NURSING ETHICS

1. While Nurse Marc was administering medications, he realizes that he has

given the wrong dose to the client. He acts by completing an incident report
and notifying the client’s physician. The nurse is exercising:

a. Authority

b. Decision making

c. Responsibility

d. Accountability

2. Nurse Leah is assessing the client for pain and then offers a plan to manage
the pain, the principle that encourages her to monitor client’s response to the
plan is:

a. Respect for autonomy

b. Nonmaleficence

c. Beneficence

d. Fidelity

3. Nurses agree to be advocates for their clients. The practice for advocacy calls
for the nurse to:

a. Assess the client’s point of view and prepare to articulate this point of
view

b. Work to understand the law as it applies to the client’s clinical

condition

c. Document all clinical changes in the medical record in a timely manner

d. Seek out the nursing supervisor in conflicting situation

4. Ethical dilemmas often arise over a conflict of opinion. Once the nurse has
determined that the dilemma is ethical, a critical first step in negotiating the
difference of opinion would be to:

a. List the ethical principles that is involve in the dilemma so that

negotiations can agree on the language of discussion

b. Ensure that the attending physician or health care provided has written
an order for an ethics consultation to support the ethics process
 c. Gather all relevant information regarding the clinical, social, and
spiritual aspects of the dilemma

d. Consult a professional ethicist to ensure that the steps of the process

occur in full

5. Patient Marwin told the nurse that he has a paper that says that his wife is
supposed to make decisions about this health if he becomes incapacitated.
Marwin is describing what document?

a. Written advance directive

b. Durable power of attorney

c. Oral advance directive

d. Living will

6. A nurse stopped at an accident scene and began to provide emergency care

for the victims. Her actions are best labeled ethically as:

a. Autonomy

b. Beneficence

c. Nonmaleficence

d. Justice

7. Which of the following statements about the relationship of the Good

Samaritan Act and health care professionals is true?

a. They are compared to any other caregiver at the scene of an

emergency

b. They are expected to provide care as would another professional with

the same background and education

c. They are require to stop at the scene of accidents to render aid to

injured persons

d. They are to be paid for service rendered at an emergency scene

8. A 97-year-old client with renal failure has been hospitalized frequently during
the past year. The client expresses “not wanting to go on like this” and fears
being put on a “breathing machine” as her condition worsen. Which of these
documents could the nurse suggest that the client sign to ensure his/her
wishes are carried out?
 a. Durable Power of Attorney in Health Care

b. Health Care directive

c. Life-prolonging procedure declaration

d. Living will

9. Beneficence is the ethical principle that describes:

a. Patient decision making capacity

b. Patient preferences

c. Providing care that is equal for all patients

d. Providing care that maximizes health

10.A nurse who supports a patient and family’s need to make decisions that is
right for them practicing which of the following ethical principles?

a. Autonomy

b. Confidentiality

c. Veracity

d. Fidelity

11.Gwen rides the elevator to the fifth floor where her husband is a patient.
While on the elevator, Gwen hears two staff nurses talking Erwin, her
husband. They were discussing the potential prognosis and whether he
should be told of it. The staff nurses are violating which of the following
ethical principles?

a. Autonomy

b. Confidentiality

c. Beneficence

d. Nonmaleficence

12.When an ethical dilemma arise, the primary role of the ethics committee is
to:

a. Decide what should be done when ethical dilemmas occur

b. Prevent the physician from making the wrong decision

c. Provide guidance for the health care team and family of the patient
 d. Prevent ethical dilemmas from occurring

13.When a staff nurse refused to assist in performing abortion, he/she is

performing what universal principle of ethics?

a. Beneficence

b. Nonmaleficence

c. Veracity

d. Justice

14.Ethical dilemmas are part of nursing practice. When the nurse performs an
act applying the laws of the Supreme Being, he/she is following what ethical
principle or approach?

a. Virtue ethics

b. Divine Command ethics

c. Deontological ethics

d. Teleological ethics

15.Any information gathered by the nurse should always be treated with

confidentiality. When can confidential information be revealed?

a. The patient is ill of communicable disease and public safety may be

jeopardized

b. When the neighbor would request from the attending physician

c. The case is ordinary; the requesting person may just get it

d. The patient himself permits such revelation through a waiver but is

unsigned

16.The nurse is duty-bound to assist her clients and significant others towards
their recovery. In the advocacy role, the nurse:

a. Speaks on behalf of her patients

b. Respects dignity of patients

c. Defend rights of her patients

d. Safely practice nursing

17.Which statement best describes the ethical theory of teleology?

 a. It is also known as the categorical imperative

b. It was postulated by Immanuel Kant

c. It states that the value of a situation is determined by its

consequences

d. It states that one should act only if the action is based on a principle
that is universal

18.Which of the following is an example of a moral belief?

a. A person’s desire to be healthy

b. A parent teaching his/her child to tell the truth

c. A person’s desire to maintain his/her right to die

d. A teacher teaching a child the laws of the state

19.Nursing role is one of humanistic caring, nurturing, comforting, and

supporting. Which of the following is not a specific requirement of true
professionalism in the nursing practice?

a. Code of ethics

b. Accountability

c. Graduate education

d. Professional organization

20.Ms. Vina Briz knows that all patients have the right to nursing interventions
regardless of their race, religion, or gender. The ethical principle that best
describes this concept is:

a. Nonmaleficence

b. Justice

c. Autonomy

d. Beneficence

21.Nurse Paul, who works in a nursing home, loves photography and brings his
camera to work. He takes a picture of one of his co-workers while walking a
patient. Nurse Paul has just:

a. Violated the patient’s right to privacy

 b. Failed to get proper clearance

c. Performed an act of nursing malpractice

d. Legally obtained a realistic picture

22.Which moral principle is the nurse applying by deciding what is best for a
client and acting without consulting the individual?

a. Beneficence

b. Paternalism

c. Fidelity

d. Autonomy

23.If the staff nurse allows the publication of a picture in a newspaper of national
circulation of a malformed baby without the consent of the parents, his/her
action constitutes:

a. Defamation

b. Invasion of privacy

c. False imprisonment

d. Battery

24.The right of the patient to make his/her own decision is related to which
principle?

a. Respect for the person

b. Autonomy

c. Justice

d. Misdemeanor

25.It refers to tan ethical basis of nursing practice that view the rightness or
wrongness of a nursing act depends on the nature of the nursing act, rather
than its consequences is:

a. Deontological theory

b. Teleological theory

c. Virtue ethics

d. Paternalism
26.The client has not finished any formal education. The nurse provides
complete and accurate information to the client despite his ignorance. The
nurse supports the decision of the patient regarding his care. The principle
that is exemplified is termed:

a. Responsibility

b. Advocacy

c. Accountability

d. Competence

27.The public health nurse witnessed the selling of free medications by the
municipal health officer in the rural health unit. Which of the following should
the nurse do?

a. Resign as RHU nurse immediately

b. Submit an incident report to the authority

c. Safeguard the action the MHO

d. Call the attention of the Governor of the province

28.Nurse May saw Nurse Vale performed a procedure incorrectly to a patient.

Which of the following should Nurse May do?

a. Report Nurse Vale to the head nurse

b. Talk to Nurse Vale in a nice and professional manner

c. Submit an incident report to the chief nurse

d. Talk to others that Nurse Vale is not competent

29.Nurse Glenda summoned in court to be a case witness. Which of the following

is the responsibility of the nurse as a witness?

a. Protect the patient

b. Side with the doctor

c. Tell the truth

d. Confer with your lawyer

30.We ought to avoid inflicting evil, injury or harm to our patient is based on
what ethical principle?
 a. Beneficence

b. Duty of self-improvement

c. Justice

d. Nonmaleficence

31.An example of teleology is:

a. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

b. Murder is always wrong

c. The achievement of a good outcome justifies using less that desirable

means to attain to it

d. A person’s character must be developed so that they will be

predisposed to behave virtuously

32.Beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, justice, autonomy, respect for others,

and veracity are all examples of

a. Philosophies related to nursing

b. Ethical dilemmas

c. Philosophies related to organizational law

d. Ethical principles and rules

33.A benefit of an ethics committee is that:

a. They provide guidance that assists with difficult decisions

b. They are interdisciplinary and provide a way to decide what is right

and wrong

c. They provide guidance that assists with decisions concerning ethical

dilemmas

d. They provide guidance that assists with decisions related to ethics and
nursing practice

34.The duty to do good to others and maintain a balance between those items
that may cause harm and those that may cause good is called:

a. Fidelity

b. Nonmaleficence
 c. Beneficence

d. Veracity

35.The following contains a list of aspects of a Patient’s Bill of Rights. Which

statement is correct?

a. The patient has the right to considerate and immediate care

b. The patient has the right to have an advance directive concerning

power of attorney for course decisions

c. The patient has the right to review the records of themselves and their
family members

d. The patient has the right to obtain understandable information

concerning diagnosis and prognosis

36.Good Samaritan laws were enacted to protect health care professionals from
legal liability. An example of care rendered that does not fall into this
category is:

a. A nurse who delivers a baby during a football game

b. A nurse who stops to help at the scene of a water skiing accident

c. A nurse who stops her car to care for a hit and run victim

d. A nurse who asks for payment after caring an infant at an emergency

site

37.The nurse taking care of a 75-year old male patient diagnosed of a terminal
cancer explained all the procedures done to him. He patient cannot seem to
understand the explanation of the nurse. The nurse left the patient without
saying anything. What ethical principle was violated?

a. Veracity

b. Beneficence

c. Advocacy

d. Confidentiality

38.The code of ethics for professional nurses is an important characteristic of the

profession. What is the purpose of the Code of Ethics among nurses?

a. It is used to punish nurses who will not follow the ethical principles
promulgated in the code
 b. It is used to improve the practice of nursing in the country

c. It is used as a guide for nursing practice and the profession

d. It is used for preventing harm to clients

39.The nurse prevents the patient from being harmed by removing sharps and
deadly objects away from the patient. What ethical principle is this?

a. Veracity

b. Beneficence

c. Nonmaleficence

d. Justice

40.It obligates nurses to carry out their promises to care for patients with faithful
attention. Sometimes unfamiliar ethical terminology and perceived legal
threats put strain on nurses as they try to carry out their duty of promise.
What ethical principle is this?

a. Autonomy

b. Surrogacy

c. Justice

d. Fidelity