Test Bank for Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment: Practice Exercises for the NCLEX Examination 6th Edition Edition By LaCharity, Kumagai, and Hosler

Three things trip up more nursing students on the NCLEX than almost anything else — prioritization, delegation, and assignment. Not because students do not know the content. But because these questions require a different kind of thinking. They ask you to rank, compare, and decide under pressure. They ask you to think like a nurse who is already responsible for a full patient load.

This test bank was built around exactly that challenge. It follows Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment: Practice Exercises for the NCLEX Examination, 6th Edition by Linda LaCharity, Candice Kumagai, and Barbara Hosler — one of the most targeted NCLEX preparation resources in nursing education. Every question in this test bank pushes you to practice the decision-making skills that the NCLEX tests hardest.

If you want to pass the NCLEX, you need to get comfortable making fast, accurate clinical decisions. This is the resource that builds that skill.

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What Is Inside

You get over a thousand practice questions organized around the core skills the book targets — prioritizing patient care, delegating tasks appropriately, and making safe assignment decisions. Questions are written in multiple-choice, select-all-that-apply, multiple-patient scenario, and ordered response formats.

Every question has a clearly marked correct answer. Every answer has a detailed rationale. The rationale does not just tell you what is right. It walks you through the clinical reasoning — why this patient comes first, why this task belongs to this team member, and what makes the other options unsafe or incorrect. Reading those rationales carefully is where your NCLEX thinking sharpens the most.

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Skills and Topics Covered

The test bank covers every major skill area and clinical topic in LaCharity’s 6th edition, including:

Core Decision-Making Skills — applying Maslow’s hierarchy to patient prioritization, using the ABCs framework, recognizing actual versus potential problems, understanding stable versus unstable patient status, and identifying which patients need the RN’s direct attention

Delegation Principles — the five rights of delegation, what can and cannot be delegated to LPNs and UAPs, supervision responsibilities after delegation, and recognizing unsafe or inappropriate delegation

Assignment Principles — making safe staff-to-patient assignments, matching patient acuity to nurse competency, charge nurse responsibilities, and floating staff considerations

Clinical Content Areas — medical-surgical nursing, cardiovascular and respiratory care, neurological and musculoskeletal conditions, gastrointestinal and genitourinary disorders, endocrine and hematologic conditions, oncology nursing, maternity and newborn care, pediatric nursing, psychiatric and mental health nursing, and emergency and critical care

Every clinical area is presented through the lens of prioritization, delegation, and assignment — which is exactly how the NCLEX approaches these topics.

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Who Should Use This

This test bank is the right fit for nursing students in their final semester who are preparing specifically for the NCLEX-RN, new graduate nurses who want to sharpen their clinical decision-making before sitting for boards, students who have already struggled with NCLEX-style prioritization and delegation questions and need more targeted practice, nursing instructors who teach management of care concepts and need a strong pool of application-level questions, and repeat NCLEX test-takers who need focused practice in the management of care category, which is one of the largest content areas on the exam.

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Why the 6th Edition Specifically

The NCLEX evolves. The Next Generation NCLEX has raised the bar on clinical judgment, and the 6th edition of LaCharity’s text reflects that shift. It includes updated clinical scenarios, revised delegation frameworks, and stronger alignment with current NCLEX-RN and NGN testing priorities.

This test bank was written to match the 6th edition directly. The scenarios, clinical exemplars, and decision-making frameworks in the questions reflect what is in this edition. If your NCLEX prep or nursing management course uses the 6th edition, this is the test bank that fits.

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5 Sample Questions

Question 1 A nurse is caring for four patients. Which patient should the nurse assess first?

A. A 58-year-old with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requesting a breathing treatment B. A 44-year-old post-appendectomy patient reporting pain of 6 out of 10 C. A 67-year-old who just returned from cardiac catheterization and is reporting chest tightness D. A 72-year-old with type 2 diabetes whose blood glucose is 210 mg/dL

Correct Answer: C Chest tightness following cardiac catheterization is a red flag for a serious complication such as coronary artery spasm, re-occlusion, or myocardial infarction. This is an unstable, potentially life-threatening situation that requires immediate RN assessment. The other patients have concerns that need attention but are not immediately life-threatening. New or worsening symptoms following an invasive cardiac procedure always take priority.

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Question 2 A charge nurse is making shift assignments. Which patient is most appropriate to assign to a newly graduated RN who has been off orientation for two weeks?

A. A patient with a fresh tracheostomy requiring frequent suctioning and stoma care B. A patient with chronic heart failure admitted for IV diuresis who is hemodynamically stable C. A patient awaiting transfer to the ICU for septic shock management D. A patient with a traumatic brain injury whose neuro status is changing hour to hour

Correct Answer: B A newly graduated RN should be assigned patients who are stable and predictable. A patient with chronic heart failure admitted for IV diuresis, who is hemodynamically stable, fits that profile. The other patients — a fresh tracheostomy, pending ICU transfer for septic shock, and a patient with a deteriorating neurological status — require experienced clinical judgment and are not appropriate for a nurse still building confidence and competency.

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Question 3 A registered nurse is working with an LPN and a UAP. Which task is appropriate to delegate to the LPN?

A. Developing the discharge teaching plan for a diabetic patient going home today B. Performing the initial head-to-toe assessment on a newly admitted patient C. Administering a scheduled oral antibiotic to a patient with a urinary tract infection D. Evaluating whether a patient’s postoperative pain is being adequately controlled

Correct Answer: C Administering scheduled oral medications to stable patients is within the LPN scope of practice in most states. Initial assessments, discharge teaching plan development, and evaluation of patient outcomes are RN responsibilities that require the full nursing process and cannot be delegated to an LPN. The nurse must retain accountability for assessment and evaluation functions.

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Question 4 A nurse has just received a shift report. Which patient should be seen last?

A. A patient with a pulmonary embolism who is on a heparin drip and whose aPTT is due B. A patient who had a hip replacement yesterday and is asking when physical therapy will arrive C. A patient with pneumonia whose oxygen saturation dropped to 91% an hour ago D. A patient with acute pancreatitis reporting pain that increased from 4 to 8 in the last hour

Correct Answer: B A patient asking about a scheduled physical therapy visit is stable and has a non-urgent informational need. This can safely wait. The patient on a heparin drip with a pending lab value, the patient whose oxygen saturation dropped, and the patient with a sudden significant increase in pain all represent situations that need timely nursing assessment and action.

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Question 5 A UAP reports to the RN that a patient’s blood pressure is 88/54 mmHg. The patient was 124/78 mmHg an hour ago. What should the nurse do first?

A. Ask the UAP to recheck the blood pressure in 15 minutes B. Call the physician and request new orders C. Go assess the patient immediately D. Check the patient’s medication administration record for antihypertensives

Correct Answer: C A significant and sudden drop in blood pressure is a potential sign of hemorrhage, sepsis, cardiac compromise, or other serious deterioration. The nurse must assess the patient directly and immediately before taking any other action. Asking the UAP to recheck delays needed intervention. Calling the physician or reviewing the medication record are secondary steps that come after the nurse has assessed the patient firsthand.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the official test bank from the publisher? No. This is an independently developed study resource based on the content of LaCharity, Kumagai, and Hosler’s 6th edition. It is not published or endorsed by Elsevier or the original authors. It is a supplementary tool built for exam preparation and NCLEX practice.

How many questions does the test bank include? There are over a thousand questions in total. They are distributed across the core skill areas — prioritization, delegation, and assignment — as well as every major clinical specialty covered in the 6th edition.

How is this different from just reading the textbook? The textbook teaches the concepts. This test bank makes you apply them. Reading about prioritization is different from sitting with four patient scenarios and having to decide who gets seen first. Active practice with feedback is what builds the decision-making speed and accuracy the NCLEX demands.

Is this useful for the Next Generation NCLEX? Yes. The NGN places heavy emphasis on clinical judgment — recognizing cues, analyzing information, and taking action — which is exactly what prioritization, delegation, and assignment questions require. This test bank is strong preparation for that kind of thinking.

Can I use this even if my school does not use this textbook? Yes. The core skills this test bank covers — prioritization, delegation, and assignment — are tested on every NCLEX-RN exam regardless of which textbooks your program uses. The clinical reasoning practice translates across curricula.

Does every question include a rationale? Yes, every single one. The rationale explains the clinical reasoning behind the correct answer and walks through why each wrong option is unsafe or incorrect. For prioritization questions especially, understanding the reasoning is more valuable than knowing the answer.

What file format is the test bank delivered in? It comes as a digital file, typically Word or PDF. You can search by clinical topic, print specific sections, or use it across devices. Many students print sets of questions to simulate timed test conditions.

Is this specific to the 6th edition only? Yes. The questions are written to align with the scenarios, frameworks, and clinical content in the 6th edition. Earlier editions have different case scenarios and organizational structures. Confirm your edition before purchasing.