Nursing Exam Prep

NCLEX-RN: Collaboration with Interdisciplinary Team practice questions

12 questions. Try each one first, then open the answer.

Practise these interactively

1Question

The adult daughter of a client recovering from a stroke on a step-down unit tells the nurse, 'I feel helpless. What can I do for my father?' Which response best supports family-centered care?

  1. 'The best thing you can do is stay home and rest until he is discharged.'
  2. 'Visits need to stay under ten minutes so that we can protect him from infection.'
  3. 'Please leave the care to us, and I will call you if anything changes.'
  4. 'You could help with mouth care and reading to him, and I will go over his plan with you.'
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D. 'You could help with mouth care and reading to him, and I will go over his plan with you.'

Topic: family-centered care

Family-centered care treats family members as partners, informs them, and invites them to take part in care in safe ways. Offering a specific role and sharing the plan lessens the daughter's helplessness and supports the client.

Why the others are wrong

  • A – Sending her home excludes her from her father's care when she wants to help.
  • B – A blanket ten-minute limit has no stated clinical basis and restricts family presence.
  • C – Leaving the care to staff and calling only when things change leaves her as a bystander.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

2Question

A unit manager leads a culturally diverse team. A recently immigrated nurse is quiet in staff meetings, and the manager learns that in her home culture, disagreeing with a supervisor in public is disrespectful. Which action by the manager is best?

  1. Call on her by name during each meeting to help her build confidence
  2. Conclude that she has few ideas, since she does not speak in meetings
  3. Ask the rest of the team to stop expecting verbal input from anyone
  4. Offer more than one way to contribute, such as private talks or written input
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D. Offer more than one way to contribute, such as private talks or written input

Topic: intercultural communication in teams

Intercultural communication can hide the contributions of people whose norms differ from the group's. A leader who offers several channels draws out diverse views without forcing a behavior that conflicts with the nurse's values.

Why the others are wrong

  • A – Putting her on the spot repeats the very behavior that conflicts with her cultural norm.
  • B – Equating silence with having nothing to say is an assumption and loses her knowledge.
  • C – Removing verbal input for everyone ends useful discussion and does not specifically draw her ideas out.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

3Question

A nurse, pharmacist and physical therapist meet in a daily huddle to plan a client's discharge. Which team behaviors reflect the IPEC core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice?

Select all that apply.

  1. Each member states what their profession will contribute to the discharge and where their role ends
  2. The team decides the huddle does not need to be documented because everyone was present
  3. Members use clear, jargon-free language and check that everyone understands the plan
  4. The physical therapist takes over the medication teaching to save time
  5. Members respect each other's expertise and keep the client's goals at the center of the plan
  6. Disagreements about the plan are set aside without discussion to keep the huddle short
Show the answers and explanation

Answers: A, C and E.

  • A – Each member states what their profession will contribute to the discharge and where their role ends
  • C – Members use clear, jargon-free language and check that everyone understands the plan
  • E – Members respect each other's expertise and keep the client's goals at the center of the plan

Topic: IPEC core competencies

IPEC's 2023 core competencies are grouped in four areas: values and ethics, roles and responsibilities, communication, and teams and teamwork. Stating one's own role and its limits, communicating clearly and checking understanding, and working with mutual respect around the client's goals all reflect these competencies. Teamwork also calls for managing disagreement constructively and for documenting the shared plan.

Why the others are wrong

  • B – Team decisions still need documentation in the record; being present does not replace it.
  • D – Collaboration relies on each profession working within its own scope, not on taking over another's tasks.
  • F – The teams and teamwork competency calls for working through disagreement constructively, not avoiding it.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

4Question

A client says quietly, 'I don't know how I will manage at home after this surgery.' Which nurse response best demonstrates active listening?

  1. Don't worry about that now; most clients manage well once they are back in their own homes.
  2. You should ask your sister to stay with you for the first week, because that solves most problems.
  3. It sounds like going home worries you. What concerns you most?
  4. Let's discuss this after your pain medication has been given and you feel more comfortable.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C. It sounds like going home worries you. What concerns you most?

Topic: active listening response

Active listening reflects back the client's feeling and invites more detail, which shows attention and helps the nurse identify the real concern. Advice, false reassurance and deferral shut the conversation down.

Why the others are wrong

  • A – This reassures and dismisses the feeling instead of exploring it.
  • B – Giving advice before understanding the concern blocks the client from expressing it.
  • D – Postponing the conversation signals that the concern is unimportant.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

5Question

A nurse manager sits at eye level with a nurse who is upset about the night shift handoff, nods, and then says, 'So you felt the last report left out important client changes?' Which active-listening technique is the manager using?

  1. Offering reassurance
  2. Paraphrasing to confirm understanding
  3. Interpreting the hidden cause of the problem for the nurse
  4. Asking a leading closed question about blame
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B. Paraphrasing to confirm understanding

Topic: paraphrasing

Paraphrasing restates the speaker's message in the listener's own words to confirm understanding. Combined with eye contact and nodding, it is a core active-listening technique.

Why the others are wrong

  • A – Reassurance would comfort rather than check what was said.
  • C – Interpreting adds the manager's own explanation instead of restating the speaker's.
  • D – The statement restates what was said, rather than steering the nurse toward blaming someone.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

6Question

A manager emails a new medication-scanning rule to all staff, but weeks later many nurses are still bypassing the scanner. Which element of the communication process was most likely missing?

  1. A named sender who holds a management title
  2. A message that is written in formal language
  3. Feedback from receivers
  4. Any channel at all, since email cannot carry a message
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C. Feedback from receivers

Topic: feedback in the communication process

Communication is complete only when the receiver's response confirms the message was understood and accepted. Without feedback, the sender cannot tell whether the message reached its goal.

Why the others are wrong

  • A – The sender is known; a title is not what completes communication.
  • B – Style of language does not confirm that the message was understood.
  • D – Email is a valid channel; the problem is not the lack of a channel.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

7Question

A nurse manager must tell a nurse that she has repeatedly bypassed the barcode scanner. Which opening best builds trust?

  1. State the concern plainly: the scanner was bypassed on several shifts
  2. Start with chat about the weekend, then drift toward the problem
  3. Say that she has several strengths, then slowly introduce the issue
  4. Mention that others do it too so she does not feel singled out
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A. State the concern plainly: the scanner was bypassed on several shifts

Topic: difficult conversation

Trust grows when the leader is direct, specific and respectful. Stating the concern clearly at the start avoids anxious guessing and shows honesty.

Why the others are wrong

  • B – Delaying the message creates anxiety and makes the real topic feel like a trap.
  • C – Burying the message between praise confuses it and weakens credibility.
  • D – Comparing her to others dilutes accountability and may not be true.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

8Question

A new graduate nurse notices that skin assessments are often skipped on nights on her unit, although the unit standard requires them each shift. She hesitates, thinking her opinion carries little weight. Which statements should guide the advice you give her?

Select all that apply.

  1. Every nurse, however new, is accountable for raising concerns about unmet practice standards
  2. She should wait a year before saying anything
  3. She should describe what she observed and suggest an evidence-based solution
  4. Her manager or educator is an appropriate person to approach through the chain of command
  5. Because the whole team is accountable, she does not need to speak up
Show the answers and explanation

Answers: A, C and D.

  • A – Every nurse, however new, is accountable for raising concerns about unmet practice standards
  • C – She should describe what she observed and suggest an evidence-based solution
  • D – Her manager or educator is an appropriate person to approach through the chain of command

Topic: new nurse raising practice concerns

Accountability for safe, quality care applies to every nurse from the first day. A concern should be raised with specific observations and, where possible, an evidence-informed suggestion, using the manager or educator as appropriate.

Why the others are wrong

  • B – Delaying leaves clients exposed to harm and does not match the duty to act.
  • E – Shared accountability does not cancel an individual nurse's responsibility to report a concern.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

9Question

During a unit huddle on a new falls protocol, two outspoken nurses dominate the talk. A quieter nurse who earlier voiced a safety concern has said nothing. Which action by the manager will best draw out useful input from everyone?

  1. Let the discussion run freely, trusting that good ideas will surface unaided
  2. Go around the group so each person has a turn, including the nurse who has been quiet
  3. Call on the most experienced nurses first because they know the unit best
  4. End the huddle early and ask everyone to send comments by email at some point later in the week
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B. Go around the group so each person has a turn, including the nurse who has been quiet

Topic: facilitating balanced participation in meetings

A leader who structures a meeting so that quieter members are invited to contribute and dominant voices are politely contained gets higher-quality contributions and better decisions. A round-robin turn gives everyone equal opportunity.

Why the others are wrong

  • A – Unstructured talk favors the most assertive people, and quieter members stay silent.
  • C – Experience is useful, but limiting input to senior nurses excludes others who may see risks.
  • D – Delaying to email removes the group exchange, and many people will not respond.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

10Question

A provider gives a nurse a telephone order for a new medication dose. Which action best ensures the message was understood as intended?

  1. Repeat only the drug name to save time
  2. Write down the order, read it back and have the prescriber confirm it
  3. Ask the unit clerk to enter the order as heard
  4. Give the dose and record that the telephone order was received and acted on
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B. Write down the order, read it back and have the prescriber confirm it

Topic: read-back of telephone orders

Read-back with confirmation closes the communication loop, so the sender knows the receiver understood. It is a standard safeguard for verbal and telephone orders.

Why the others are wrong

  • A – Repeating only the name does not confirm the dose, route or frequency.
  • C – Relaying the order adds another opportunity for error.
  • D – Acting without confirmation risks a dosing error and offers no check.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

11Question

A client recovering from hip surgery takes eight home medications. The nurse is explaining which team members do what. Which are responsibilities of the clinical pharmacist?

Select all that apply.

  1. Review the medication list for interactions and duplications
  2. Recommend dose changes for reduced kidney function
  3. Teach the client safe transfer and walker techniques
  4. Counsel the client about how and when to take each medication
  5. Plan the discharge destination and arrange home services
Show the answers and explanation

Answers: A, B and D.

  • A – Review the medication list for interactions and duplications
  • B – Recommend dose changes for reduced kidney function
  • D – Counsel the client about how and when to take each medication

Topic: pharmacist role on the team

Clinical pharmacists review regimens for interactions and duplications, recommend dose adjustments and counsel clients on medication use. Mobility training is a physical therapy role and discharge planning is a case management role.

Why the others are wrong

  • C – Teaching transfers and walker use is a physical therapist's role.
  • E – Discharge destination and home services are coordinated by case management or social work.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

12Question

A nurse is joining a medical unit's interprofessional team. Which practices support effective team communication?

Select all that apply.

  1. Joining daily interprofessional rounds to share the client's plan
  2. Using a structured format such as SBAR when calling a provider
  3. Texting client details from a personal phone for speed
  4. Clarifying each team member's role at the start of care
  5. Stating a concern about client safety directly to the team member involved
  6. Writing criticism of a colleague's competence in the client's chart
Show the answers and explanation

Answers: A, B, D and E.

  • A – Joining daily interprofessional rounds to share the client's plan
  • B – Using a structured format such as SBAR when calling a provider
  • D – Clarifying each team member's role at the start of care
  • E – Stating a concern about client safety directly to the team member involved

Topic: effective interprofessional communication

Effective team communication uses shared forums such as rounds, structured tools like SBAR, role clarity and direct, respectful communication about safety concerns. Texting client details from personal devices risks privacy, and the chart is not a place to criticize colleagues.

Why the others are wrong

  • C – Sending client information from a personal phone risks a privacy breach.
  • F – Criticism belongs in a direct conversation or the chain of command, not the legal record.

Written for the Medical Exam YouTube channel and answered blind by a second AI model before publication.

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