NCLEX questions for critical thinking

The staff nurse is helping a new graduate understand the relationship between care concepts and planned interventions. What value would it be for the staff nurse to encourage the new graduate to use a concept map? Standard Text: Select all that apply. 1. Used to highlight key areas 2. Provides a visual representation 3. Can be quicker than taking notes 4. Takes years to study how to create 5. Aids in developing critical thinking

1,2,3,5

During a clinical conference, a staff nurse states that critical thinking is essential when providing client care. What additional statements should this nurse make to support the use of critical thinking? Standard Text: Select all that apply. 1. Patient acuity is so much greater than it was even 10 years ago. 2. Care delivery systems are only as good as the nurses delivering care. 3. Nurses have always relied on commonsense thinking to provide quality, appropriate nursing care. 4. With health care being so expensive, nursing has to take on responsibility to keep the costs controlled. 5. My practice involves caring for clients who require care that didnt even exist when I went to school.

1,2,4,5

The nurse manager determines that a new staff nurse is demonstrating characteristics of a critical thinker. What did the manager observe the nurse perform? Standard Text: Select all that apply. 1. Listening with empathy to a client who recently has been diagnosed. 2. Waiting for the medical team to determine the focus of the clients supportive care. 3. Questioning a medication order that does not appear to meet the clients needs for pain management. 4. Exhibiting a willingness to try alternate methods of addressing a clients care needs. 5. Practicing nursing in a culturally competent fashion.

1,3,4,5

The nurse desires to improve critical thinking skills when providing client care. On which attributes should the nurse focus when developing these skills? Standard Text: Select all that apply. 1. Independence 2. Egocentricity 3. Intellectual humility 4. Fair-mindedness 5. Confidence 6. Perseverance

1,3,4,5,6

A student nurse resists when encouraged to be creative when providing client care. What should the nurse educator say to encourage this student to be creative? 1. Creativity allows unique solutions to unique problems. 2. Not all your answers are going to be from your textbook. 3. Creativity makes nursing more fun. 4. Youll get bored if you dont learn to be creative.

1. Creativity allows unique solutions to unique problems.

A client is experiencing a productive cough, audible coarse crackles, elevated temperature of 102.3F, chills, and body aches. What did the nurse use to determine that this patient is experiencing respiratory compromise? 1. Deductive reasoning 2. Inductive reasoning 3. Socratic questioning 4. Critical analysis

1. Deductive reasoning

Parents ask why invasive diagnostic tests were prescribed for their ill child. The nurse has just gotten out of report and has not had a chance to review additional information. What should the nurse respond to the parents? 1. Im not sure I can answer your question just now. 2. Its a good idea to listen to what your physician wants. 3. Your childs doctor is the best there is. I dont see why you wouldnt follow his advice. 4. Maybe you should get another opinion if youre not comfortable with your doctor.

1. Im not sure I can answer your question just now.

The nurse implements a quicker way to set up and initiate an intravenous infusion while still following safe practice. Which attitude of critical thinking is this nurse practicing? 1. Independence 2. Intellectual courage to challenge the status quo or rituals 3. Integrity 4. Confidence

1. Independence

A nurse educator has always believed that lectures with focused outlines are the best way to present theory content in class. A colleague, who teaches the same group of students, but a different subject, utilizes group work and in-class activities to teach difficult content and finds that students perform as well, or better, on their tests. The first educator in this situation is starting to rethink her position. What behavior is the first educator demonstrating? 1. Integrity 2. Perseverance 3. Fair-mindedness 4. Humility

1. Integrity

A seasoned nurse uses past experiences and knowledge gained from previous care situations to care for a client with complex health issues. Which attribute of critical thinking is this nurse practicing? 1. Reflection 2. Context 3. Dialogue 4. Time

1. Reflection

The nurse educator assigns students an activity to implement Socratic questioning in their daily lives. Which question provided by a student demonstrates this reasoning technique? 1. What makes you think cramming for a test is an ineffective way to study? 2. What other ways of studying could you implement? 3. If you didnt study for your test, what is the probability you will fail? 4. If you study all the unit outcomes, what effect will that have?

1. What makes you think cramming for a test is an ineffective way to study?

A client with unstable cardiac dysrhythmias has orders for medications, one of which is by oral route, the other by IV delivery. The nurse realizes that the IV route would be fastest, but is also concerned about the side effects that this drug may produce and the fact that the client has never taken the drug, so any adverse effect is unknown. Which part of the decision-making process is the nurse using? 1. Identify the purpose 2. Seek alternatives 3. Project 4. Implement

2. Seek alternatives

While listening to a client describe current symptoms, the nurse considers the clients entire situation. Which attribute of critical thinking is the nurse practicing? 1. Reflection 2. Context 3. Dialogue 4. Time

2. Context

The nurse is providing care to a group of clients. For which situation would the nurses use of critical thinking be a priority? 1. Administering IV push meds to critically ill clients 2. Educating a home health client about treatment options 3. Teaching new parents car seat safety 4. Assisting an orthopedic client with the proper use of crutches

2. Educating a home health client about treatment options

A client complaining of extreme low back pain is pale and diaphoretic and walks bent at the waist. Before taking vital signs, the nurse suspects that the blood pressure and heart rate will be elevated. What thought process did the nurse use to come to this conclusion? 1. Fact 2. Inference 3. Judgment 4. Opinion

2. Inference

The nurse who just moved from an urban area to a sparsely populated rural area understands that certain customs and practices the nurse follows may be quite foreign to the people in the new area. Which attitude of critical thinking is the nurse demonstrating? 1. Fair-mindedness 2. Insight into egocentricity 3. Intellectual humility 4. Intellectual courage to challenge the status quo and rituals

2. Insight into egocentricity

A clinical instructor senses that a student has been struggling with clinical skills learned in lab. To combat this, the educator pairs the student with a staff nurse who has clients with a variety of treatments and cares. Which type of problem solving is the instructor using? 1. Trial and error 2. Intuition 3. Research process 4. Experience

2. Intuition

The nurse enters the room of a critically ill child after sensing that something isnt right. Once the nurse determines the child is stable, the nurse continues to perform a check of all the lines and equipment in the room and finds that the last IV solution hung by the previous nurse was not the correct solution. Which problemsolving method did this nurse use? 1. Trial and error 2. Intuition 3. Judgment 4. Scientific method

2. Intuition

Prior to providing client care, the nurse reviews previous shift charting and the responses to nursing interventions. Which decision-making action is the nurse using? 1. Set the criteria 2. Examine alternatives 3. Implement 4. Evaluate the outcome

4. Evaluate the outcome

The nurse questions the practice of administering rectal suppositories to residents in a long-term care facility at bedtime, rather than earlier in the day. When told that this is the best time for staff and thats the routine that has been practiced for a long time, the nurse continues to research whether there would be a better time, especially in the best interest of the residents. Which critical thinking attitude is this nurse demonstrating? 1. Confidence 2. Perseverance 3. Curiosity 4. Integrity

3. Curiosity

A client complaining of shortness of breath has no pallor, cyanosis, or use of accessory muscles with respirations. The clients respiratory rate is 16 breaths per minute. The nurse is concerned that the clients report and the physical findings conflict. Which standard of critical thinking is the nurse using? 1. Clarity 2. Accuracy 3. Logical reasoning 4. Significance

3. Logical reasoning

While caring for a client of a different culture, the nurse becomes disturbed when the clients spouse makes all the decisions about care and treatments. What behavior is this nurse demonstrating? 1. Inference 2. Judgment 3. Opinion 4. Evaluation

3. Opinion

The nurse completes collecting data from a client and determines a list of problems. Which step in the nursing process should the nurse perform next? 1. Assess 2. Diagnose 3. Plan 4. Evaluate

3. Plan

A client recovering from a stroke does not want to perform prescribed shoulder exercises. What should the nurse say to the client that demonstrates critical thinking with creativity? 1. Youll only get worse if you dont do these exercises. 2. As soon as you get these into your routine, youll feel better. 3. Your physician wouldnt have ordered these if they werent important. 4. Heres a marker. See how many circles you can make on this board in 10 minutes.

4. Heres a marker. See how many circles you can make on this board in 10 minutes.

A client with a PhD in epidemiology has been to numerous physicians and has had numerous laboratory tests, all of which were abnormal, and exploratory surgery, but no one is able to explain the etiology of his problem. The client also states that he has a rare form of a neurological disorder. Which statement should the nurse make that demonstrates critical thinking? 1. Why dont you just tell your physician what you think you have? 2. Did you bring your prior tests and results with you, so we dont repeat anything? 3. If you know what you have, what do you want from us? 4. Describe what tests youve had and explain the symptoms of this disorder

4. Describe what tests youve had and explain the symptoms of this disorder

The staff nurse asks why unlicensed assistive personnel are responsible for stocking the unit refrigerator with refreshments when dietary personnel place the items on the shelf in the kitchen. What characteristic of critical thinking is this nurse demonstrating? 1. Curiosity 2. Clinical reasoning 3. Setting priorities 4. Developing rationales

4. Developing rationales

The nurse systematically tries a variety of products to help with healing of a clients wound. Which problemsolving method is the nurse using? 1. Intuition 2. Scientific method 3. Research process 4. Trial and error

4. Trial and error