CCRN Professional Caring & Ethical Practice Practice Questions
Professional Caring & Ethical Practice makes up 10 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest CCRN practice test. Here are 10 of the 40 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the AACN Adult CCRN test plan. Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real exam. Not affiliated with AACN or AACN Certification Corporation.
1. A nurse speaks up at rounds to make sure the team hears what a patient told her about his wishes. Which Synergy Model nurse competency is this?
- A.Clinical inquiry
- B.Advocacy and moral agency
- C.Systems thinking in care
- D.Facilitation of learning
Answer: B. The Synergy Model defines advocacy and moral agency as working on another's behalf and representing the concerns of the patient, family and staff, including helping to resolve ethical and clinical concerns.
2. A nurse believes a patient's care plan is wrong but feels unable to act on it because of the hospital's constraints. What is the nurse experiencing?
- A.Role ambiguity
- B.Moral uncertainty
- C.Compassion fatigue
- D.Moral distress
Answer: D. Moral distress is knowing the right thing to do while feeling constrained from doing it. Moral uncertainty is being unsure what is right, and compassion fatigue builds from long exposure to others' suffering.
3. The family of an alert, competent patient asks the team not to tell him about his new cancer diagnosis. What should the nurse do?
- A.Ask what he wants to know
- B.Agree to keep it from him
- C.Leave it all to the physician
- D.Tell him every detail at once
Answer: A. A competent patient has the right to information about his own care, and some prefer to hear less or to have family present. Asking him how much he wants to know respects his autonomy and the family's concern.
4. A patient's daughter makes decisions by asking what her father would have chosen, based on what he said and valued. Which standard is she using?
- A.Beneficence alone
- B.Medical paternalism
- C.Substituted judgment
- D.The best interest standard
Answer: C. Substituted judgment asks what the patient would decide if he could. The best interest standard is used when the patient's wishes are not known and asks what would most benefit him.
5. A patient with decision-making capacity refuses intubation after the risks are explained, and the team agrees he understands them. What should the nurse do?
- A.Ask the family to decide
- B.Intubate if SpO2 drops
- C.Respect the refusal
- D.Seek a court order
Answer: C. A patient with capacity may refuse any treatment, even life-sustaining treatment. The refusal is documented, other comfort and support measures are offered, and the plan is revisited if the patient changes his mind.
6. After several meetings, a family and the team still disagree about continuing life support. What is the most appropriate next step?
- A.Request an ethics consultation
- B.Transfer the patient elsewhere
- C.Limit the family's visits
- D.Withdraw support on schedule
Answer: A. An ethics consultation offers structured help to clarify values, options and who decides when conflict persists. It supports both the family and the team rather than imposing one side's view.
7. A nurse keeps the room calm, anticipates the patient's discomfort and checks on him often. Which Synergy Model competency is this?
- A.Systems thinking
- B.Clinical judgment
- C.Response to diversity
- D.Caring practices
Answer: D. Caring practices create a compassionate, supportive and therapeutic environment that promotes comfort and prevents unnecessary suffering, and they include vigilance, engagement and responsiveness.
8. A patient's wife asks to stay in the room during his resuscitation. What is the best response?
- A.Allow it only once ROSC returns
- B.Allow it with a support person
- C.Ask her to wait outside the unit
- D.Allow it only if she stays silent
Answer: B. Family presence during resuscitation is supported when a staff member stays with the family to explain what is happening and to watch for distress. Many families find it helps them understand that everything was done.
9. A patient is dying on comfort care, and the monitor alarms keep sounding. What should the nurse do?
- A.Keep full monitoring on
- B.Silence nonessential alarms
- C.Limit the family to 2 hours
- D.Continue the daily labs
Answer: B. At the end of life, care shifts to comfort: monitors and alarms that no longer change care are turned off or silenced, routine tests are stopped and the family is given time and privacy.
10. A frightened patient is about to have a bedside procedure. Which caring practice most reduces anxiety?
- A.Send the family home first
- B.Avoid long eye contact
- C.Begin without any warning
- D.Explain what he will feel
Answer: D. Telling a patient what to expect, including sensations, and staying with him lowers anxiety and builds trust. Comfort measures such as positioning and pain control are part of the same plan.
Practice all 40 professional caring & ethical practice questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free CCRN training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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