ATI RN
Medication Administration Practice Questions Questions
Question 1 of 5
Biofeedback is a therapy used to:
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Biofeedback trains patients to control physiological responses (e.g., muscle tension), aiding pain management through self-regulation.
Question 2 of 5
Which part of a syringe holds medication?
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: The barrel is the cylindrical chamber that holds the medication, marked for volume measurement.
Question 3 of 5
You are a fourth-year medical student with a patient who has been in a severe motor vehicle accident. The patient has a subdural hematoma that led to cerebral herniation before it could be drained. Over the last few days, the patient has lost all brainstem reflexes and is now brain dead. You have the closest relationship with the family of anyone on the team. The ventilator is to be removed soon and organ donation is considered. Who should ask for consent for organ donation in this case?
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The rules concerning organ donation are quite specific that the medical team taking care of the patient must not be the ones asking for the donation of organs. This is a conflict of interest. It pits the family's perception of the physician as caregiver against the impression that the medical staff just wants the organs. There can also be significant amounts of irrational thinking associated with grief such as the family thinking you only want to turn off the ventilator so you can harvest the organs. The medical team must stay clearly in the role of the people trying to preserve the life of the patient. The other most practical reason for the organ-donor network to ask is that their chance of successfully obtaining consent is far, far in excess of physicians who ask. The organ-donor network doing the asking both preserves the ethical integrity of the medical team in the eyes of the family as well as markedly increasing the supply of viable organs available for donation.
Question 4 of 5
You have an HIV-positive patient in the office. You ask her if she has informed her partner that she is HIV-positive. She has repeatedly resisted your attempts to have her inform the partner. She is pregnant with his child. The partner is in the waiting room and you have met him many times. What should you do?
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: You have full legal protection if you inform the partner. The safety of an innocent person is always more important that privacy. You are not legally mandated to inform the partner directly but you are protected if you do. You have no liability in breaking confidentiality for this purpose. You definitely are liable if the patient's partner seroconverts and you did not tell him he was at risk even though you knew. This is a version of the Tarasof case in psychiatry (Tarasof v: Regents of the State of California, 17 Cal3d 424 [1976]). If a mentally ill patient discloses to you in confidence that he is planning to injure someone, you have an absolute mandate to inform both law enforcement as well as the person at risk. If you know that harm may occur, but you do nothing, then you are liable. If partner notification is going to occur, you must inform the patient that you will inform her partner.
Question 5 of 5
A 27-year-old pregnant woman presents in her last trimester of pregnancy with severe cephalopelvic disproportion. Her physicians have recommended a caesarian section. She does not want to undergo the surgery. She fully understands the procedure and she is unwilling to suffer the discomfort of surgery. She has been informed that without the C-section her fetus may not survive childbirth. What should you do?
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: A competent adult has the right to do what she wants with her own body. This is true even if the decision seems foolish or unwise. This is also true even if the patient is pregnant and the fetus is potentially viable. Until the baby is born, a fetus does not have the rights of a 'person.' An undelivered fetus is judged as a part of the woman's body; hence she has the entire right to choose what will go on. Psychiatry evaluation and a court order are inappropriate because she is fully competent as per the description in this case. The father does not have the right to decide what to do any more than he has a right to consent to an appendectomy for the mother. The mother's right to refuse a C-section is the same as a mother's right to choose abortion. The father has no say.