Professional Ethics & Standards Flashcards
7 cards from real CBN practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Professional Ethics & Standards flashcards as text
A patient with severe obesity and end-stage heart failure requests bariatric surgery as a bridge to transplant, but the team believes risks outweigh benefits. Which process best addresses this conflict?
Answer: Requesting an ethics committee consultation to weigh the competing considerations
Ethics consultations provide a structured, multidisciplinary process for resolving conflicts between patient wishes and clinical judgment.
A certified bariatric nurse realizes her clinical knowledge of new anti-obesity medications is outdated. Her professional obligation is to:
Answer: Pursue continuing education to maintain competence in her specialty
Professional standards obligate nurses to maintain current competence through ongoing education throughout their certification period.
A nurse observes a scrub tech take a photo of an anesthetized bariatric patient in the operating room. The nurse's immediate obligation is to:
Answer: Intervene, have the photo deleted per policy, and report the incident
Unauthorized photography of a patient is a serious privacy violation requiring immediate intervention and reporting, especially when the patient cannot consent.
During preoperative screening, a patient admits he lied about quitting cigarettes to pass the program requirements. The nurse's most ethically sound action is to:
Answer: Document the disclosure truthfully and notify the surgical team
Accurate documentation and team notification uphold veracity and patient safety, while treatment decisions remain with the surgical team.
Which behavior demonstrates a bariatric nurse acting as a patient advocate?
Answer: Requesting appropriately sized blood pressure cuffs and gowns so the patient receives dignified, accurate care
Advocacy includes ensuring size-appropriate equipment so patients with obesity receive safe, respectful, and accurate care.
A bariatric program requires patients to complete a psychological evaluation before surgery. A patient calls this 'discriminatory.' The nurse best explains its ethical purpose as:
Answer: Ensuring the patient is prepared for lifelong behavioral changes and can give truly informed consent
Psychological evaluation supports beneficence and informed consent by confirming readiness for the demands of surgery and lifestyle change.
A charge nurse assigns a newly hired nurse with no bariatric experience to independently care for a complex post-duodenal-switch patient. The certified bariatric nurse's ethical responsibility is to:
Answer: Raise the safety concern with the charge nurse and offer support or mentoring for the assignment
Nurses share accountability for safe staffing and should speak up when an assignment exceeds a colleague's competence.