NR 443 Environmental Questions
1. Which of the following events marked the beginning of the most outstanding
improvements in public health?
a. Discovery of antibiotics
b. Creation of safe water purification and sewer systems
c. Implementation of surgery as a clean procedure in the operating rooms
d. Physician education on the benefits of hand-washing between procedures
The biggest improvements in health occurred after the germ theory began to be accepted and
sewage disposal and water purification systems were installed in cities in the United States.
2. To what does the term environmental justice refer?
a. Applying environmental laws equally throughout the country
b. Being fair (or just) in relation to how the costs of environmental pollution cleanup are
distributed
c. Putting the most environmental pollution waste in the already polluted sites (known as
Superfund sites)
d. Recognizing that environmental risks are disproportionately high for low-income and
minority populations who live in more highly polluted neighborhoods
The effects of low income, discrimination, and limited choices in employment and housing are
more exposure to pollution and are being recognized by use of the term environmental justice.
3. Between what two aspects does the ecologic systems model distinguish?
a. Ecologic disasters and lifestyle behavior problems
b. Housing and school or employment hazards
c. The immediate environment and the broader environment
d. The United States and the rest of the world
The ecologic systems model distinguishes between the microsystem immediately around the
person (family and home) and the macrosystem, or the larger context (culture, government,
and physical environment).
4. What, in basic terms, do Barry Commoners laws of ecology state?
a. Everything is connected to everything else, and everything must go somewhere.
b. Long-term survival requires protection of our environment.
c. Only humans contaminate their own environment.
d. Take care of the planet; its the only one weve got.
Commoners laws of ecology are the basic principle of ecologic systems: everything is
interconnected and nothing disappears; everything is connected to everything else.
5. Which of the following information would the nurse document when conducting an
exposure assessment with a client?
a. The chemicals used at work or in hobbies
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, NR 443 Environmental Questions
b. The substances used to clean the house or keep the yard/garden beautiful
c. The home, work site, and neighborhood
d. The environmental and psychological stress that is encountered
An exposure assessment of potential environmental hazards questions the primary
environments for most individuals: namely, home, work site, and community.
6. Which of the following is the most appropriate secondary prevention approach when a
nurse is working in a community with known high lead levels?
a. Educating parents about avoiding purchasing toys painted with lead-based paint
b. Screening all minority children
c. Educating parents about early signs of lead poisoning
d. Screening all children who are living in poverty
Developing targeted lead surveillance and intervention programs in areas with poor children
who live in older housing stock has proved to be a successful form of secondary prevention.
Educating parents about avoiding purchasing toys painted with lead-based paint and the early
signs of lead poisoning would be examples of primary prevention.
7. A nurse learned that a client was taken to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning
after neglecting to turn off the car parked in the garage. Which of the following would be the
most appropriate intervention to suggest at the next nursing visit?
a. Encourage the client to leave one window open a crack, so there is always a constant supply
of fresh air from outside the home.
b. Advise the client to install a carbon monoxide detector in the home.
c. Suggest that the family move to a house with a detached garage.
d. Teach the family the symptoms of breathing carbon monoxide gas so they can act quickly to
get out of the house.
Nurses must make reasonable suggestions, and leaving windows open in winter or moving to a
different residence is not reasonable. The use of a carbon monoxide detector will allow the
family to leave the house before harm is done. Because carbon monoxide is odorless, families
cannot be taught to smell the gas and leave.
8. A nurse who had just undergone orientation for a staff position in the emergency
department noticed a material safety data sheet attached to a solvent used to clean the skin
around wounds. What is the purpose of this sheet?
a. Hospitals are now attaching such documents for emergency department nurses, who are at
high risk for trauma and injury from chemicals that patients use.
b. It is part of the risk management program of hospitals that do not want to be sued by
employees who misuse chemicals.
c. It is required by federal law so that employees know the potential effects of the chemicals
with which they are working.
d. The sheet is the equivalent of a drug information sheet and should be given to patients who
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1. Which of the following events marked the beginning of the most outstanding
improvements in public health?
a. Discovery of antibiotics
b. Creation of safe water purification and sewer systems
c. Implementation of surgery as a clean procedure in the operating rooms
d. Physician education on the benefits of hand-washing between procedures
The biggest improvements in health occurred after the germ theory began to be accepted and
sewage disposal and water purification systems were installed in cities in the United States.
2. To what does the term environmental justice refer?
a. Applying environmental laws equally throughout the country
b. Being fair (or just) in relation to how the costs of environmental pollution cleanup are
distributed
c. Putting the most environmental pollution waste in the already polluted sites (known as
Superfund sites)
d. Recognizing that environmental risks are disproportionately high for low-income and
minority populations who live in more highly polluted neighborhoods
The effects of low income, discrimination, and limited choices in employment and housing are
more exposure to pollution and are being recognized by use of the term environmental justice.
3. Between what two aspects does the ecologic systems model distinguish?
a. Ecologic disasters and lifestyle behavior problems
b. Housing and school or employment hazards
c. The immediate environment and the broader environment
d. The United States and the rest of the world
The ecologic systems model distinguishes between the microsystem immediately around the
person (family and home) and the macrosystem, or the larger context (culture, government,
and physical environment).
4. What, in basic terms, do Barry Commoners laws of ecology state?
a. Everything is connected to everything else, and everything must go somewhere.
b. Long-term survival requires protection of our environment.
c. Only humans contaminate their own environment.
d. Take care of the planet; its the only one weve got.
Commoners laws of ecology are the basic principle of ecologic systems: everything is
interconnected and nothing disappears; everything is connected to everything else.
5. Which of the following information would the nurse document when conducting an
exposure assessment with a client?
a. The chemicals used at work or in hobbies
1
, NR 443 Environmental Questions
b. The substances used to clean the house or keep the yard/garden beautiful
c. The home, work site, and neighborhood
d. The environmental and psychological stress that is encountered
An exposure assessment of potential environmental hazards questions the primary
environments for most individuals: namely, home, work site, and community.
6. Which of the following is the most appropriate secondary prevention approach when a
nurse is working in a community with known high lead levels?
a. Educating parents about avoiding purchasing toys painted with lead-based paint
b. Screening all minority children
c. Educating parents about early signs of lead poisoning
d. Screening all children who are living in poverty
Developing targeted lead surveillance and intervention programs in areas with poor children
who live in older housing stock has proved to be a successful form of secondary prevention.
Educating parents about avoiding purchasing toys painted with lead-based paint and the early
signs of lead poisoning would be examples of primary prevention.
7. A nurse learned that a client was taken to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning
after neglecting to turn off the car parked in the garage. Which of the following would be the
most appropriate intervention to suggest at the next nursing visit?
a. Encourage the client to leave one window open a crack, so there is always a constant supply
of fresh air from outside the home.
b. Advise the client to install a carbon monoxide detector in the home.
c. Suggest that the family move to a house with a detached garage.
d. Teach the family the symptoms of breathing carbon monoxide gas so they can act quickly to
get out of the house.
Nurses must make reasonable suggestions, and leaving windows open in winter or moving to a
different residence is not reasonable. The use of a carbon monoxide detector will allow the
family to leave the house before harm is done. Because carbon monoxide is odorless, families
cannot be taught to smell the gas and leave.
8. A nurse who had just undergone orientation for a staff position in the emergency
department noticed a material safety data sheet attached to a solvent used to clean the skin
around wounds. What is the purpose of this sheet?
a. Hospitals are now attaching such documents for emergency department nurses, who are at
high risk for trauma and injury from chemicals that patients use.
b. It is part of the risk management program of hospitals that do not want to be sued by
employees who misuse chemicals.
c. It is required by federal law so that employees know the potential effects of the chemicals
with which they are working.
d. The sheet is the equivalent of a drug information sheet and should be given to patients who
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