NCLEX-RN Medication Administration and Safety: practice questions

1 · End-of-manual check · medium

A prescription reads '.5 mg'. Why is this written form prohibited in most institutions?

1. Decimals are not permitted in prescriptions
2. It fails to state the route of administration for the dose
3. A lost leading zero reads as 5 mg — a tenfold overdose
4. Milligrams must always be written in full

2 · Why This Subject Is Taught Separately From Pharmacology · medium

At which stage do medication errors commonly occur?

1. At any stage from prescribing to monitoring
2. Only at prescribing, since nurses follow orders exactly as written
3. Only in the pharmacy, where drugs are dispensed by technicians
4. Only when a new drug is first introduced to a hospital formulary

3 · Why This Subject Is Taught Separately From Pharmacology · hard

Why does this manual deliberately give no doses?

1. Doses are the same everywhere and so need not be written down
2. Doses depend on the drug, patient and setting and must come from current sources
3. Doses are decided by the nurse at the bedside in every health system worldwide, so none are printed
4. Doses change so rarely that any textbook figure would be enough

4 · Why This Subject Is Taught Separately From Pharmacology · easy

What is the nurse's role at the administration stage?

1. The last check before the drug reaches the patient
2. A purely mechanical step of handing out tablets
3. A step that carries no professional responsibility
4. A step that can be delegated to anyone on the ward

5 · Calculation, and Why It Is Examined Separately · easy

Why must the numeracy part of some licensing examinations be passed at a very high mark?

1. A single slip there causes catastrophic harm
2. Numeracy questions are the easiest in the paper
3. It is the only part that is computer marked
4. High marks are needed to qualify for promotion

6 · Calculation, and Why It Is Examined Separately · easy

What method should be used for every calculation?

1. Whichever method seems quickest that day
2. A different method to double check each step
3. The same method every time
4. Mental arithmetic without writing anything

7 · High-Alert Medications · medium

What makes a double check independent?

1. The second person watches the first calculate
2. The second person signs after being told the dose the first nurse calculated
3. The second person is more senior than the first
4. The second person works it out without being told the first answer

8 · Interruption, Distraction and the Medication Round · medium

What does a do-not-disturb protocol involve?

1. A visible signal and protected time for the round
2. Locking the ward doors during rounds
3. Turning off all call bells on the ward while the round is in progress
4. Refusing to answer any patient

9 · When an Error Happens · hard

Why is hiding an error the worse error?

1. Hidden errors are always discovered by the pharmacy within the same day anyway
2. Nobody treats a harm that nobody knows about
3. Hiding saves the nurse from blame
4. Errors resolve on their own

10 · Documentation · medium

A patient was off the ward when a dose was due. What is recorded?

1. Nothing at all
2. That it was refused
3. That it was given
4. That it was not given and why