Health Informatics 2nd Edition Test Bank
Chapter 01: An Introduction to Health Informatics
Nelson and Staggers: Health Informatics: An Interprofessional Approach, 2nd Edition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Dr. James, in studying patient safety in U.S. hospitals, found that
the number of preventable adverse events leading to serious harm
fell in the approximate range of ____________ to _____________
cases per year.
a. 4.4 million; 8.8 million
b. 440,000; 880,000
c. 1 million; 5 million
d. 40,000; 100,000
ANS: A
Dr. James found some 440,000 cases of lethal harm each year and estimated that the incidence
of serious (but not lethal) harm was 10 to 20 times that figure.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Analyze REF: p. 1
2. Health informatics is both a ___________ as well as a(n) ____________.
a. discipline; field of study
b. profession; practice
c. field of study; art
d. profession; discipline
ANS: D
Health informatics is a discipline, or field of study, in the same sense that “medicine,”
“sociology,” and “pharmacy” are fields of study. It is also a profession, practiced by
thousands of informaticians in a number of varied roles within the healthcare industry.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Remember REF: p. 2
3. The top three uses of the U.S. Army’s telehealth network include all of the following
EXCEPT ________________.
a. behavioral telehealth
b. cardiology
c. otolaryngology
d. dermatology
ANS: C
, Health Informatics 2nd Edition Test Bank
The biggest use of the U.S. Army’s telehealth network is for behavioral telehealth, followed
by cardiology and dermatology. While telemedicine is making inroads in otolaryngology, it is
not among the top three uses for the U.S. Army.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Remember REF: p. 3
4. What is the main idea of the subsection titled “Why Informatics Is Needed in Healthcare: An
Example”?
a. An interoperable healthcare system that provides clear, concise patient data and
information among institutions is lacking in many facilities, and its presence would
greatly facilitate things such as patient transfers.
b. The quality of discharge communication during transfers of geriatric patients from
hospital to nursing home is generally high.
c. Skilled nursing facilities aren’t trained enough to identify the information they
need to facilitate a high-quality transition of a patient into their facility.
d. Healthcare informaticians alone are responsible for building interoperable systems
that will facilitate communication between and among healthcare facilities.
ANS: A
This subsection takes the specific case of the transfer of geriatric patients from a hospital
setting to a long-term skilled nursing facility (SNF) and uses it to illustrate the great need for
an interoperable healthcare system that allows patient data to be transferred quickly, clearly,
and concisely among facilities.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Analyze REF: p. 3
5. The chapter makes the argument for increased automation for such things as managing
supplies, because studies have shown that ______________________________.
a. only 70% of a nurse’s day is actually spent at patients’ bedsides
b. nurses waste “an hour a shift” finding equipment
c. over $14 million in nurses’ wages nationwide were spent in 2011 on tasks like
hunting for equipment
d. patients report being comforted by the presence of robotic technology in their
rooms
ANS: B
The chapter focused on using health informatics and technology solutions to free up nurses’
days so they can spend more time at patients’ bedsides and less on extraneous duties. A 2011
study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that nurses do use an hour per shift of
their time simply hunting down equipment.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand REF: p. 3 | p. 4
6. The ________ is one of the oldest—and still widely used—methods for building and
implementing software applications in IT arena.
a. TUG
b. clinical decision support system
c. HIPAA
d. SDLC
ANS: D
, Health Informatics 2nd Edition Test Bank
Though it’s been through a number of iterations and adjustments, the software development
life cycle remains the tested and tried-and-true method for studying, building, implementing,
and maintaining a health information system.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Remember REF: p. 4 | p. 5
7. Which of the following statements about EHRs is false?
a. The percentage of hospitals using an EHR jumped from 59% to 75% from 2013 to
2014.
b. Stage 2 is the minimum level of EHR required in order to be counted as using
EHR.
c. By 2014 50% of physicians in the United States had implemented an EHR, with
another 13% in the process of implementing one.
d. There were no EHR systems in U.S. hospitals in 2009.
ANS: C
The text gives data for physicians using EHR in 2013, stating that by that year 63% had
implemented some form of EHR, with another 20% in the process of implementing one.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply REF: p. 6
MULTIPLE RESPONSE
1. Internationally, healthcare delivery systems face a number of common challenges, including:
(Select all that apply.)
a. cost and the need to cut costs and demonstrate value.
b. a lack of new HIT advances.
c. dynamic forces like workforce shortages and increased consumerism.
d. an international population that is growing increasingly younger and healthier.
e. increasing government regulation to protect patient health, safety, and privacy.
ANS: A, C, E
The need to contain costs, forces like workforce shortages and increased consumerism, and
increasing government regulation are all challenges faced in common globally by healthcare
delivery systems. There is no lack in new HIT advances; in fact adoption of such new
technologies is a challenge in itself, as is an aging population that will require more healthcare
than before.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand REF: p. 6 | p. 7
Chapter 02: Theoretical Foundations of Health Informatics
Nelson and Staggers: Health Informatics: An Interprofessional Approach, 2nd Edition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What is the primary difference between an open and closed system?
a. An open system has no boundary, and therefore there are no limits to the inputs
and outputs between an open system and the environment.
b. An open system has a semipermeable boundary and therefore will filter both inputs
and outputs when interacting with the environment.
c. A closed system has a semipermeable boundary and therefore will filter both
inputs and outputs when interacting with the environment.
, Health Informatics 2nd Edition Test Bank
d. A closed system does not have a boundary and therefore will not interact with the
environment.
ANS: B
With an open system the boundary is semipermeable, thereby controlling what will be
accepted as input and what will be permitted to leave the system.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand REF: p. 15
2. The primary characteristics used to analyze an open system include:
a. structure, purpose, and functions.
b. subsystem, target system, and supersystem.
c. boundary, attributes, and environment.
d. hierarchical, web, and hybrid.
ANS: A
Using these three characteristics, one can determine why the system exists, what functions it
performs to achieve its purpose, and how it is structured to achieve its purpose.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Remember REF: p. 16
3. You have altered the menu of food items served to your patients. However, the change has
greatly expanded the number of refrigerated items needed on hand. You need to buy a new
refrigerator, but the electric circuit in the kitchen cannot handle the extra load and needs to be
upgraded at significant expense. This set of unintended consequences down the line, produced
by an initial change, is called:
a. dynamic homeostasis.
b. semi-planned change.
c. negentropy.
d. reverberation.
ANS: D
Change within any part of a system will be reflected across the total system through a process
termed reverberation. Reverberation can be intended or unintended consequences of change.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Analyze REF: p. 18
4. The “butterfly effect” describes a situation in which a minor change in input (eg, a butterfly
flapping its wings in one part of the world) can have a major effect on output (eg, a windstorm
developing in another part of the world). This aspect of chaotic systems illustrates their
property of:
a. the reiterative feedback loop.
b. linearity.
c. preordained periodic behavior.
d. the fractionation of outputs.
ANS: A
Chaotic systems are dynamic systems with reiterative feedback loops. A minor change in
input can create a major change in output. This is often described as the butterfly effect. A
butterfly’s flapping wings in California can over time become a hurricane in New York.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Analyze REF: p. 18
