Question 1

A new registered nurse asks the registered nurse (RN) preceptor what could be done to become more professional. What is the preceptor's best response?&#10;A) &#34;Attend nursing educational meetings.&#34;&#10;B) &#34;Listen to other nurses.&#34;&#10;C) &#34;Read the agency newsletter.&#34;&#10;D) &#34;Pass the licensing exam.&#34;

Accepted Answer

Knowledge and commitment are essential components of professionalism. Attending nursing educational meetings can promote collaborative learning with peers and maintenance of competence in an ever-changing health care environment. Listening can promote professionalism, and communication is certainly a component of professionalism; however, there is also a social sense to listening, and without the educational/learning component, this is not the best answer. An agency newsletter could include information about professional opportunities, but it is not the best answer. The new nurse would have already passed the licensing exam, the legal requirement to be considered a nurse.

Question 2

Components of a professional identity in nursing include which attributes? (Select all that apply.)&#10;A) Accountability&#10;B) Advocacy&#10;C) Autonomy&#10;D) Competence&#10;E) Culture

Accepted Answer

The scope of professional identity in nursing includes: autonomy, knowledge, competence, professionalism, accountability, advocacy, collaborative practice, and commitment. Cultural sensitivity is important to professional nursing; however, culture is an inherent quality of nurses and patients, not a component of the professional identity.

Question 3

Nursing demonstrates dedication to improving public health through which avenue?&#10;A) Changing health care standards&#10;B) Legal regulations&#10;C) Scope of practice&#10;D) Technology

Accepted Answer

Through the scope of practice, specialized knowledge, and code of ethics, the discipline of nursing has demonstrated its dedication to improving public health. The changing health care environment is one of the challenges to nursing, not an indicator of dedication. Legal regulations are generally promulgated by legislators rather than nurses to protect the public. A highly technological environment is considered a challenge to nursing rather than an indicator of dedication.

Question 4

The scope of professional nursing practice is determined by the rules promulgated by which organization?&#10;A) American Nurses' Association (ANA)&#10;B) Institute of Medicine (IOM)&#10;C) State Board of Nursing&#10;D) State Nursing Association

Accepted Answer

Professional nursing practice is regulated by each state's Board of Nursing. The ANA is the professional organization of registered nursing in the United States and may influence, but it does not regulate. The IOM collaborated with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to improve the fractured health care system in the United States, and it makes recommendations, not rules. The state nursing associations are state organizations of the ANA and may collaborate with the public and boards of nursing to promote nursing rules which improve health care.

Question 5

The American Nurses' Association (ANA) outlines expectations of the nursing profession in which type of documentation?&#10;A) Gallup poll&#10;B) Goldman report&#10;C) Social Policy Statement&#10;D) Social identity theory

Accepted Answer

The ANA's Nursing's Social Policy Statement outlines expectations of nurses. The national Gallup poll has found nursing to be one of the most trusted professions for their honesty and ethical standards almost every year, but it does not outline expectations. Emma Goldman was a radical anarchist nurse who advocated and cared for indigent women in New York. She demonstrated the expectations of a professional nurse. Social identity theory posits that social identity is derived from group membership and that most people work to attain a positive social identity, and it not specific to nursing.

Question 6

The qualities of leadership, clinical expertise and judgment, mentorship, and lifelong learning would best describe which type of nurse?&#10;A) Administrator&#10;B) Certified nurse specialist&#10;C) Practitioner&#10;D) Professional

Accepted Answer

The qualities listed are those of a professional nurse. The other options are all nurses who may have these qualities, but the focus of their title includes qualities not essential for the professional nurse. The administrator would have management qualities; the clinical nurse specialist would have specialty area knowledge; and the practitioner would meet legal requirements as a health care provider.

Question 7

What nursing recommendations are published in the Institute of Medicine (IOM's) report The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health?&#10;A) Teach, advocate, assess, and nurture.&#10;B) Should have a graduate degree to practice.&#10;C) Diagnose and recommend treatments.&#10;D) Must have continuing education.

Accepted Answer

Professional nurses teach, advocate, assess, and nurture. The IOM recommends that 80% of nurses have a minimum baccalaureate degree (not graduate degree) by 2020. Physicians diagnose and recommend treatments, and nurses provide the majority of these treatments. Lifelong learning is recommended, and some, not all, states require continuing education.

Deck 39: Professional Identity