During a mass casualty incident, an alert patient has a large open fracture of the lower leg with stable vital signs. Which triage tag does the nurse assign?
Yellow
✓
Red
Green
Black
Correct Answer
Yellow
A yellow tag marks significant injuries in a patient whose condition is stable enough to wait a short time for treatment, such as an open fracture or a large wound. Red is for immediate threats to life such as shock or airway obstruction. Green is for minor injuries such as sprains and abrasions. Black is for patients who are deceased or are not expected to survive with the resources available.
Category: Mass Casualty Triage
Question 2
Which patient at a mass casualty scene receives a red tag?
A patient walking with a sprained wrist
A patient in shock from internal bleeding
✓
A patient with an open fracture and stable vital signs
A patient with no pulse after a massive head injury
Correct Answer
A patient in shock from internal bleeding
Red tags go to patients with immediate threats to life, such as shock or airway obstruction, who can survive if treated right away. A patient walking with a sprained wrist has a minor injury and is tagged green. A patient with an open fracture and stable vital signs has a major but stable injury and is tagged yellow. A patient with no pulse after a massive head injury is tagged black.
Category: Mass Casualty Triage
Question 3
How does mass casualty triage differ from everyday emergency department triage?
The most critically injured patient is always treated first
Patients are seen in the order in which they arrive
Care goes first to those most likely to survive with treatment
✓
Only patients who can walk are treated at the scene
Correct Answer
Care goes first to those most likely to survive with treatment
When patients outnumber resources, triage sorts them by injury severity and likelihood of survival so that limited care saves as many lives as possible. Treating the most critically injured patient first, always, is the everyday approach and can use up resources on a patient who cannot survive. Seeing patients in the order in which they arrive ignores severity entirely. Treating only patients who can walk at the scene reverses the priorities, since walking patients usually have minor injuries.
Category: Mass Casualty Triage
Question 4
Why do hospital disaster plans include decontamination for green-tagged patients who leave the scene on their own?
Their minor wounds are more likely to become infected
They usually need surgery soon after arrival
They cannot be identified until they are decontaminated
They may carry chemical, biological or radioactive material into the hospital
✓
Correct Answer
They may carry chemical, biological or radioactive material into the hospital
Walking wounded patients often reach the hospital by themselves and may unknowingly bring contaminants with them, so plans include decontamination to protect staff and other patients. Their minor wounds being more likely to become infected is not the reason for decontamination. They usually do not need surgery, since green tags mark minor injuries. Decontamination has nothing to do with identifying patients.
Category: Mass Casualty Triage
Question 5
Before hurricane season, a hospital holds evacuation drills, trains staff and stocks emergency supplies. Which phase of the disaster cycle is this?
Preparedness
✓
Mitigation
Response
Recovery
Correct Answer
Preparedness
Preparedness builds the capacity to respond through plans, training, drills and supplies before an event occurs. Mitigation reduces the harm a disaster can cause through long-term measures such as building codes and land-use planning. Response covers the immediate actions taken during and right after a disaster. Recovery is the long-term rebuilding that follows.
Category: Disaster Phases and Planning
Question 6
Which action shows culturally competent planning for an emergency shelter?
Posting instructions only in English for consistency
Offering meals that meet religious and cultural dietary restrictions
✓
Serving the same meal to everyone to simplify supplies
Leaving community and cultural leaders out of planning
Correct Answer
Offering meals that meet religious and cultural dietary restrictions
Culturally competent planning builds a community's beliefs, values and practices into disaster plans, and accommodating dietary restrictions helps every displaced person get needed support. Posting instructions only in English leaves people who speak other languages without vital information. Serving the same meal to everyone ignores religious and cultural needs. Leaving community and cultural leaders out of planning loses the trust and knowledge that make a response work.
Category: Disaster Phases and Planning
Question 7
The National Weather Service issues a tornado warning for the hospital's area. What does the nurse do?
Continue routine care while listening to the radio
Take patients outside to the parking lot
Move patients away from windows into interior rooms
✓
Open the windows to equalize the air pressure
Correct Answer
Move patients away from windows into interior rooms
A warning means a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar, so the threat is imminent and patients are moved away from windows into interior areas, as hospital tornado protocols direct. Continuing routine care while listening to the radio fits a watch, not a warning. Taking patients outside to the parking lot exposes them to flying debris. Opening the windows to equalize the air pressure is a myth that wastes time and adds danger from broken glass.
Category: Environmental Disasters
Question 8
Rising floodwater is expected to reach a hospital's ground floor. Which action protects patients?
Moving patients to the basement
Keeping patients in place until water enters the unit
Moving electrical equipment down to the ground floor
Moving patients to higher floors
✓
Correct Answer
Moving patients to higher floors
During flooding, nurses move patients to higher floors and protect electrical equipment from the water. Moving patients to the basement places them where water collects first. Keeping patients in place until water enters the unit leaves too little time for a safe move. Moving electrical equipment down to the ground floor puts it in the path of the water.
Category: Environmental Disasters
Question 9
A patient with heart failure who lives alone asks how to prepare for a severe storm. Which teaching is appropriate?
Keep a grab-and-go kit with medicines, supplies and health records
✓
Stop taking medicines until the storm has passed
Wait until the storm arrives to refill prescriptions
Rely on emergency crews to deliver medicines during the storm
Correct Answer
Keep a grab-and-go kit with medicines, supplies and health records
People with chronic conditions are at high risk when a disaster interrupts medicines, equipment or home care, so a ready kit with medicines, supplies and records lets them leave quickly or shelter safely. Stopping medicines until the storm has passed could cause the heart failure to worsen. Waiting until the storm arrives to refill prescriptions risks closed pharmacies and blocked roads. Relying on emergency crews to deliver medicines during the storm is unrealistic, since crews may be overwhelmed or unable to travel.
Category: Environmental Disasters
Question 10
Which form of anthrax is the most lethal?
Cutaneous
Inhalation
✓
Gastrointestinal
Injection
Correct Answer
Inhalation
Inhalation anthrax is the deadliest form; it begins with flulike symptoms and can progress rapidly to severe respiratory distress and systemic illness. Cutaneous anthrax causes a painless sore with a black center and is the least dangerous form when treated. Gastrointestinal anthrax causes vomiting, bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain. Injection anthrax causes a sore or abscess at the injection site.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 11
During an Ebola outbreak, which group is at high risk of infection?
People who ate food grown in the affected region
Travelers who changed planes in an affected country
Family members caring for sick relatives at home
✓
People in the same city who had no contact with patients
Correct Answer
Family members caring for sick relatives at home
Ebola spreads from person to person through contact with an infected person's body fluids, so health care workers, family caregivers and people who handle the bodies of those who died face the highest risk. Eating food grown in the affected region does not involve that contact. Travelers who changed planes in an affected country have minimal exposure without direct contact. People in the same city who had no contact with patients are not exposed.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 12
Which protective equipment does the nurse wear to care for a patient with Ebola?
Gloves only, with handwashing afterward
A surgical mask and gloves
A gown alone when no splashing is expected
Gloves, a gown, a fitted respirator and a face shield
✓
Correct Answer
Gloves, a gown, a fitted respirator and a face shield
Caring for a patient with Ebola calls for at least gloves, a fluid-resistant gown, a fitted respirator and a face shield; full guidance adds double gloves, boot covers or a coverall, and a trained observer who watches each step as the equipment is put on and taken off, along with strict hand hygiene and isolation. Wearing gloves only, with handwashing afterward, leaves skin, clothing and the face exposed to body fluids. A surgical mask and gloves leave the body and eyes unprotected. A gown alone when no splashing is expected leaves the hands and face exposed.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 13
Many guests who ate the same dish at a banquet become ill within a short time of one another. Which type of epidemic is this?
Point source
✓
Propagated
Mixed
Seasonal
Correct Answer
Point source
In a point source epidemic, many people are exposed to the same agent at the same time and become sick within a short period, as with a single contaminated dish. A propagated epidemic spreads from person to person over an extended time. A mixed epidemic combines a common exposure with later person-to-person spread. Seasonal describes an illness that rises at certain times of year, not a single shared exposure.
Category: Biological Threats
Question 14
After a train derailment injures many people, a hospital opens extra patient care areas and calls in supplemental staff. Which plan is it carrying out?
Its long-term recovery plan
Its surge capacity plan
✓
Its hazard mitigation plan
Its infection control plan
Correct Answer
Its surge capacity plan
Surge capacity is a hospital's ability to take in more patients than usual during a crisis by opening care areas, mobilizing staff and reallocating resources. A long-term recovery plan guides rebuilding after the crisis has passed. A hazard mitigation plan reduces future risk before disasters occur. An infection control plan addresses preventing the spread of infectious disease.
Category: Hospital Preparedness
Question 15
Where is decontamination carried out for patients exposed to a hazardous chemical?
In the main treatment area once the patient is stabilized
In the patient's room after admission to a unit
In a unit outside or at the entrance, before the main care area
✓
At home after the patient is discharged
Correct Answer
In a unit outside or at the entrance, before the main care area
Decontamination units are set up within or near the facility so exposed people are cleaned before they enter the main care area, which keeps staff, other patients and equipment from being contaminated. Decontaminating in the main treatment area once the patient is stabilized spreads the hazard through the department. Waiting until the patient's room after admission carries contamination through the hospital. Leaving it until home after discharge exposes the patient, staff and family the whole time.
Category: Technological Hazards
Question 16
A factory worker's skin and eyes are burned on contact with a strong alkali. Which type of chemical hazard caused the injury?
Flammable
Reactive
Biological
Corrosive
✓
Correct Answer
Corrosive
Corrosive chemicals, such as strong acids and alkalis, destroy skin, eye and airway tissue on contact. Flammable chemicals, such as fuels and solvents, pose a risk of fire and explosion. Reactive chemicals can react violently and release hazardous byproducts, but tissue destruction on contact is the defining danger of a corrosive. Biological describes infectious agents rather than chemicals.
Category: Technological Hazards
Question 17
Which findings suggest acute radiation sickness after a radiological release?
Nausea, vomiting and skin burns
✓
Chest pain spreading to the jaw and left arm
Drooping eyelids and descending muscle weakness
Tingling and spasms of the hands
Correct Answer
Nausea, vomiting and skin burns
Acute radiation sickness causes nausea, vomiting and skin burns and can be fatal in severe cases. Chest pain spreading to the jaw and left arm suggests a heart attack, not radiation injury. Drooping eyelids and descending muscle weakness suggest botulism, a biological toxin rather than radiation. Tingling and spasms of the hands suggest a low calcium level.
Category: Technological Hazards
Question 18
During a disaster, a hospital activates a standardized structure with clearly defined roles to coordinate personnel, resources and communication. What is this structure?
The rapid response team
The incident command system
✓
The ethics committee
The utilization review committee
Correct Answer
The incident command system
The incident command system is a standardized framework that assigns clear roles and coordinates decisions, resources and communication among everyone involved in a disaster response. The rapid response team answers sudden changes in a single inpatient's condition. The ethics committee advises on ethical dilemmas in care. The utilization review committee evaluates whether services are appropriate and necessary.
Category: Hospital Preparedness
Question 19
A hospital exercise simulates one specific response action, such as triage or decontamination, rather than a complete response from start to finish. Which type of exercise is this?
Tabletop exercise
Full-scale exercise
Functional exercise
✓
Debriefing session
Correct Answer
Functional exercise
A functional exercise simulates specific response actions, such as patient triage or decontamination, so staff can practice that part of the plan. A tabletop exercise is a discussion in which participants talk through a scenario without carrying out actions. A full-scale exercise simulates a complete response from start to finish, often with multiple agencies. A debriefing session reviews performance after an exercise rather than being an exercise itself.
Category: Hospital Preparedness
Question 20
Days after a tornado, a survivor staying in a shelter is tearful and cannot sleep. Which nursing response supports psychological recovery?
Explaining that these reactions mean a psychiatric disorder
Urging the survivor to describe every detail of the event right away
Advising the survivor to stay away from others until the feelings pass
Listening, offering comfort and linking the survivor to mental health support
✓
Correct Answer
Listening, offering comfort and linking the survivor to mental health support
Distress and poor sleep are common reactions after a disaster, and calm listening, comfort and connection to psychosocial support services help survivors recover. Explaining that these reactions mean a psychiatric disorder labels an expected response as illness. Urging the survivor to describe every detail of the event right away can increase distress, since survivors should share only what they choose. Advising the survivor to stay away from others until the feelings pass cuts off the social support that aids recovery.
Category: Recovery and Support