Re: Good Lord Originally Posted by Medic1982 
again, I agree. But what am I supposed to do? I mean, one question isn't going to pass or fail anybody but what if there are more like that? Shoot man, i can show you in the book where it says it. Its in the ATI Maternal-Newborn book page 290- Critical Thinking Exercises. If its an ATI test and the ATI book says so, then I guess I have to answer that way. Idk, this is all pretty ridiculous. "you have a pregnant female who's exhibiting tachycardia, hypertension, and swelling of the hands and face; What phase of coping is her partner likely to be in?" I'm sorry, maybe its the paramedic in me, but WHO CARES? Wouldn't your first priority be to make sure homegirl doesn't scramble her brains seizing from eclampsia first??? And then, ya know, maybe we can give whoever a little pep talk later? I just don't understand any of these questions. Its like they could care less how to treat patients, its all about how their "social support group" is feeling. Again, way too touchy feely with little emphasis on actual care. I just dont get it.
Welcome to the weird, wonderful world of NCLEX-style questions, where you have to choose the least crappy answer from the 4-5 crappy answers listed below. Once you get the hang of that, you'll still find yourself pounding your head against the wall from some of the odd freakin' questions & "correct" answers.
One extra credit question (about a 8 year old boy hurt in a car accident) from my Peds class was:
The parents stay at the bedside constantly. The mother says to you, “I am so afraid my baby is not going to make it and it’s all my fault. If I had just been watching the traffic closer, maybe this never would have happened.” She weeps as her husband tries to console her. How can you therapeutically respond to her?
Yes, therapeutic communication is a useful thing, but it shouldn't get in the way of taking care of business. But that's reality talking, not NCLEX.
Then there was the frustration about a question on one of my Peds instructor's tests....
It was related to fecal (occult/hidden) blood testing in peds. To rule out GI bleeding, you have to base that decision on the fact that 3 separate stool samples (from 3 separate poops) are free of hidden (occult) blood. The “correct” answer was something along the lines of “take 3 simultaneous samples.” My frustration hinged upon her use of the word “
simultaneous.”
Now when somebody says to take 3 simultaneous samples, wouldn’t you think they mean that you should take all 3 samples at the same time???
Nooooo, silly me. I didn’t choose that answer, since I knew the “real” answer involved 3 SUCCESSIVE stool samples (3 separate samples, taken from 3 separate poop samples). Of course, that wasn’t an option on the test, so I chose the closest thing. Wrongo!
When the class was asking why her answer was “correct”, since simultaneous isn’t the same as successive or sequential, she got a wee bit defensive & said “I’m not going to argue with you…I think we’re getting bogged down in semantics here.”
Yeah, semantics. You know…choosing the right word, so the question MEANS what you say…Silly, I know, to expect that the prof knows the meaning of the freakin’ word she uses.
Just nod your head dumbly like a good little student, keep moving forward, and smile. SMILE, darn you...
SMILE!!.
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