a. For 2 years, a person has kept the deceased spouse’s belongings in their usual places.
b. After 15 months, a widowed person realistically remembers both the pleasures and disappointments of the relationship with the spouse.
c. 3 years after the death, a person talks about the spouse as if the spouse was still alive and weeps when others mention the spouse’s name.
d. 18 months after the spouse’s death, a person says, “I never cry or have feelings of loss even though we were always very close.”
Answer: b. After 15 months, a widowed person realistically remembers both the pleasures and disappointments of the relationship with the spouse.
Question: A nurse cared for a terminally ill patient for over a month and always looked forward to spending time with the patient. When the patient died, the nurse experienced sadness and felt mildly depressed. Eventually, the nurse explains these feelings to a mentor. What should be the mentor’s focus should counseling the nurse?
Implementing stress-reduction strategies
Seeking therapy for dysfunctional grief
Discussing the experience of disenfranchised grief
Considering taking a leave of absence to pursue healing
Answer: C. Discussing the experience of disenfranchised grief
Question: A patient diagnosed with metastatic brain cancer says, “I’m dying, but I’m still living. I want to be in control as long as I can.” Which reply shows the nurse was actively listening?
a. “Our staff will do their best to help you feel comfortable.”
b. “Most people do not know how to help and are afraid of death.”
c. “Although your body is frail, your mind and spirit are healthy.”
d. “You want people to stop focusing on your weaknesses.”
Answer: c. “Although your body is frail, your mind and spirit are healthy.”
Question: An adult tells the nurse, “I can’t take anymore! My mother passed away, my husband lost his job and yesterday my daughter told me she’s quitting college and moving in with her boyfriend.” What is the priority nursing diagnosis?
Answer Options:
a. Fear, related to impending breast surgery
b. Deficient knowledge, related to breast lesion
c. Ineffective coping, related to perceived loss of daughter
d. Impaired verbal communication, related to spousal estrangement
Answer: c. Ineffective coping, related to perceived loss of daughter
Question: The partner of a patient in hospice care tells the nurse, “The care provided by the aide and other family members is inadequate, so I must do everything myself. Can’t anyone do anything right?” How best should the palliative care nurse respond?
Answer Options:
a. Providing teaching about anticipatory grieving.
b. Assigning new personnel to the patient’s care.
c. Arranging hospitalization for the patient.
d. Refer the partner for crisis counseling.
Answer: a. Providing teaching about anticipatory grieving.
Question: A patient diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness lives independently. This patient often has command hallucinations and shouts warnings to neighbors. After a short hospitalization, the patient’s landlord says, “You can’t come back here. You cause too much trouble.” What problem is the patient experiencing?
Answer Options:
a. Grief
b. Stigmatization
c. Recidivism
d. Lack of insurance parity
Answer: B
Question: After her husband died of heart failure, a wife approaches the nurse who cared for her husband. In the hospital hallway, the wife shouts angrily, “He’d still be alive if you’d given him your undivided attention!” Which response should the nurse implement?
Answer Options:
a. “I understand you’re feeling upset. Let’s go to our conference room, and I’ll stay with you until your family comes.”
b. “Your husband’s heart was severely damaged and could no longer pump. There’s nothing anyone could have done.”
c. “I will call the nursing supervisor to discuss this matter with you.”
d. “It will be all right if you cry. Crying is a normal grief response.”
Answer: a. “I understand you’re feeling upset. Let’s go to our conference room, and I’ll stay with you until your family comes.”
Question: A nurse manager notices that a staff member spends minimal time with a patient diagnosed with AIDS who is terminally ill. The patient says, “I’m having intense emotional reactions to this illness. Sometimes I feel angry, but other times I feel afraid or abandoned.” The nurse manager can correctly hypothesize that the most likely reason for the staff member’s avoidance is triggered by what?
Answer Options:
a. Fear of infection transmission.
b. Feelings of inadequacy in dealing with complex emotional needs.
c. Belief that the patient needs time alone with family and friends.
d. Knowledge that the patient’s former lifestyle included high-risk behaviors.
Answer: b. Feelings of inadequacy in dealing with complex emotional needs.
Question: A person whose spouse died 2 years earlier tells friends, “I think I’m ready to start going out socially, maybe even take someone to dinner.” What does this comment best demonstrate about the individual’s state of mind?
Answer Options:
a. Is denying the significance of the loss.
b. Is in a period of grief resolution.
c. Is actively working through grief.
d. Is experiencing intrusion.
Answer: b. Is in a period of grief resolution.
Question: A widow grieving her husband’s sudden and unexpected death tells the nurse, “I’m not feeling well. Yesterday, I saw my husband walk through the door, stop, and smile at me. Then he just faded away.” Which is the nurse’s most appropriate action?
Assess for recent substance abuse.
Suggest a referral to the mental health clinic.
Arrange for an evaluation for antidepressant medication.
Counsel the widow that visualizations are a normal part of grieving.
Answer: D. Counsel the widow that visualizations are a normal part of grieving.
Question: Children of a widowed parent confer with the nurse; their surviving parent repeatedly relates the details of finding the deceased parent not breathing, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, going to the hospital by ambulance, and seeing the pronouncement of death. The family asks, “What can we do?” How should the nurse best counsel the family?
Answer Options:
a. Encouraging them to share their own feelings with the surviving parent and ask for the retelling to stop.
b. Support the ideas that retelling the story should be limited to once daily to avoid unnecessary stimulation.
c. Share with them that retelling memories is to be expected as part of the aging process.
d. Reassure them that repeating the story is a helpful and a necessary part of grieving process.
Answer: d. Reassure them that repeating the story is a helpful and a necessary part of grieving
Question: (Multiple Response):
Which actions by a nurse contribute to protecting the rights of patients who are terminally ill? (Select all that apply.)
Maintain hope for a positive prognosis.
Hug the patient when sadness is expressed.
Offer choices that promote personal control.
Provide interventions that convey respect.
Support the patient’s quest for spiritual growth.
Answer: A. Maintain hope for a positive prognosis.
C. Offer choices that promote personal control.
D. Provide interventions that convey respect.
E. Support the patient’s quest for spiritual growth.
Question: A terminally ill patient tells the nurse, “Life has been good. I am proud of my education. I overcame adversity with willpower. I always gave my best and expected things to turn out well. I intend to die as I lived: optimistically.” The nurse planning care for this patient recognizes a critical need to focus on maintaining the patient’s state of mind by:
Answer Options:
a. Providing aggressive pain and symptom management.
b. Helping the patient reassess and explore existing conflicts.
c. Assisting the patient to focus on the meaning in life and death.
d. Supporting the patient’s use of personal resources to meet challenges.
Answer: d. Supporting the patient’s use of personal resources to meet challenges.
Question: A loss incurred by a corporation
Answer Options:
a. Must be carried forward unless the company has had 2 loss years in a row.
b. Can be carried back 2 years, then carried forward up to 20 years following the loss.
c. Can be carried back 5 years and forward 3 years.
d. Cannot be used to reduce taxes in other years except with special permission from the IRS.
e. Can be carried back 3 years or forward 10 years, whichever is more advantageous to the firm.
Answer: b
Question: Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
a. Since depreciation increases the firm’s net cash provided by operating activities, the more depreciation a company has, the larger its retained earnings will be, other things held constant.
b. A firm can show a large amount of retained earnings on its balance sheet yet need to borrow cash to make required payments.
c. Common equity includes common stock and retained earnings, less accumulated depreciation.
d. The retained earnings account as reported on the balance sheet shows the amount of cash that is available for paying dividends.
e. If a firm reports a loss on its income statement, then the retained earnings account as shown on the balance sheet will be negative.
Answer Options:
a. Since depreciation increases the firm’s net cash provided by operating activities, the more depreciation a company has, the larger its retained earnings will be, other things held constant.
b. A firm can show a large amount of retained earnings on its balance sheet yet need to borrow cash to make required payments.
c. Common equity includes common stock and retained earnings, less accumulated depreciation.
d. The retained earnings account as reported on the balance sheet shows the amount of cash that is available for paying dividends.
e. If a firm reports a loss on its income statement, then the retained earnings account as shown on the balance sheet will be negative.
Answer: b. A firm can show a large amount of retained earnings on its balance sheet yet need to borrow cash to make required payments.
Question: Which scenario is an example of an adventitious crisis?
Answer Options:
a. Death of a child from sudden infant death syndrome
b. Being fired from a job because of company downsizing
c. Retirement of a 55 year old
d. A riot at a rock concert
Answer: d. A riot at a rock concert