NPTE-PTA Safety, Professional Roles & Evidence Practice Questions
Safety, Professional Roles & Evidence makes up 4 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest NPTE-PTA 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 FSBPT NPTE-PTA Test Content Outline (2024). Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real exam. Not affiliated with FSBPT.
1. Which task is outside the PTA's role?
- A.Teaching a home program
- B.Performing the initial evaluation
- C.Progressing exercise within the plan
- D.Collecting goniometry data
Answer: B. The PT evaluates, sets the diagnosis and plan of care, and discharges. The PTA carries out and adjusts interventions within that plan.
2. A patient's response suggests the plan of care no longer fits. What should the PTA do?
- A.Discharge the patient
- B.Change the diagnosis
- C.Write new goals in the chart
- D.Contact the supervising PT
Answer: D. Changing goals or the plan is the PT's role. The PTA reports the change and works within the existing plan until the PT reassesses.
3. A patient declines today's gait training after it is explained. What should the PTA do?
- A.Respect it and document it
- B.Bill the session anyway
- C.Insist until she agrees
- D.Do it while she is distracted
Answer: A. A competent patient may refuse treatment. The PTA explains the purpose, respects the decision, records it and informs the PT.
4. In a SOAP note, where does a measured knee range of 5 to 110 degrees belong?
- A.Assessment
- B.Plan
- C.Objective
- D.Subjective
Answer: C. Measurements and observations go in the Objective section. What the patient reports goes in the Subjective.
5. A Medicare Part B patient is due for a progress report (at least once every 10 treatment days). Who must write it?
- A.The referring physician
- B.The clinic's billing staff
- C.The supervising PT
- D.The PTA treating that day
Answer: C. Medicare requires the clinician (the PT) to write the progress report at least once every 10 treatment days. A PTA may document treatment notes and progress between those reports but may not write the progress report itself.
6. A PTA wants to add an intervention that is not in the plan of care. What is needed first?
- A.The supervising PT's approval
- B.A note in the daily log
- C.The aide's second opinion
- D.The patient's verbal agreement
Answer: A. Adding interventions changes the plan of care, which only the PT can do. How closely the PT must supervise the PTA is set by each state's practice act.
7. A PTA sees a coworker document a session that did not happen. What should the PTA do?
- A.Tell only the patient
- B.Ignore it to keep the peace
- C.Copy the note to match
- D.Report it to a supervisor
Answer: D. Billing for services not provided is fraud. Professional ethics require reporting it to the supervisor or compliance office.
8. A patient's daughter phones asking for test results, but the patient has not authorized it. What should the PTA do?
- A.Share only the diagnosis
- B.Decline to share it
- C.Read the results aloud
- D.Fax the whole chart
Answer: B. HIPAA limits disclosure of protected health information to people the patient has authorized or those with a legal right to it.
9. A patient has bruises in different stages of healing and seems afraid of a caregiver. What should the PTA do?
- A.Mention it next month
- B.Report it as required
- C.Ask the caregiver directly
- D.Wait for more bruises
Answer: B. Signs of possible abuse are reported according to state law and facility policy. Health care workers are often mandated reporters.
10. Before walking a patient who has an IV line in the forearm, what should the PTA do?
- A.Disconnect the tubing
- B.Clamp the line for the walk
- C.Lower the bag to the floor
- D.Keep the bag above the site
Answer: D. Keeping the bag above the insertion site prevents backflow of blood. The PTA does not disconnect or clamp lines without an order.
Practice all 16 safety, professional roles & evidence questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free NPTE-PTA training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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