CEN Professional Issues Practice Questions
Professional Issues makes up 4 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest CEN practice test. Here are 10 of the 16 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the BCEN CEN Examination Content Outline effective July 2026. Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real exam. Not affiliated with BCEN.
1. Under the Emergency Severity Index, which patient is assigned level 1?
- A.Needs no resources at all
- B.Needs a lifesaving intervention
- C.Needs two or more resources
- D.Has a high-risk complaint
Answer: B. ESI level 1 is for patients needing an immediate lifesaving intervention, such as an airway or defibrillation. High-risk patients are level 2.
2. Under ESI, a stable patient with a simple ankle sprain who needs one x-ray is usually which level?
- A.Level 3
- B.Level 5
- C.Level 2
- D.Level 4
Answer: D. ESI levels 3 to 5 depend on expected resources: two or more is level 3, one is level 4, none is level 5. One x-ray is one resource.
3. Under START triage, adults who can walk to a set area on request are tagged what?
- A.Minor (green)
- B.Expectant (black)
- C.Delayed (yellow)
- D.Immediate (red)
Answer: A. The first step in START is to ask everyone who can walk to move. These walking wounded are tagged minor and reassessed later.
4. At a mass casualty scene using START, an adult is not breathing even after the airway is repositioned. Which category is assigned?
- A.Delayed (yellow)
- B.Minor (green)
- C.Expectant (black)
- D.Immediate (red)
Answer: C. If repositioning the airway does not start breathing, the patient is tagged black. Resources go to those who can be saved.
5. Under EMTALA, what must a hospital provide to anyone who comes to the emergency department seeking care?
- A.Admission to a bed
- B.A primary care referral only
- C.A medical screening exam
- D.Free follow-up care
Answer: C. EMTALA requires an appropriate medical screening exam for anyone who requests care, regardless of ability to pay, and stabilizing treatment or an appropriate transfer.
6. A registration clerk wants insurance details before the nurse can triage a patient with chest pain. What does EMTALA say?
- A.Screening comes before payment
- B.Only insured patients are seen
- C.Triage waits for registration
- D.Payment must be checked first
Answer: A. A hospital may not delay the medical screening exam or treatment to ask about payment or insurance.
7. Under EMTALA, when is a woman in active labor considered stabilized?
- A.When she is admitted
- B.When contractions slow
- C.When the baby is born
- D.When the placenta delivers
Answer: D. For a woman having contractions, stabilized means delivery of the child and the placenta.
8. A sexual assault patient wants evidence collected. What should the nurse advise before the exam?
- A.Drink and brush teeth
- B.Avoid bathing or changing
- C.Shower first to feel better
- D.Wash the clothes worn
Answer: B. Bathing, changing clothes, eating, drinking and brushing teeth can destroy evidence. The patient's choices are still respected.
9. How should clothing collected as forensic evidence be stored?
- A.Hung to dry in the hall
- B.In separate paper bags
- C.In one plastic bag
- D.Rolled together in a towel
Answer: B. Paper lets moist items breathe and slows decay; plastic traps moisture. Each item is bagged separately to prevent cross-transfer.
10. A patient's family asks for a traditional healer to visit. Which response shows cultural humility?
- A.Allow it only after discharge
- B.Tell them what is best
- C.Refuse because it is not medical
- D.Ask what the visit means to them
Answer: D. Cultural humility starts with asking and listening rather than assuming. The team can usually accommodate practices that do not interfere with care.
Practice all 16 professional issues questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free CEN training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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