RPN Professional and Ethical Practice 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which action by an RPN demonstrates a breach of professional boundaries?
- Providing emotional support during a difficult diagnosis
- Exchanging personal contact information with a client for ongoing friendship (Correct answer)
- Advocating for a client's needs with the care team
- Explaining a procedure in the client's preferred language
Correct answer: Exchanging personal contact information with a client for ongoing friendship
Exchanging personal contact information for a personal relationship crosses professional boundaries that protect the therapeutic relationship.
Question 2: An RPN is asked to perform a task that falls outside their competency. The correct response is to:
- Attempt the task and ask for help only if something goes wrong
- Decline the task and communicate the competency limitation to the supervisor (Correct answer)
- Perform the task since the RPN license permits it
- Ask a colleague to supervise while performing the unfamiliar task
Correct answer: Decline the task and communicate the competency limitation to the supervisor
RPNs are accountable for practicing only within their competency and must communicate limitations to ensure client safety.
Question 3: Veracity as an ethical principle requires the RPN to:
- Protect the client from distressing information
- Be truthful with clients even when the truth is difficult (Correct answer)
- Support the physician's decision to withhold a diagnosis
- Provide only information the client specifically requests
Correct answer: Be truthful with clients even when the truth is difficult
Veracity obligates the RPN to be truthful in all communications with clients, supporting informed decision-making.
Question 4: An RPN working a double shift realizes fatigue is impairing clinical judgment. The ethical action is to:
- Continue working and increase vigilance
- Notify the supervisor of the impairment and request relief (Correct answer)
- Reduce the pace of care delivery to compensate for fatigue
- Delegate all high-risk tasks and continue the shift
Correct answer: Notify the supervisor of the impairment and request relief
Self-regulation includes recognizing and reporting conditions, including fatigue, that may compromise client safety.
Question 5: A client's 16-year-old minor child requests to review their parent's medical records. The RPN should:
- Provide the records since the child is the patient's family
- Decline and explain that access requires the patient's authorization or legal authority (Correct answer)
- Allow limited access with the charge nurse's approval
- Refer the request to the hospital's medical records department without further guidance
Correct answer: Decline and explain that access requires the patient's authorization or legal authority
Adult patients' records are protected by HIPAA; a minor child has no automatic right of access without the patient's written authorization.
Question 6: When a colleague's unsafe practice is reported to management but no action is taken, the RPN's next step is to:
- Accept management's inaction and move on
- Escalate the concern to a higher authority such as the risk manager or nursing director (Correct answer)
- Confront the unsafe colleague personally to force change
- Report the issue directly to the state board as the first escalation step
Correct answer: Escalate the concern to a higher authority such as the risk manager or nursing director
If immediate management fails to act on a safety concern, the RPN must escalate through the organizational hierarchy to protect clients.
Question 7: The Code of Ethics for nurses primarily serves to:
- Define minimum legal standards for nursing practice
- Provide a framework of moral obligations guiding professional nursing behavior (Correct answer)
- Replace state Nurse Practice Acts as the authority on scope of practice
- Outline disciplinary procedures for license violations
Correct answer: Provide a framework of moral obligations guiding professional nursing behavior
The Code of Ethics provides a moral framework that guides professional nursing conduct and reflects the values of the profession.
RPN Professional and Ethical Practice 5
Which action by an RPN demonstrates a breach of professional boundaries?