CPPS Practice Exam Questions and
Answers Already Passed
You are educating clinical managers in your healthcare facility on how to identify appropriate
events for conducting a Root Cause Analysis. Which event provides
...
CPPS Practice Exam Questions and
Answers Already Passed
You are educating clinical managers in your healthcare facility on how to identify appropriate
events for conducting a Root Cause Analysis. Which event provides the best opportunity for an
RCA? ✔✔a. A post-op patient removes his own IV causing a skin tear from the tape
b. A patient with no known allergies experiences an anaphylactic reaction to an antibiotic
requiring transfer to ICU.
c. The biopsy samples from a colonoscopy are never received by pathology after the procedure
d. There have been 3 occurrences of depressed respirations in the same department in the last 4
months related to sedation
The answer is C. The biopsy samples from a colonoscopy are never received by pathology after
the procedure ✔✔
The instrument count is incorrect at the conclusion of a surgical procedure. The hospital policy
does not stipulate that the surgeon remain on the premises until an x-ray is obtained. The surgeon
leaves the hospital to catch a flight. The x-ray reveals a retained instrument. Another surgeon is
contacted to remove the retained instrument. What should leadership do next? ✔✔a. Create a
process map of how instruments are managed during surgery looking for latent flaws
b. Revise the hospital policy to make it clear that surgeons must stay in the OR until instrument
count issues are resolved
c. Counsel the surgeon about customary clinical standards for a surgeon using appropriate
accountability system
d. Reeducate the OR nursing staff on keeping track of instruments on the sterile field
The answer is C. Counsel the surgeon about customary clinical standards for a surgeon using
appropriate accountability system ✔✔
A nurse on a medical-surgical unit does not comply with barcode medication administration
(BCMA) while caring for one of her patients. What should her supervisor do? ✔✔a. Ask staff if
there are adequate scanners to meet their needs
b. Counsel the nurse on the importance of following policy
c. Request that the pharmacy run a report of BCMA compliance rates of the unit
d. Ask the nurse what was occurring at the time, and why she chose to bypass the policy
The answer is D. Ask the nurse what was occurring at the time, and why she chose to bypass the
policy ✔✔
The Board of Hospital A wants to know how Hospital A's safety performance in central line
associated blood stream infection (CLABSI) compares to that of other hospitals in their region.
Which data display would best inform them for that decision? ✔✔a. Control charts of overall
infection rate by quarter for the past two years for each hospital in the region
b. A table indicating the CLABSI infection rates of all hospitals in the region relative to the
National Healthcare Safety Network benchmark for CLABSI infections for the past 2 years
c. A written report summarizing the current CLABSI prevention protocols of each hospital in the
region
d. A table showing the number of CLABSI infections in each hospital in the region by quarter for
the past 2 years
The answer is B. A table indicating the CLABSI infection rates of all hospitals in the region
relative to the National Healthcare Safety Network benchmark for CLABSI infections for the
past 2 years ✔✔
Your organization utilizes a "home grown" electronic safety event reporting system that is no
longer meeting the needs of the organization. Hospital administration is asking for your opinion
for next steps. What next steps would you take to identify a replacement system? ✔✔a. Ask
information systems to either fix the old one or build a new one
b. Identify key stakeholders and perform a gap analysis of current state to ideal state
c. Poll colleagues and purchase what they use
d. Purchase the lease expensive software and grow with it
The answer is B. Identify key stakeholders and perform a gap analysis of current state to ideal
state ✔✔
Your organization is preparing to change to a new electronic health record. Many departments
have been involved with the planning of this huge effort. What would you suggest as part of the
preparation strategy? ✔✔a. Conduct a root cause analysis
b. Conduct a failure modes and effects analysis
c. Offer a "plan, do, study, act" session
d. Offer to do a claims analysis for any related errors
The answer is b. Conduct a failure modes and effects analysis ✔✔
A new cath lab is under construction in our hospital, and the medical director contacts you to
express concerns related to the transport of patients from the cath lab to the ICU. You agree to
assist in the design of an FMEA. Components of the FMEA will include: ✔✔a. Assembling a
multidisplinary team whose members will brainstorm potential failures
b. Conducting the 5 "whys" to figure out what could go wrong
c. Listing potential root causes of adverse events in the current cath lab
d. Asking the medical director to participate in leadership rounds in the current cath lab to
identify potential safety risks
The answer is A. Assembling a multidisplinary team whose members will brainstorm potential
failures ✔✔
A new medication administrative safety process was implemented in a hospital. A team
convened to perform a failure mode effects analysis and calculate a risk priority number (RPN).
After a targeted medication safety program on the new process was delivered to nurses, the same
team convened to perform another FMEA. The team would be happy to see: ✔✔a. The
detectability increased and RPNs were lower
b. The detectability decreased and RPNs were lower
c. The frequency numbers decreased and RPNs were higher
d. The frequency numbers increased and RPNs were lower
The answer is b. (I think) The detectability decreased and RPNs were lower ✔✔
Sharing lessons learned from RCA's does what? ✔✔a. exposes the fallibility of the involved
clinician(s)
b. Allows others to introduce work arounds to avoid the same situation
c. Allows co-workers to learn the rationale for why an event occurred and incorporate new
lessons learned into practice
d. Sharing these events allows for exposure from litigation perspective and should not be
encouraged
The answer is C. Allows co-workers to learn the rationale for why an event occurred and
incorporate new lessons learned into practice ✔✔
Which of the following descriptions best reflects principles of safe system design? ✔✔a.
Hospital A routinely reviews and updates policies and procedures every 2 years
b. Hospital B routinely studies close calls
c. Hospital C routinely provides trainings on the use of newly introduced medical equipment
d. Hospital D routinely utilizes control charting to report safety performance
The Answer is B. Hospital B routinely studies close calls ✔✔
Which of the following descriptions is true about human factors? ✔✔a. human factors science
represents the intersection of medicine and engineering
b. Human factors science consists of a set of principles that can be learned during training
c. Human factors science addresses problems by modifying the design of the system to better aid
people
d. Human factors science is about elimination human error
The answer is c. Human factors science addresses problems by modifying the design of the
system to better aid people ✔✔
A known barrier to patient safety is staff not speaking up when they are concerned or if they see
safety violations. You would help foster a culture that supports speaking up by: ✔✔a. Putting up
posters around the organization that reinforce speaking up as a safety strategy
b. Using culture of safety data to assist low performing departments with defining strategies for
improvement
c. Using tends in event reporting to identify staff who don't speak up
d. Re-educating management on the use of Just Culture principles
The answer is b.
b. Using culture of safety data to assist low performing departments with defining strategies for
improvement ✔✔
Regulatory and Accreditation standards/requirements can help guide improvement by: ✔✔a.
Fining people who don't participate
b. Outlining specific targets for performance
c. Defining required topics of performance
d. Providing language for metrics defined in the improvement project
the answer is c. Defining required topics of performance ✔✔
The patient safety team reviewed a sample of patients who had been readmitted within 48 hours
of discharge and noticed that the patient's discharge medication lists had not been accurately
reconciled. The appropriate next steps for the team to take include: ✔✔a. Reprimand the
discharging provider
b. Ask nursing to be responsible for all medication reconciliation
c. Gather a team of key stakeholders to flow map the medication reconciliation process
d. Gather data on the accuracy and timeliness of medication reconciliation
You have been asked to present an overview of safety events to the board of trustees. IN order to
best represent safety issues, you should: ✔✔a. highlight system-wide improvements that have
been implemented in the past year
b. Present cases of harm with contributing root causes and actions taken
c. display a graph of the numbers and types of safety events reported in the past year
d. Lead an open discussion of board members' safety concerns and recommendations
The answer is B. Present cases of harm with contributing root causes and actions taken
(not just data; stories and what happened) ✔✔
When setting organizational safety priorities, it is best for you to: ✔✔a. determine priorities
based on pay for performance measurements
b. Focus primarily on accreditation standards and requirements
c. develop a mechanism to gather input from a variety of sources
d. review the current literature to identify areas of concern
The answer is C. develop a mechanism to gather input from a variety of sources ✔✔
You are meeting with the CFO to determine return on investment (ROI) for multiple patient
safety initiatives. Which project is most likely to receive approval based on the determined ROI:
✔✔a. Procurement of new beds with built-in alarms to reduce falls with a
[Show More]