ATI LPN
Foundations and Adult Health Nursing Test Bank
Chapter 2 : Legal and Ethical Aspects of Nursing Questions
Question 1 of 5
The nurse caring for a patient in the acute care setting assumes responsibility for a patient's care. What is this legally binding situation?
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: When the nurse assumes responsibility for a patient's care, the nurse-patient relationship is formed. This is a legally binding 'contract' for which the nurse must take responsibility. Accountability is being responsible for one's own actions. An advocate is one who defends or pleads a cause or issue on behalf of another. Standards of care define acts whose performance is required, permitted, or prohibited.
Question 2 of 5
What are the universal guidelines that define appropriate measures for all nursing interventions?
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Standards of care define actions that are permitted or prohibited in most nursing interventions. These standards are accepted as legal guidelines for appropriateness of performance. The laws that formally define and limit the scope of nursing practice are called nurse practice acts. An advocate is one who defends or pleads a cause or issue on behalf of another. Prudent is a term that refers to careful and/or wise practice.
Question 3 of 5
An LPN/LVN is asked by the RN to administer an IV chemotherapeutic agent to a patient in the acute care setting. What law should this nurse refer to before initiating this intervention?
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: It is the nurse's responsibility to know the nurse practice act in his or her state. Standards of care, regulation of practice, and the American Nurses' code are not laws that the nurse should refer to before initiating this treatment.
Question 4 of 5
A nurse fails to irrigate a feeding tube as ordered resulting in harm to the patient. This nurse could be found guilty of:
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: The nurse can be held liable for malpractice for acts of omission. Failure to meet a legal duty, thus causing harm to another, is malpractice. The nurse practice act has general guidelines that can support the charge of malpractice.
Question 5 of 5
Patients have expectations regarding the health care services they receive. To protect these expectations which of the following has become law?
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Patients have expectations regarding the health care services they receive. In 1972, the American Hospital Association (AH
A) developed the Patient's Bill of Rights. The Self-Determination Act, American Hospital Association's Standards of Care, and The Joint Commission's rights and responsibilities do not address patients' expectations regarding health care.