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NMBA Outcomes-Based Assessment Clinical Skills and Procedures: practice questions

NMBA Outcomes-Based Assessment · Australia · Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), through AHPRA

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
10worked here, free
98written to this exam in this subject
22syllabus units

What this subject covers

The things your hands have to be able to do

In the exams: AIIMS BSc (Hons) Nursing Entrance: Physics (30 marks); NCLEX-RN: Safe and Effective Care Environment (17–33%); NMC Test of Competence — OSCE: Clinical skills stations (Remaining stations); Japan National Nursing Examination: Foundations of nursing and professional practice (Core across both sections); NMCN Professional Examination: Foundations and fundamentals of nursing (Core paper); Nursing Council of Kenya Licensure Examination: Fundamentals and clinical skills (Core); NMBA Outcomes-Based Assessment: Assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation (The structure of the practical stations)

Where the 98 questions fall

How our questions for NMBA Outcomes-Based Assessment spread across the units of Clinical Skills and Procedures. Difficulty: 25 easy, 54 medium, 19 hard.

End-of-manual check12
Observations5
Catheters5
What A Skill Actually Is4
Before You Touch Anybody4
Aseptic Technique4
Injections4
Veins4
Wounds And Dressings4
Moving People4
Washing And Mouth Care4
Oxygen And Airways4
Feeding Tubes4
Recording What You Did4
Giving Medicines4
Specimens4
Vital Skills In An Emergency4
Skills When The Supplies Run Out4
Learning And Being Assessed4
Bowels, Bladder And Continence4
Blood Transfusion4
Being Examined On This4

10 practice questions, worked

Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.

1 · What A Skill Actually Is · medium

Why is competence described as situational?

  1. Competence once gained on a mannequin never changes in any setting afterwards
  2. Competence depends only on the equipment
  3. Doing it on a mannequin differs from doing it on a frightened patient at night
  4. Competence is decided by the ward manager
Answer and working

C. Doing it on a mannequin differs from doing it on a frightened patient at night

Being competent in ideal conditions with a mentor beside you is different from being competent alone, at night, with a difficult patient. Competence is built across situations.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

2 · Observations · medium

An unsupported arm is used for a blood pressure reading. What is the effect?

  1. The reading is falsely low
  2. The reading is unaffected
  3. The reading is falsely high
  4. The machine refuses to read
Answer and working

C. The reading is falsely high

An unsupported arm reads high, an arm above heart level reads low, a small cuff reads high and a large cuff reads low.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

3 · Observations · medium

A temperature taken straight after a hot drink reads high. What should the nurse do?

  1. Wait and repeat it
  2. Record it and start cooling measures
  3. Record it as a fever and escalate
  4. Average it with yesterday's reading
Answer and working

A. Wait and repeat it

When the number does not fit the patient, the measurement is checked for error before it is acted on.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

4 · Catheters · medium

How do organisms enter a catheterised bladder?

  1. Through the tube and along its outside
  2. Only through breaks in the patient's skin
  3. Only from the drainage bag tap
  4. Only during insertion
Answer and working

A. Through the tube and along its outside

Organisms travel inside and outside the catheter; every disconnection adds risk.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

5 · Wounds And Dressings · medium

Why are dressings changed only when there is a reason?

  1. Dressings are expensive
  2. Changes take too long
  3. Each change cools and disrupts the wound
  4. Patients dislike visitors seeing them
Answer and working

C. Each change cools and disrupts the wound

A wound is most vulnerable when open; unnecessary changes cool it, disturb new tissue and cause pain.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

6 · Wounds And Dressings · hard

A wound is not healing despite the best dressing. What should be considered?

  1. Blood supply, nutrition, glucose, smoking, pressure and infection
  2. A more expensive dressing
  3. More frequent dressing changes with a stronger antiseptic solution each time
  4. Leaving the wound open to air
Answer and working

A. Blood supply, nutrition, glucose, smoking, pressure and infection

The patient heals, not the dressing. Systemic factors usually explain a wound that will not close.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

7 · Washing And Mouth Care · medium

How is a wash done without humiliating the person?

  1. Uncover only the part being washed and offer choices
  2. Uncover everything to work faster
  3. Wash in silence to avoid embarrassment
  4. Leave the curtains open for safety
Answer and working

A. Uncover only the part being washed and offer choices

Explanation, minimal exposure, warmth, choices and letting the person do what they can protect dignity.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

8 · Giving Medicines · medium

What is the main hazard during a medicine round?

  1. Daylight
  2. Quiet wards
  3. Experienced staff
  4. Interruption
Answer and working

D. Interruption

Interruptions are strongly linked to error; protecting the task reduces them.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

9 · Learning And Being Assessed · medium

Why should a mentor allow a learner to be slow?

  1. Slowness impresses patients and families
  2. Mentors have no other work to be doing
  3. Speed is never important in any procedure
  4. Learners become competent by doing
Answer and working

D. Learners become competent by doing

Taking over whenever it gets slow protects the schedule rather than the learner's development.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

10 · Blood Transfusion · easy

What is the commonest cause of wrong-blood transfusion?

  1. A laboratory machine fault
  2. A faulty blood bag
  3. An identification error
  4. An incorrect drip rate
Answer and working

C. An identification error

Errors are almost always identification, not laboratory process.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Clinical Skills and Procedures

Ten here, 98 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to NMBA Outcomes-Based Assessment in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.

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Read the subject

Clinical Skills and ProceduresThe full study manual, free NMBA Outcomes-Based AssessmentFormat, sections and how it has changed

More NMBA Outcomes-Based Assessment practice

Health Assessment and Physical ExaminationNursing Foundations INursing Foundations IIInfection Prevention and ControlMedication Administration and SafetyFirst Aid and Basic Life Support

Clinical Skills and Procedures for other exams

Japan National Nursing Examination · JapanNursing Council of Kenya Licensure Examination · KenyaNCLEX-RN · United States / Canada / AustraliaNMCN Professional Examination · NigeriaNMC Test of Competence · United Kingdom

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