CPHQ Patient Safety Principles 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which safety strategy uses redundant independent checks to catch errors before they reach the patient?
- Simplification
- Standardization
- Layered defenses (Correct answer)
- Task shifting
Correct answer: Layered defenses
Layered defenses (as in the Swiss Cheese Model) use multiple independent barriers so that if one fails, others catch the error.
Question 2: The 'five rights' of medication administration are patient, medication, dose, route, and:
- Provider
- Time (Correct answer)
- Unit
- Indication
Correct answer: Time
The traditional five rights of medication administration are the right patient, drug, dose, route, and time.
Question 3: An ICU implements a daily goals checklist completed by the multidisciplinary team. The primary safety benefit is:
- Reducing nursing documentation time
- Improving shared mental model and coordinated care (Correct answer)
- Decreasing physician workload
- Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements
Correct answer: Improving shared mental model and coordinated care
Daily goals checklists improve the shared mental model among team members, reducing miscommunication and care gaps.
Question 4: Which concept describes a system designed so that the safest action is also the easiest action to perform?
- Poka-yoke
- Default safe design (Correct answer)
- Cognitive aid
- Redundancy
Correct answer: Default safe design
Default safe design makes the safe option the path of least resistance, reducing reliance on staff vigilance.
Question 5: In the context of patient safety, 'reliability' refers to:
- Staff following policies 100% of the time
- The probability that a system performs its intended function without failure (Correct answer)
- The accuracy of incident reporting systems
- Consistent patient satisfaction scores
Correct answer: The probability that a system performs its intended function without failure
Reliability in safety science is the probability of a system performing its intended function successfully under stated conditions.
Question 6: A patient receives the wrong blood type during a transfusion. The MOST important immediate action by the nurse is to:
- Complete an incident report
- Notify risk management
- Stop the transfusion and assess the patient (Correct answer)
- Call the blood bank to verify the unit
Correct answer: Stop the transfusion and assess the patient
Stopping the transfusion immediately and assessing the patient is the priority action to minimize harm from an acute hemolytic reaction.
Question 7: Which term describes an event that did not cause patient harm but had the potential to do so if not intercepted?
- Adverse event
- Near miss (close call) (Correct answer)
- Sentinel event
- Serious safety event
Correct answer: Near miss (close call)
A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in harm but could have under slightly different circumstances.
CPHQ Patient Safety Principles 4
Which safety strategy uses redundant independent checks to catch errors before they reach the patient?