The final section of a performance appraisal is a rating scale. This scale is very detailed and relates to competency standards specific to surgical clients. The scale is a summary of performance directly observed or documentation reviewed and is specific to client care situations in which the employee has been involved. This type of evaluation is most commonly known as:

A community-based pain management program is being planned for your region. As a coordinator of a home care agency, you have been requested to develop a conceptual framework, mission statement, philosophy, and objectives for the program. In what order will you pursue this endeavor?

The nurse educator of the pediatric unit determines that vital signs are frequently not being documented when children return from surgery. According to quality improvement (QI), to correct the problem, the educator, in consultation with the patient care manager, would initially do which of the following?

The state of being emotionally impelled, demonstrated by a sense of passion and dedication to a project or event, describes:

A nurse manager is experiencing conflicts between herself and staff members. She had tried to develop a team by using a shared leadership model to empower the staff. Staff members are functioning:

A nurse manager is planning to request three new infusion pumps at a cost of approximately $1500 each. This item would typically be included in which budget?

With the rise of violence in the psychiatric department, the nurse manager decides that she should work with the risk manager in violence prevention. The nurse manager should:

A nurse manager in the ICU works with his staff to develop an appraisal instrument that includes quantitative data and respects standards for an RN working on that unit. This type of appraisal is a:

During an employment interview for the manager’s position in a home health agency, the applicant asks questions about the medical director and about retention of staff. The nurse executive assures the applicant that the agency has few personnel problems and receives excellent support from the medical director. The applicant knows that the agency has a 50% turnover rate and has had three medical directors in the past year. The nurse executive is:

Based on Elizabeth’s insights and suggestions, you involve pharmacy, only to discover that the change in practice involves practice committees, a medical practice committee, and concerns from administration about potential costs and safety of the proposed change to the IV protocols. The change process at this point is:

Sarah is a nursing graduate of 5 years who is very confident in her clinical skills. She has taken some certificate courses in leadership and management and has considered beginning a graduate degree with this focus. She is excited about being able to use her knowledge and interest by being hired as a nurse manager. Before beginning her new position, Sarah spends time with her nurse executive to clarify the executive’s expectations of her and of the unit that she has been hired to manage. After beginning her new position, Sarah finds that she spends a great deal of time in direct patient care. Her staff begins to complain that they are never able to find her when they need her, and that some aspects of her responsibilities fall behind, such as scheduling. Sarah is most likely:

The SBAR system of communications is one of the most used communication systems in health care because:

The new head nurse on telemetry has been in the position for 3 months. The head nurse and the administrator disagree on how much time the head nurse should allot to various aspects of the role. Staff members on the unit complain that the head nurse is unavailable for clinical concerns because of being off the unit while attending meetings. To facilitate the process of role transition, the head nurse should:

Which of the following factors is not implicated in rising healthcare costs?

Which of the following might best conclude an interview?

The outcome statement “Patients will experience a ten percent reduction in urinary tract infections as a result of enhanced staff training related to catheterization and prompted voiding” is:

An example of one strategy to improve participation in the change process by staff fitting the behavioral descriptions of laggards, early majority, late majority, and rejecters is to:

The reasons cited by nursing administrators for not planning in a systematic manner include:

As an experienced nurse manager who is new to an organization, it would be important to:

The chief nursing officer works with her nurse managers by helping them understand how to develop and implement a budget. A nurse manager can best describe a budget as a:

Seth is hired as the nurse manager for a surgical unit. After a year, the hospital reorganizes, and his position is lost. In leaving the unit, it is important for Seth to:

You anticipate that your region will soon move toward an e-health record system. You begin to discuss this with your staff and are disappointed that you receive little positive response from the staff about this possibility. One staff member, in particular, seems to sum it up by saying “e-health? Won’t happen in my working life! There are too many problems with it, like privacy issues.” This response is most likely motivated by:

The nurse gives an inaccurate dose of medication to a patient. After assessment of the patient, the nurse completes an incident report. The nurse notifies the nursing supervisor of the medication error and calls the physician to report the occurrence. The nurse who administered the inaccurate medication understands that:

To conduct assessment of the internal environment, the strategic planning team for Pacific Hospital:

A nursing-led classification system that has led to greater reliability and standardization in data utilized for QI processes is:

Which of the following would not be a characteristic of an effective team nurse leader?

The nurse manager used a mediator to help resolve conflicts on the unit. During the mediation process, the nurse manager saw signs of potential team building. One key concept of an effective team is:

To engage your staff in awareness of their current practice and how it is affirmed or not by evidence, you plan a short series of learning presentations on evidence and use of heparin and saline to maintain IV patency. You meet with the educator to plan out the goals for each session with the overall purpose of increasing knowledge and awareness of staff in readiness to consider questions related to the IV practice. This learning approach is an example of which change management approach?

As the unit manager on the unit that is leading changes to heparin locks, you find that Elizabeth is very valuable in terms of her observations about other units and her knowledge of organizational processes, and now in discussing the new procedure with others. Elizabeth might be considered an:

Anecdotal notes:

Assessment of the needs of the consumer or client (in developing a strategic marketing plan) focuses on:

A survey of staff satisfaction is conducted. The survey indicates that staff members are satisfied, are loyal to the organization, and feel that they have reasonable control in their individual responsibilities. The findings best exemplify:

Healthcare organization X is committed to improving patient outcomes and, as part of the QI process, examines its executive structure and organizational design. This approach recognizes:

When goals/outcomes are somewhat unclear in early preparation for a complex change, the manager and the change management team develop several acceptable goals/outcomes. This change in management approach is termed:

The new nurse manager feels pulled between the expectations of staff, the demands of hospital administrators, and family obligations. According to the theory by Hardy (1978), unrelieved role stress and strain will lead to:

The mediator suggested to the unit staff that a group agreement needed to be made so meetings could become productive. For example, the group agreement, “We will speak supportively,” prevents:

  

Sarah is a nursing graduate of 5 years who is very confident in her clinical skills. She has taken some certificate courses in leadership and management and has considered beginning a graduate degree with this focus. She is excited about being able to use her knowledge and interest by being hired as a nurse manager. Before beginning her new position, Sarah spends time with her nurse executive to clarify the executive’s expectations of her and of the unit that she has been hired to manage. Sarah finds that she has begun to think negatively about the way nursing care is delivered on her nursing unit. She often wishes that she was back on her old unit and in her familiar staff nurse role. This behavior:

As the unit manager, you spend a day performing direct patient care and work with a new system that is designed to capture patient documentation at the bedside. During discussions with staff while giving care, you discover that the number of screens that need to be opened during documentation makes charting more complex and time consuming than traditional manual charting approaches. On the basis of this feedback, you:

After reviewing her monthly budget report, the nurse manager sees that she has a negative variance, which prompts her to change the staffing schedule. A negative or unfavorable variance in a monthly expense report may result from:

Shifts such as changes in the percentage of seniors in the population, governmental initiatives in health care, and the influence of income on health status are factors in the __________ environment.

A nurse manager notices that Nathan, an RN who has been on the unit for approximately 3 years, has an interest in health technology and seems to be very enthused about working with software and hardware at home. She speaks with Nathan and asks him if he would lead investigation of software applications on the unit. This is an example of:

The wound care nurse decided to involve those to be affected by change early in the change management process. This can positively result in:

A nurse is explaining the pediatric unit’s quality improvement (QI) program to a newly employed nurse. Which of the following would the nurse include as the primary purpose of QI programs?

John, a new graduate, reviews the employee evaluation for his new position. The first section requires that he list his own specific objectives to be accomplished. This is an example of:

  

Sarah is a nursing graduate of 5 years who is very confident in her clinical skills. She has taken some certificate courses in leadership and management and has considered beginning a graduate degree with this focus. She is excited about being able to use her knowledge and interest by being hired as a nurse manager. Before beginning her new position, Sarah spends time with her nurse executive to clarify the executive’s expectations of her and of the unit that she has been hired to manage. Sarah finds that she is comfortable with the expectations of staff and her supervisor regarding her management role and responsibilities and has been able to effect a strong commitment to quality clinical care on the unit. At this point, Sarah has likely attained this role:

Patient perceptions are useful in:

As a nursing leadership student, you have had the opportunity to develop a palliative care manual that will be utilized by the palliative care network (PCN) in your region for teaching healthcare professionals. The PCN has requested that you provide a prioritized plan of action for marketing the manual on a regional and state basis. What is the first priority?

As a result of Amy’s coaching, Sarah, a nursing graduate of 5 years, completes a ROLES assessment. This assessment is helpful in: