Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e
Chapter 13
Question 1
Type: MCMA
Which strategies would decrease the amount of time the nurse manager spends with “drop-in” visitors to the
manager’s office?
Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected.
Standard Text: Select all that apply.
1. Set office hours to eliminate those visits.
2. Keep the office door closed.
3. Arrange furniture so the desk faces the door.
4. Stand up to greet the visitor and remain standing.
5. Encourage appointments for routine matters.
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
Copyright 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 13-6: Minimize time wasters.
Question 2
Type: MCSA
The nurse manager routinely experiences stress related to deadlines for projects. What should be the nurse’s first
action to control this stress?
1. Identify the actual stressor and the precipitating factors.
2. Plan activities to minimize time constraints to reduce stress.
3. Set aside a block of time each day for stress reduction.
4. Engage in distraction activities to minimize the stress.
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Assessment
Learning Outcome: 13-3: Set priorities.
Question 3
Type: MCSA
The nurse manager has decided to work on personal time-management skills. What should this manager do first?
1. Review patterns of time use.
2. Purchase a new notebook system for time management.
3. Identify essential job activities.
4. Set a goal of prioritizing tasks every morning.
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
Copyright 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 13-6: Minimize time wasters.
Question 5
Type: MCSA
A nurse manager’s week is filled with handling routine and repetitive issues. Which strategy should the manager
employ to make handling these tasks most effective and efficient?
1. Ask those involved to leave voice mail messages about any routine matter.
2. Encourage those involved in routine matters to call between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. each day.
3. Keep the office door open to be accessible to those dealing with these routine tasks.
4. Hold a meeting each week especially for dealing with routine and nonurgent matters.
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 13-4: Group activities and minimize routine work.
Question 6
Type: MCSA
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
The nurse manager has planned a meeting that all staff nurses have to attend. Which method would most
efficiently notify the staff members of the meeting time?
1. E-mail
2. Voice mail
3. Memo
4. Telephone call
Rationale 1: Personal organization is the result of clearly defined priorities based on well-defined, measurable,
and achievable objectives.
Rationale 2: Goals must first be identified and set before priorities can be set.
Rationale 3: Goal setting helps to relate current behavior, activities, or operations to the organization’s or the
individual’s long-range goals.
Rationale 4: Limit setting is trying to keep a person in line and trying to shape behavior.
Global Rationale:
Cognitive Level: Applying
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Planning
Learning Outcome: 13-2: Identify goals.
Question 8
Type: MCMA
What are reasons that nurses fail to manage time effectively?
Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected.
Standard Text: Select all that apply.
1. Nurses do tasks they enjoy doing before the ones they do not enjoy.
2. Nurses do things that bring the most immediate closure first.
3. Nurses respond on the basis of who wants something.
4. Nurses do uninteresting jobs before interesting jobs.
5. Nurses work on things in the order of their arrival.
Rationale 3: Nurses tend to prioritize based on who wants something done—for example, if a client wants
something that is a priority over the nurse manager needing a report.
Rationale 4: It is generally more time efficient to tackle uninteresting jobs first and get them completed before
starting interesting jobs that may absorb more of the nurse’s time. Uninteresting jobs are likely to be completed as
quickly as possible. However, it is not human nature to do what is not interesting first.
Rationale 5: Nurses tend to work on things “as they come up” and often end up working on unplanned tasks
before planned tasks. This is related to the unpredictable nature of working with people who are ill.
Global Rationale:
Cognitive Level: Applying
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Assessment
Learning Outcome: 13-5: Manage personal organization and self discipline.
Question 9
Type: MCSA
A nurse frequently has to work late and has no time to do required training while at work. She has to do it on her
days off. Choose the work-related time waster that commonly puts nurses in this position.
1. Unscheduled tasks delaying those that are scheduled
2. An overwhelming amount of work to do
3. Taking longer-than-scheduled breaks
4. Volunteering for extra responsibilities
Cognitive Level: Applying
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Planning
Learning Outcome: 13-1: Identify time wasters.
Question 10
Type: MCSA
A novice nurse manager is devising a schedule to meet the needs of the staff, clients, and other disciplines on the
unit. Which is the most important method to counteract wasted time in nursing?
1. Delegate routine activities to concentrate on other tasks.
2. Assign a staff member to attend management meetings.
3. Redesign the position so that the nurse manager works when the unit is not busy.
4. Strictly adhere to a rule that the manager will see only staff members who make appointments.
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Planning
Learning Outcome: 13-1: Identify time wasters.
Question 11
Type: MCSA
A nursing supervisor has a report due and just cannot seem to find the time to get it completed. One day before it
is due, the supervisor turns it in. This situation best exemplifies which time waster?
1. The supervisor waited for the deadline pressure to increase the priority.
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
2. The report was one of the last tasks on the “to-do” list.
3. The supervisor has no interest in the topic of the report.
4. The report format is unfamiliar to the nursing supervisor.
5. “We will save $200 monthly for the next 12 months for a car down payment.”