Public Health Nursing Practice 4th Edition-Test Bank

Test Bank For Public Health Nursing Practice 4th Edition

Chapter 01: Responsibilities for Care in Community/Public Health Nursing
Test Bank
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A community/public health nurse is best defined as a nurse who:

A. Applies concepts and knowledge from nursing and public health.
B. Gives care to families in the community.
C. Has a baccalaureate and previous experience in community health.
D. Is employed outside an institution such as a hospital or care facility.

ANS: A
Community/public health nurses synthesize all their nursing expertise as well as knowledge from public health.
Cognitive Level: Knowledge

REF: Text page 3

2. Sometimes persons try to distinguish between community health nursing and public health nursing. The only clear distinction is that the community health nurse:

A. Gives care in community settings regardless of personal education, whereas public health nurses have specific educational preparation.
B. Is a title that has historically been used, whereas public health nursing is the new “in” title for the role.
C. Is employed to give care to families and groups, whereas the public health nurse works in public health departments.
D. Is the broader term, which includes public health nursing, school nursing, home health nursing, etc.

ANS: A
Public health nurses synthesize all their nursing expertise as well as knowledge from public health, whereas nurses with varied educational backgrounds may be employed in community settings, a much broader classification.
Cognitive Level: Knowledge

REF: Text page 3

3. Nurses do all of the following. Which is a unique function of community/public health nurses?

A. Care for the sick and dying
B. Committed to help clients
C. Focus on the client as a member of the community
D. Give holistic care to clients in the presence of their families

ANS: C
All of the above may be done by all nurses except focusing on the community environment.
Cognitive Level: Knowledge

REF: Text page 4

4. What is the value of discussing our vision for health of the community? Select all that apply.

A. Assists others in seeking possibilities they may not have thought possible.
B. Encourages others to become partners in a specific project.
C. Forces others to think about health issues and nurses’ power.
D. Helps coerce others to become partners in the nurse’s dream.
E. Helps divert attention from issues pushed by other professions.
F. Such sharing when others agree can become a source of energy and motivation for all.

ANS: A, B, F
Discussing our dream or vision empowers us and helps us remember why we do what we do. It also allows others to become involved and to recognize new possibilities. Expressing our visions also provides an opportunity for others to become partners in working for what might be, not only the broader vision but also in relation to specific projects. Nurses do not force or coerce others and often work with other professions on issues related to health.
Cognitive Level: Knowledge

REF: Text page 5

5. What is the appropriate approach for the community/public health nurse in balancing individual privacy and autonomy and the community’s needs for safety and security?

A. Always fulfill agency policies first.
B. Implement professional standards of nursing practice.
C. Obey all legal mandates.
D. Remember that group needs outrank individual needs.
E. Seek a balance between individuals’ needs and the community’s needs.

ANS: E
While the nurse’s practice should be consistent with employing agency policies, legal mandates, and professional standards, the nurse must seek a balance between individual autonomy and other individual rights and the rights of all other community members. It is a delicate balance.
Cognitive Level: Knowledge

REF: Text page 6

6. When caring for a family or community, what is one of the most important variables for the care to be acceptable to the recipients?

A. According to the textbook or procedure manual
B. Consistent with agency policies
C. Consistent with legal rules and regulations
D. Culturally congruent
E. The least expensive option if all are equally effective

ANS: D
While the nurse should do all of the above, for recipients to accept the care, the care must be consistent with their cultural expectations and norms.
Cognitive Level: Application

REF: Text page 7

7. What is the meaning of the term aggregate as used in community health?

A. A group of people who reside in a specific geographic area
B. All of the people who live in a specific community
C. A set of persons having some characteristic in common
D. “The public” in professional terminology

ANS: C
By definition, an aggregate is a group of persons who have one or more characteristics in common, particularly a set of persons under statistical study with some common personal or environmental characteristic. Aggregate is a synonym for population.
Cognitive Level: Knowledge

REF: Text page 10

8. In a situation in which there are not enough resources to care for everyone who wants and could benefit from care, what would an ethical community/public health nurse do?

A. Ask the agency supervisor how to approach this problem.
B. Focus on basic services such as immunization for everyone in the community.
C. Give care to everyone who can pay the cost of whatever care they might need.
D. Follow agency policies, whatever those policies might be.
E. Give care to those workers and their families who have insurance to pay for their care.

ANS: B
To provide for the greatest good to the greatest number, it is often necessary to focus on basic services, such as immunization or prenatal care, because such care has the most effect on the whole community.
Cognitive Level: Application

REF: Text page 12

9. When faced with an ethical conflict about limited resources and unlimited need, which action is the most just?

A. Give care to those patients whose needs most closely match the nurse’s abilities.
B. Give care to whichever prospective clients ask for care first.
C. Just work as hard as you can and do not worry about it.
D. Follow personal clinical expertise and preferences.
E. Try to achieve the outcome of the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

ANS: E
While option B fulfills the criteria of egalitarian (equal) justice, it is a short-term answer to an ongoing problem. Option E describes a utilitarian approach to justice, which is more helpful when dealing with large populations such as those seen by the community/public health nurse.
Cognitive Level: Synthesis

REF: Text page 13

10. What document is helpful in describing competent and appropriate nursing care in the community?

A. Community Health: Standards of Nursing
B. Healthy People 2010
C. The Joint Commission: The Comprehensive Accreditation Manual
D. Public Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice

ANS: D
The document Public Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (2007) was developed in concert with the steps of the nursing process to help nurses promote the health of people. There is no such document as Community Health: Standards of Nursing.
Cognitive Level: Knowledge

REF: Text page 13

11. In what ways do community/public health nurses give indirect care to clients in homes, clinics, senior citizen centers, schools, prisons, homeless shelters, etc.?

A. By being employed in such settings as outpatient clinics
B. By engaging in anticipatory guidance and health promotion
C. By giving care in mobile vans to citizens in their own neighborhoods
D. By such activities as political action to create new client services

ANS: D
Nurses give care directly as in all the answers given but provide care indirectly by trying to promote health and well-being through creating new resources, improving the environment, or using social and political mechanisms for solving problems.
Cognitive Level: Application

REF: Text page 14

12. Both an acute care nurse employed by a hospital and a community/public health nurse might give care to a recently discharged client in his or her home. How might the actions of the community/public health nurse differ from those of the acute care nurse?

A. The community/public health nurse might assess the health and needs of all the family members.
B. The community/public health nurse might be very careful to be nonjudgmental about the family’s living situation.
C. The community/public health nurse might explain why each nursing intervention was being done.
D. The community/public health nurse might help the family understand the basis for the treatment.

ANS: A
While both nurses would give excellent care to the individual client, the acute care nurse would assess the client and adapt interventions accordingly. The community/public health nurse would seek to identify others in the family who might need intervention or referral as well. The community/public health nurse provides care from a family-focused model, being concerned not only with the health of the identified client but also with the health of other family members.
Cognitive Level: Application

REF: Text pages 14, 15

13. When a community/public health nurse cannot meet a need of the client, it is most appropriate for the nurse to:

A. Encourage the patient to pay someone to meet that need.
B. Point out that insurance will not pay for that particular care.
C. Refer the client to a person or agency that might help the patient.
D. Suggest that the patient discuss the need with the physician.

ANS: C
Referral or directing someone to another source of assistance is an appropriate response when the nurse cannot fill the need.
Cognitive Level: Application

REF: Text page 16

14. What is the nurse’s most appropriate action when it becomes apparent that another agency is needed to help a family best meet their health needs?

A. Call the other agency to set up care for the family.
B. Give the family information to initiate contact with the other agency.
C. Report the need to the community/public health nurse’s supervisor for action.
D. Write a letter to the appropriate agency suggesting the agency get in touch with the family.

ANS: B
Nurses usually encourage the client to initiate contact as one way of maintaining responsibility for their own care without encouraging dependency. Nurses work with clients with a specific difficulty or barrier, such as language, in a way that empowers them to follow up on the referral.
Cognitive Level: Application

REF: Text page 17

15. The nurse was caring for a 17-year-old pregnant girl. Among other areas of discussion, the nurse reviewed the normal process of labor and delivery. What is sharing such information before the young woman is in labor called?

A. Anticipatory guidance
B. Obstetrical care
C. Postpartum care
D. Prenatal care

ANS: A
Providing information before the patient is expected to need and act upon that information is best termed anticipatory guidance.
Cognitive Level: Knowledge

REF: Text page 17

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