Rate the quality and strength of evidence behind recommendations (Correct answer)
- Calculate sample size requirements
- Determine statistical significance
Correct answer: Rate the quality and strength of evidence behind recommendations
The GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) system classifies the quality of evidence and strength of clinical recommendations.
Question 4: In orthopaedic research, a confidence interval (CI) that crosses 1.0 for a relative risk (RR) indicates:
- The intervention is significantly effective
- The result is not statistically significant (Correct answer)
- The sample size is too large
- There is high power to detect a difference
Correct answer: The result is not statistically significant
When the 95% CI for a relative risk crosses 1.0, the result is not statistically significant as it includes the null value.
Question 5: An orthopaedic unit is conducting a quality improvement (QI) project on fall prevention. How does QI differ from research?
- QI requires IRB approval; research does not
- QI aims to improve local processes; research aims to generate generalizable knowledge (Correct answer)
- QI uses only quantitative data; research uses only qualitative data
- QI is conducted by physicians only
Correct answer: QI aims to improve local processes; research aims to generate generalizable knowledge
QI projects focus on improving specific processes in a local setting, while research is designed to produce knowledge that can be generalized broadly.
Question 6: A systematic review on orthopaedic wound care reports an I² statistic of 85%. This indicates:
- High statistical heterogeneity among included studies (Correct answer)
- The intervention is 85% effective
- 85% of studies are at low risk of bias
- High consistency across studies
Correct answer: High statistical heterogeneity among included studies
An I² of 85% reflects high heterogeneity, meaning the included studies vary substantially in their results.
Question 7: When obtaining informed consent for an orthopaedic research study, which element is essential?
- Guarantee of a positive outcome
- Voluntary participation with the right to withdraw without penalty (Correct answer)
- Compensation for all participants
- Approval from the patient's family only
Correct answer: Voluntary participation with the right to withdraw without penalty
Informed consent requires that participation is voluntary and participants may withdraw at any time without affecting their care.
Orthopaedic Nurse Test Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3
An orthopaedic nurse calculates a Number Needed to Treat (NNT) of 4 for a compression bandage protocol.
This means: