NHA Patient Care Technician (CPCT) Practice Test

Preguntas de práctica de ejemplo

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1. 1. Patient Care

   A patient care technician counts a resting adult patient's radial pulse and gets 78 beats per minute. How should this finding be classified?

   • a.Below normal, indicating possible shock
   • b.Bradycardia requiring immediate provider notification
   • c.Tachycardia requiring immediate provider notification
   • d.Within the normal adult range of 60-100 beats per minute

   Respuesta: d

   Explicación: The normal resting heart rate for an adult is 60 to 100 beats per minute, so 78 bpm is normal. Bradycardia is a rate below 60 bpm and tachycardia is a rate above 100 bpm. No urgent notification is needed for a normal reading.

2. 2. Patient Care

   A patient's chart states 'NPO after midnight' for a scheduled procedure. In the morning the patient asks for water. What should the technician do?

   • a.Offer ice chips freely, because ice is not counted as fluid
   • b.Provide the full breakfast tray, since the patient is hungry
   • c.Withhold food and fluids and tell the nurse of the request
   • d.Give a small glass of water, because water is not really food

   Respuesta: c

   Explicación: NPO means nothing by mouth, and that includes water and ice chips, which melt into fluid in the stomach exactly like a drink. The technician explains the reason kindly and tells the nurse that the patient is asking, so the team can decide whether anything may be given. Giving fluid can force the procedure to be cancelled or, under anesthesia, cause aspiration of stomach contents into the lungs.

3. 3. Phlebotomy

   Which vein is generally the preferred first choice for routine venipuncture in the antecubital area?

   • a.Basilic vein
   • b.A vein on the underside of the wrist
   • c.Median cubital vein
   • d.Cephalic vein of the wrist

   Respuesta: c

   Explicación: The median cubital vein is usually the first choice for venipuncture because it is large, well-anchored, and located away from major nerves and arteries. The cephalic vein is a second choice, and the basilic vein is used with caution due to its proximity to the brachial artery and nerves. Veins on the underside of the wrist are avoided due to injury risk.

4. 4. Professional & Administrative

   A patient has an advance directive on file. What does this document primarily do?

   • a.States the patient's wishes if they cannot speak
   • b.Replaces the need for any provider orders
   • c.Guarantees that the patient will refuse all treatment
   • d.Authorizes the technician to decide about care

   Respuesta: a

   Explicación: An advance directive records what treatment a patient does and does not want if they become unable to speak for themselves, and it may name a healthcare proxy to decide on their behalf. It guides the team but does not replace provider orders, and it is not a blanket refusal: many directives request full treatment. No directive gives a technician decision-making authority over a patient's care.

5. 5. Patient Care

   A patient with advanced dementia cannot report pain in words. During morning care the patient grimaces, moans, and guards the right hip whenever it is moved. What should the technician do?

   • a.Record that the patient denies pain, since no number was given
   • b.Ask the patient to rate the pain from zero to ten until an answer comes
   • c.Document the specific behaviors observed and report them to the nurse
   • d.Wait for the next shift to try the pain scale again

   Respuesta: c

   Explicación: Pain is treated as the fifth vital sign, and a patient who cannot self-report is assessed through behavior: facial grimacing, moaning or crying out, guarding or bracing a body part, restlessness, and changes in appetite or sleep. The technician charts what was seen and what triggered it, in objective terms, and reports it so the nurse can complete an assessment. Recording that the patient denies pain is a false entry, because no denial was made, and absence of a number is not absence of pain. Repeating a numeric scale the patient cannot use, or postponing the concern to another shift, leaves observed pain untreated.

6. 6. Patient Care

   A rolled towel is tucked alongside a supine patient's hip and thigh as a trochanter roll. What is this device intended to prevent?

   • a.Plantar flexion of the ankle, which leads to foot drop over time
   • b.Flexion contracture of the knee in a patient confined to bed
   • c.A pressure injury forming over the greater trochanter of the hip
   • d.External rotation of the hip while the patient is lying supine

   Respuesta: d

   Explicación: A trochanter roll is a firm roll placed from the top of the iliac crest to mid-thigh; it blocks the leg from rolling outward, keeping the hip in neutral alignment. Its name comes from where it sits, not from what it protects, so choosing pressure relief over the greater trochanter is a natural trap; pressure over that bony point is relieved by turning schedules and side-lying support, not by a roll wedged against it. Foot drop is prevented by a footboard or ankle support, and knee contracture by limiting how long the knee is left flexed over a pillow.

7. 7. Safety & Infection Control

   A technician sustains a needlestick from a used lancet and has already washed the site thoroughly with soap and running water. What should be done next?

   • a.Squeeze the puncture site to force out as much blood as possible
   • b.Apply an antiseptic, finish the shift, and report the stick in the morning
   • c.Ask the patient whether they carry a bloodborne infection before reporting
   • d.Report the exposure to the supervisor now so evaluation can begin

   Respuesta: d

   Explicación: After washing, the next step is immediate reporting through the facility's exposure control plan, because post-exposure evaluation is time-sensitive: source-patient testing, baseline labs, and any prophylaxis for HIV or hepatitis B work best when they start within hours. Waiting until the end of the shift throws away that window and weakens the record of a work-related injury. Squeezing or milking the wound damages tissue and has not been shown to reduce infection risk. Source testing is arranged through the exposure protocol with consent handled by the facility, so it is not something the injured technician negotiates at the bedside.

8. 8. Professional & Administrative

   A technician posts on a public social media page that a named patient "fakes pain to get drugs," which is untrue. Which term names the false written statement itself?

   • a.Slander, because the statement injured the patient's reputation
   • b.Fraud, because the statement misrepresented the care that was given
   • c.Invasion of privacy, because private facts were made public
   • d.Libel, because a false and damaging statement was written and published

   Respuesta: d

   Explicación: Libel is defamation in written, printed, or otherwise published form, and a social media post naming a patient that is false and injures reputation meets that definition. Slander is the spoken form of the same tort, so it does not describe a post. Fraud involves deception for gain, such as charting care that was never delivered. Publishing a patient's information is also an invasion of privacy and a privacy-rule violation, but that term names the disclosure rather than the false statement this question asks about.

9. 9. Phlebotomy

   A technician draws the lavender-top tube before the green-top tube on a patient whose electrolytes were ordered. Which chemistry result is most likely to be falsely elevated by carryover of the lavender tube's additive?

   • a.Calcium, because carryover EDTA releases calcium bound to plasma proteins
   • b.Potassium, because the tube's own additive is a potassium salt of EDTA
   • c.Sodium, because the EDTA in a lavender tube is supplied as a sodium salt
   • d.Chloride, because EDTA contributes chloride ions to the plasma

   Respuesta: b

   Explicación: Lavender-top tubes in United States laboratories are filled with dipotassium or tripotassium EDTA, so even a trace of additive dragged from one stopper to the next on the needle adds potassium to the chemistry specimen and can push a normal result into the critical range. EDTA moves calcium and magnesium the other way: it chelates those ions inside the tube, which lowers the measured value, and it does not free calcium that is bound to plasma proteins. Sodium EDTA formulations exist but are not what is packaged in a routine lavender tube, and EDTA contributes no chloride at all. This carryover risk is the reason the EDTA tube sits near the end of the CLSI order of draw, after the heparin tube, rather than near the front.

10. 10. Phlebotomy

    Before a routine draw, a patient tells the technician that she has fainted at every blood collection she has ever had. What is the best action?

    • a.Seat her upright in the drawing chair and talk her through each step of the draw
    • b.Have her sip a cup of juice while the tubes are being collected
    • c.Hold an ammonia inhalant open near her face throughout the collection
    • d.Position her reclined or lying flat for the draw and observe her afterward

    Respuesta: d

    Explicación: A patient with a history of syncope at every draw is positioned reclined or supine before the needle goes in, so that losing consciousness cannot become a fall, and she is watched for several minutes after the collection. Talking an anxious patient through the steps is good practice and worth doing, but it does not protect someone who faints regardless of how calm she feels. Anything to eat or drink during the collection becomes a choking hazard the moment she loses consciousness. Ammonia inhalants are no longer recommended, because they can provoke bronchospasm in a patient with asthma and can cause a sudden head jerk that injures the neck.