critical thinking questions for nurses

Nursing Process And Critical Thinking Review Test

Welcome to our Nursing Process and Critical Thinking Review Test, a comprehensive tool designed to elevate your nursing expertise and decision-making abilities. This quiz is essential for nursing students and practicing nurses who aim to refine their assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation skills, all through the lens of critical thinking. Our quiz meticulously covers all phases of the nursing process, integrating critical thinking scenarios that challenge you to apply theoretical knowledge in practical, real-world healthcare situations. You'll encounter a variety of question formats that probe your ability to analyze information, prioritize patient care, and make informed decisions quickly and effectively. Read more Whether you are preparing for your NCLEX exams, brushing up on your clinical practices, or seeking to enhance your professional development, this test provides the perfect opportunity to assess and improve your critical thinking and nursing process skills. Dive into our Nursing Process and Critical Thinking Review Test today to test your knowledge, sharpen your critical thinking, and ensure you're fully prepared to provide the highest quality of care in any nursing setting.

Nursing Process and Critical Thinking Questions and Answers

Upgrade and get a lot more done!

What is the "Nursing Process"? Select all that apply

Organizational framework for the practice of Nursing

Systematic method by which nurses plan and provide care for patients

The application of the nursing process only applies to RN's and not LPN's

The Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice of the ANA outlines the steps of the nursing process

Rate this question:

ANA defines it as a"systematic dynamic process by which the nurse, through interaction with the client, significant others  and health care providers collect and analyzes data about the client

Physical Check-up

Hospital evaluation

Which of the following is not true about Focused ASSESSMENT

When patient is critically ill or disoriented

When patient is unable to respond

Preferably early in the morning before breakfast.

When drastic changes are happening to a patient.

A synonym for significant data that usually demonstrate an unhealthy response. 

Interpretative

Headache, itchiness, warmth

Secondary source of data. (select all that apply) .

Diagnostic procedures

Medical record

Personal interview

Significant other

Which of the following is not a method of data collection?

Biographic data

Social media

Health history

If the first method of data collection is to conduct an interview, what is the second method?

Laboratory work

Diagnostic Tests

Performance of a physical examination

After establishing a database and before the identification of nursing diagnosis, what does a nurse do? 

Documentation of database

Analysis of database

Filing of database

Acquiring a database of information

Data Clustering

Analyzing signs and symptoms

Identifying patient statements

Grouping related cues together

Entering patient data in the computer

Deficient Fluid Volume (Select all that apply)

Dry skin and dry oral mucous

Decreased urine output

Which of the following refers to the definition of a Nursing Problem?

Nurse overload and nurse burnout

When the nurse calls in sick

Any health care condition that requires diagnostic, therapeutic, or educational actions.

Lose of employment

 Clinical judgment

Job description of a clinical nurse

Data collection

Health intervention

Components of a Nursing Diagnosis. Select all that apply  

Nursing diagnosis title or label

Definition of the title or label

Data clustering

Contributing, etiologic or related factors

Defining characteristics

Which of the following are true regarding nursing diagnosis? 

A nursing diagnosis is any problem related to the health of a patient

When writing a nursing diagnosis, place the adjective before the noun modified

A nursing diagnosis is usually the etiology of the disease

Both medical and nursing diagnosis can be converted into a nursing intervention.

Clear, precise description of a problem 

Intervention

Risk factors

Description of a problem

Analysis of a health issue

Possible illness

Circumstances that increase the susceptibility of a patient to a problem

Clinical cues, signs, symptoms that furnish evidence that the problem exists. 

Nursing diagnosis

How cues, signs and symptoms identified in patient's assessment are written

Diagnosed by

Explained by

Manifested by

"Constipation related to insufficient fluid intake manifested by increased abdominal pressure". What is the defining characteristic? 

Constipation

Insufficient fluid

Increased abdominal pressure

What is RISK NURSING DIAGNOSIS as described by NANDA-I?  Select all that apply

Human responses to health conditions/life processes that may develop in a vulnerable individual/family

Describes the symptoms of the disease

Supported by risk factors that contribute to increased vulnerability

Proof that the person is suffering from an illness

How many parts does a RISK NURSING DIAGNOSIS have?

Which of the following is a risk nursing diagnosis statement .

Risk for falls related to unstable balance

Constipated because of fecal impaction

Risk for Diarrhea

Constipation related to dehydration

Syndrome Nursing Diagnosis

An isolated disease with numerous symptoms

Numerous symptoms describing a single disease

Used when a cluster of actual or risk nursing diagnosis are predicted to be present

Numerous symptoms leading to an idiopathic disorder

Wellness Nursing Diagnosis

Absence of illness

Not strictly a diagnosis

Human responses to levels of good health in an individual, family or community

All of the above

Certain Physiologic complications that nurses monitor to detect their onset or changes in the patient's status.    

Collaborative problems

Clustered Syndrome

Signs of death

Potential complications: hypoglycemia.  This is a sample of what?

Syndromatic pathology

Definite Variance

Collaborative problem

Idiopathic etiology

Identification of a disease or condition by a scientific evaluation of physical signs, symptoms, history, laboratory test and procedures. 

Health Analysis

Nursing Problem

Medical Diagnosis

Difference between Medical and Nursing Diagnoses

Medical is etiology; Nursing is human response

Medical is disease; Nursing is the cause of disease

Medical is illness; Nursing is illness too

Medical is to heal the disease: Nursing is to discover the disease

Difference between a goal statement and an outcome statement

A good outcome statement is specific to the patient

Goals are general deadlines that are to be met

An outcome statement refers to what the nurse will do

Goals and Statements are practically the same

The purpose to which an effort is directed 

Which of the following statements describe a well-written patient outcome statement select all that apply.  .

Uses a measurable verb

Focuses on the completion of nursing interventions

Does not interfere with the medical care plan

Includes a time frame for patient reevaluation

A common framework that helps guide the prioritization of nursing tasks during the process of planning

Ericsson's psychosocial development

Maslow's hierarchy

Glasgow Scale

Bernoulli principle

Nursing interventions

Depend on the tasks delegated by the nursing supervisor

A sequence of prioritized tasks that describe a nurse's job

Activities that promote the achievement of the desired patient outcome

An act of taking care of the sick

Which of the following is not a Physician Prescribed intervention?

Ordering diagnostic tests

Drug administration

Performing wound care

Elevating an edematous leg

Which of the following is not a nurse-prescribed intervention?

Turning the patient every two hours

Providing a back massage

Offering a vitamin supplement

Monitoring a patient for complications

Which of the following statements about the nursing process is true. 

A nursing process is written together with a nursing care plan

A nursing care plan is a product of the nursing process

Both the nursing process and the nursing care plan are purely critical thinking strategies

The nursing process is not an accurate clinical theory

IN which of the following scenarios would a standardized nursing care plan be appropriate? 

Trauma center

Center for infection control

Intensive care unit

Maternity floor without a single Cesarean delivery

Prioritization of tasks belongs to which phase of the Nursing Process? 

Implementation

Documentation is a vital component of which phase of the nursing process?

Validation of patient outcome and goals, evidence based practice.

Past educational knowledge

Theoretical research

Expertise of specialists

Integration of research and clinical experience

Which of the following is not considered a standardized language in nursing?

A research method

Patient does not achieve expected outcome

Similar to zoning

Not the same

Which of the following is not the role of the LPN/LVN in the nursing process?

Suggest interventions

Gather further data to confirm problems

Discuss details of the disease as part of patient education

Observe and report signficant cues

Which of the following are functions of managed care? Select all that apply. 

Provides control over health care services

Standardized diagnosis and treatment

Control Cost

Primary resource for patient advocacy

Clinical pathway

Nursing career development plan

Multidisciplinary action

A concept map for care plans

Specific location in a healthcare facility

A reflective reasoning process that guides a nurse in generating, implementing and evaluating approaches for dealing with client care and professional concerns

Nursing process

Critical thinking

Nursing care plan

Nursing logic

Quiz Review Timeline +

Our quizzes are rigorously reviewed, monitored and continuously updated by our expert board to maintain accuracy, relevance, and timeliness.

• Current Version
• May 01, 2024 Quiz Edited by ProProfs Editorial Team
• Mar 06, 2013 Quiz Created by Arnoldjr2

Related Topics

• Breastfeeding
• Child Health

Featured Quizzes

Popular Topics

• Certified Nurses Assistant Quizzes
• Community Health Nursing Quizzes
• Founcations Of Nursing Quizzes
• Fundamentals Of Nursing Quizzes
• LPN Quizzes
• Nursing Abbreviation Quizzes
• Nursing Informatics Quizzes
• Nursing Research Quizzes
• Psychiatric Nursing Quizzes

Related Quizzes

Wait! Here's an interesting quiz for you.

What is Critical Thinking in Nursing? (With Examples, Importance, & How to Improve)

Successful nursing requires learning several skills used to communicate with patients, families, and healthcare teams. One of the most essential skills nurses must develop is the ability to demonstrate critical thinking. If you are a nurse, perhaps you have asked if there is a way to know how to improve critical thinking in nursing? As you read this article, you will learn what critical thinking in nursing is and why it is important. You will also find 18 simple tips to improve critical thinking in nursing and sample scenarios about how to apply critical thinking in your nursing career.

What is Critical Thinking in Nursing?

4 reasons why critical thinking is so important in nursing, 1. critical thinking skills will help you anticipate and understand changes in your patient’s condition., 2. with strong critical thinking skills, you can make decisions about patient care that is most favorable for the patient and intended outcomes., 3. strong critical thinking skills in nursing can contribute to innovative improvements and professional development., 4. critical thinking skills in nursing contribute to rational decision-making, which improves patient outcomes., what are the 8 important attributes of excellent critical thinking in nursing, 1. the ability to interpret information:, 2. independent thought:, 3. impartiality:, 4. intuition:, 5. problem solving:, 6. flexibility:, 7. perseverance:, 8. integrity:, examples of poor critical thinking vs excellent critical thinking in nursing, 1. scenario: patient/caregiver interactions, poor critical thinking:, excellent critical thinking:, 2. scenario: improving patient care quality, 3. scenario: interdisciplinary collaboration, 4. scenario: precepting nursing students and other nurses, how to improve critical thinking in nursing, 1. demonstrate open-mindedness., 2. practice self-awareness., 3. avoid judgment., 4. eliminate personal biases., 5. do not be afraid to ask questions., 6. find an experienced mentor., 7. join professional nursing organizations., 8. establish a routine of self-reflection., 9. utilize the chain of command., 10. determine the significance of data and decide if it is sufficient for decision-making., 11. volunteer for leadership positions or opportunities., 12. use previous facts and experiences to help develop stronger critical thinking skills in nursing., 13. establish priorities., 14. trust your knowledge and be confident in your abilities., 15. be curious about everything., 16. practice fair-mindedness., 17. learn the value of intellectual humility., 18. never stop learning., 4 consequences of poor critical thinking in nursing, 1. the most significant risk associated with poor critical thinking in nursing is inadequate patient care., 2. failure to recognize changes in patient status:, 3. lack of effective critical thinking in nursing can impact the cost of healthcare., 4. lack of critical thinking skills in nursing can cause a breakdown in communication within the interdisciplinary team., useful resources to improve critical thinking in nursing, youtube videos, my final thoughts, frequently asked questions answered by our expert, 1. will lack of critical thinking impact my nursing career, 2. usually, how long does it take for a nurse to improve their critical thinking skills, 3. do all types of nurses require excellent critical thinking skills, 4. how can i assess my critical thinking skills in nursing.

• Ask relevant questions • Justify opinions • Address and evaluate multiple points of view • Explain assumptions and reasons related to your choice of patient care options

5. Can I Be a Nurse If I Cannot Think Critically?

02.01 Critical Thinking

Watch More! Unlock the full videos with a FREE trial

Included In This Lesson

Study tools.

Access More! View the full outline and transcript with a FREE trial

If you have gone to one day of nursing school you understand that “critical thinking” is a buzzword.

Nursing schools love to talk about critical thinking.

The job of a nurse is essentially to take millions of data points and be able to arrive at a correct decision based on that data.

This is no easy task and there are few jobs which require this on the scale of nursing or with human lives in the balance.

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is defined as: Clear, rational thinking involving critique. Its details vary amongst those who define it. According to Barry K. Beyer (1995), critical thinking means making clear, reasoned judgments. During the process of critical thinking, ideas should be reasoned, well thought out, and judged. The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking defines critical thinking as the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.  Source .

So, while you are familiar with making decisions on a daily basis, most daily decisions do not require critical thinking (what color of shirt should I wear, what should I eat for dinner, etc).

It is a skill that can grow and develop with time and as you enter nursing school you are not expected to be an expert in the skill.

However, what you should understand is that critical thinking involves a level of decision making far beyond normal day to day decision making. With critical thinking you are analyzing, conceptualizing, and digging deep into the questions presented.

When it comes to nursing, often times you are presented with real life or death situations. You are presented with saving one patient or determining what the most important solution is to a highly complex problem.

Those nurses who develop advanced critical thinking skills find increased success in their careers.

Critical Thinking in Nursing

So let’s talk about critical thinking and how it applies to everything we are talking about here.

The NCSBN website states the following: Since the practice of nursing requires you to apply knowledge, skills and abilities, the majority of questions on the NCLEX are written at the cognitive level of apply or higher. And these questions, by nature, require critical thinking.

Answering these correctly will require you to do something with what you have learned, to manipulate previously learned material in new ways or find connections between many facts.

Again, since the majority of NCLEX questions fall into this category, this is exactly the type of questions you need to practice answering!

There it is again . . . the BUZZ word (critical thinking) . . . but once again no tips or information on what that means or how to develop it is given.

So let’s dive in and provide you with a simple framework and method for developing critical thinking.

How to Critically Think in Nursing

While there are many frameworks and methods for developing critical thinking, here we will provide you with a basic 4 step method.

At the risk of sounding oversimplified, this simple method will allow you to cut through the clutter, think critically, and arrive at correct decisions in even the most complex of scenarios.

Essentially there are 4 steps to critical thinking . . . in nursing and in life . . . and developing the ability to critically think will work wonders in your life.

• Suspend ALL Judgement
• Collect ALL Information
• Balance ALL Information
• Make a Complete and Holistic Decision

Before diving into the four individual steps let’s point out the use of the word “ALL” in each of the steps.

This is important because few individuals can make decisions with this inclusive word. It literally means ALL. To make a complete and holistic decision based upon critical thinking you have to have and weight ALL information. Otherwise you are just making a regular old decision.

•   Suspend All Judgement

You have to start by suspending all judgement. In other words, if you walk into a patients room and see them tachycardic an amature decision would be to run and grab the metoprolol to try to drop the heart rate.

An advanced clinician will WAIT until they have more information . . . not leaving the patient untreated . . . but not jumping freakishly into the WRONG treatment because they learned that tachycardia is bad . . .

Suspending judgement means that you don’t make a decision based upon the first sign. You also don’t walk into any situation of NCLEX question with a decision already made. You will treat all facts as equal until you can gather the needed information.

Not suspending judgment leaves you open to make biased decisions. This is detrimental in medicine and nursing. This will also result in poor success on nursing exams and the NCLEX.

As you read through nursing questions you must force yourself to refrain from jumping to conclusions until you have read the question in full. Do not allow yourself to assume what the question is asking or what the patient outcome is until you have read the question in full.

Obviously this sounds simple, but it is this step that, if missed, will through more nursing students and nurses off.

• Collect All Information 

Now you must collect ALL information. This is clutch! Don’t make a decision until you have collected every piece of data that you need to collect . . . on a tachycardic patient you can check BP, temp, run an EKG, check urine output.

Think of this as data mining. You are looking to have every piece of information you can find to put the puzzle pieces together.

When it comes to taking nursing tests you only have one place that you can collect the information . . . and that is from the test question itself. Do not go looking outside of the question of infer any details that are not provided within the question.

One thing we have noticed students doing almost more than anything else on test questions is reading into them. Don’t do this. Gather all the information you can . . . and when it comes to NCLEX questions, the only place you can gather information is from the question itself.

• Balance All Information

Now, balance all information. This means take all the data that you have and start weighing it to find out what is pertinent and what you can ignore. If the temp is 98.9 . . . it’s probably not the cause. If the BP is 74/56 are we looking at a volume issue?

In this step you are deciding what is important and what isn’t. While a pressure ulcer is important, if the patient is actively having a heart attack . . . it just doesn’t matter. At least, not until we take care of the MOST important issue.

NCLEX style questions will be FULL of extra information, things that you just really do not need to know to make a decision on the patient.

The NCSBN (who administers the NCLEX) in an effort to simulate real life nursing writes questions that include both important information and details that you just simply don’t need to know. It is your job to sift through the data and determine what you actually need to know.

Balancing means giving each data point a level of importance for your given patient. Some pieces of information will score much higher than others.

At this point you must all consider the implications of the possible options. Look at the available options and think to yourself, “if I choose this option, what happens next?”. As it relates to nursing, ask yourself these questions:

“Does this achieve a desired patient outcome?”

“If I do this and then go home, what happens to my patient?”

Forcing yourself to consider the implications allows you to look beyond the information presented and consider the RESULTS of your choices. Critical thinking thrives on looking beyond the presented data.

• Make a Holistic Decision

Finally, make your decision . . . with all the data in and after looking over it all very closely you can begin to make your decision.

Your goal is to make the decision that best serves the patient and addresses their most immediate concerns.

Critical Thinking in Nursing and on the NCLEX®

Lastly, I just want to talk briefly about how this applies to NCLEX questions . . .

Here is an actual practice NCLEX question from our Nursing Practice Questions Program (or NPQ, as we like to call it)!

A 56-year-old male patient has been admitted to the cardiac unit with exacerbation of heart failure symptoms. The nurse has given him a nursing diagnosis of decreased cardiac output related to heart failure, as evidenced by a poor ejection fraction, weakness, edema, and decreased urinary output. Which of the following nursing interventions are most appropriate in this situation?

42% of the students that have taken this question have selected this answer:

Administer IV fluid boluses to increase urinary output

The problem with that answer is that it fails to weigh the most important issue facing this patient.

Test takers see urine output as low . . . and want to correct that quickly with fluids.

However, this is a CHFer . . . you can’t (shouldn’t) bolu especially during an exacerbation . . . you could send the patient into pulmonary edema and drastically impact their respiratory status.

So the lesson here. . . . in school, on the NCLEX, and on the clinical floor . . . slow down, stay calm and start thinking at an analysis level.

And I promise you this helps in “REAL” life too . . . not just in nursing. You will begin to be a tad more skeptical and deliberate with your decisions.

Here are a couple resources that will help you in the process of developing critical thinking.

• CriticalThiking.org
• US News 5 Tools
• Thinking Fast and Slow
• NPQ – Nursing Practice Questions

The process for developing critical thinking is slow and arduous. However, don’t be hard on yourself. According to  CriticalThiking.org  the vast majority of colleges are not appropriately incorporating critical thinking into the college classroom. This means that while you might not being taught the skill as you should . . . most people aren’t. Using the strategies outlined above will put you light years ahead of most.

The nurse that is able to follow these four steps is a tremendous asset on a clinical floor.

View the FULL Outline

When you start a FREE trial you gain access to the full outline as well as:

• SIMCLEX (NCLEX Simulator)
• 6,500+ Practice NCLEX Questions
• 2,000+ HD Videos
• 300+ Nursing Cheatsheets

“Would suggest to all nursing students . . . Guaranteed to ease the stress!”

View the FULL Transcript

Test taking for the nclex®.

The Test-Taking course is the best place to start when you’re trying to figure out how to navigate NCLEX®-Style questions. Nursing school presents a unique challenge when it comes to test-taking. You’re no longer just looking for the right answer - you’re now looking for the most right answer or multiple right answers. In this course, we break down how to understand what these questions are even asking you, and our best tips for how to answer them. We also provide some strategies for goal-setting, studying, and note-taking that are sure to set you up for success on your exams and on the NCLEX®.

• 19 Questions
• 10 Questions
• 7 Questions
• 9 Questions
• 11 Questions