NORCET Nursing Foundations I: practice questions

NORCET · India · All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers

10worked here, free

96written to this exam in this subject

17syllabus units

What this subject covers

The work that decides whether anything else helps

In the exams: NORCET: Mains — nursing practice, case-scenario based (100 questions); NORCET: Prelims — nursing syllabus (80 of 100 questions); NMC Test of Competence — CBT: Part B — Clinical (100 marks, 68% to pass); NMC Test of Competence — OSCE: APIE — assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation (4 linked stations); Philippine Nurse Licensure Examination: Foundations and community health (Paper 1); 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)

What Nursing Actually Is
The Nursing Process
Being With Patients
Hygiene and Personal Care
Skin and Pressure Damage
Moving, Positioning and Falls
Eating and Drinking
Elimination
Comfort, Rest and Pain
Safety at the Bedside
Admission, Handover and Records
Working With Other People
Where Resources Are Short
Observation and Noticing
Carrying This Into Your First Job
Being Examined On This

Where the 96 questions fall

How our questions for NORCET spread across the units of Nursing Foundations I. Difficulty: 25 easy, 54 medium, 17 hard.

End-of-manual check	12
The Nursing Process	6
Being With Patients	6
Skin and Pressure Damage	6
Moving, Positioning and Falls	6
Eating and Drinking	6
Elimination	6
What Nursing Actually Is	5
Hygiene and Personal Care	5
Comfort, Rest and Pain	5
Safety at the Bedside	5
Admission, Handover and Records	5
Observation and Noticing	5
Carrying This Into Your First Job	5
Being Examined On This	5
Working With Other People	4
Where Resources Are Short	4

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 · End-of-manual check · medium

Where do most falls in hospital happen?

During physiotherapy sessions
On the way to, or from, a toilet
While being moved between beds
In the first hour after admission

Answer and working

B. On the way to, or from, a toilet

Needing the toilet and not being able to wait is the commonest sequence, which is why answering call bells quickly and offering the toilet before it is asked for are fall-prevention measures. An unanswered bell is a patient deciding to go alone.

Further reading: SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

2 · End-of-manual check · medium

Doing for a patient what they could do themselves is:

Efficient use of limited nursing time
Appropriate whenever the patient is unwell
Required to maintain hygiene standards
A loss of capability that accumulates

Answer and working

D. A loss of capability that accumulates

Capability that is not used is lost, and a patient washed completely for three weeks loses the ability to wash. The principle is to do with rather than for, and where time genuinely does not allow it that is a staffing shortfall to record rather than a standard to quietly lower.

Further reading: SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

3 · Being With Patients · easy

How should a nurse introduce themselves on first meeting a patient?

First name only, to keep the meeting informal and brief
With a full account of their training and experience
By reading out the patient's diagnosis from the notes first
Name, role and what they are about to do, at eye level

Answer and working

D. Name, role and what they are about to do, at eye level

Name, role and purpose, said at the patient's eye level, takes seconds and sets what the patient will tell you for the rest of the admission.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

4 · Skin and Pressure Damage · hard

How can early pressure damage be recognised in darker skin where redness may not show?

It cannot be detected until the skin actually breaks open
A patch warmer, cooler, firmer, boggier or more painful than around it
By pressing harder and longer to see whether the skin finally turns pale
By waiting for the area to turn bright red over a day

Answer and working

B. A patch warmer, cooler, firmer, boggier or more painful than around it

On darker skin, redness may be invisible; temperature, texture, firmness and pain differences are the earlier signs. Relying on redness alone systematically misses damage in dark-skinned patients.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

5 · Eating and Drinking · medium

Why do malnourished patients stay longer in hospital?

They need fewer medicines and so recover more slowly
They are always transferred to a specialist ward first
Their families visit less often, and so their discharge planning is always delayed
They heal slowly and get more infections and pressure damage

Answer and working

D. They heal slowly and get more infections and pressure damage

Malnutrition slows healing, impairs immunity and increases pressure damage, all of which prolong a hospital stay.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

6 · Admission, Handover and Records · easy

Why does the admission assessment matter so much?

It decides which consultant will lead the patient's care
It sets the baseline everything later is compared with
It is the only assessment that is legally required
It replaces the need to reassess later in the stay

Answer and working

B. It sets the baseline everything later is compared with

The admission assessment records how the patient started, so later changes can be recognised. A poor baseline hides deterioration.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

7 · Working With Other People · medium

What makes an escalation call to a doctor effective?

Apologising for the interruption before anything else
Reading every observation from the last two days
Stating the concern, the findings and what you need clearly
Waiting until the doctor asks what the call is about

Answer and working

C. Stating the concern, the findings and what you need clearly

A clear structure — who you are, the concern, the findings, what you want done and by when — gets action. Hesitant or rambling calls are deprioritised.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

8 · Where Resources Are Short · easy

In a setting with few nurses, why is teaching families basic care valuable?

It allows the nurse to stop seeing those patients
It transfers legal responsibility to the family
It is required before any patient can be discharged
It extends safe care when nurses cannot be present

Answer and working

D. It extends safe care when nurses cannot be present

Families taught to reposition, help with eating, recognise warning signs and call for help extend safe care where staffing is thin.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

9 · Observation and Noticing · medium

A relative says the patient 'isn't themselves today'. How should this be treated?

As anxiety that needs reassurance only
As a clinical observation to investigate
As irrelevant without abnormal numbers
As a complaint to pass to the manager

Answer and working

B. As a clinical observation to investigate

Families know the person's normal and often notice change before charts do. Their concern is an observation worth acting on.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

10 · Carrying This Into Your First Job · hard

Why does the manual tell new nurses that it is allowed to find the work hard?

Finding it hard is a clear sign of being unsuited to nursing and should be kept private
Saying so is required for a formal appraisal
Distress acknowledged and supported is less likely to drive people out
Admitting difficulty lowers the expected standard

Answer and working

C. Distress acknowledged and supported is less likely to drive people out

The first year is hard for almost everyone. Naming that, and seeking support, protects both the nurse's wellbeing and their staying in the profession.

Further reading: Laisha original question, written to the SUNYRA nursing manual: Nursing Foundations I

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